A distraction or 2…
Buggy happened. Buggy is an odd sport, unique to Carnegie Mellon University. It combines a relay race with soap box derby. It is all consuming for some. It was for me. Now I am an old man and mostly yell at clouds. I do go back to watch every year and help out by being on the broadcast.
The team I root for the most, Sigma Nu, is my old frat. We were way way way into the sport back in my day but that eventually faded. This year the house looked to be making a fresh start. They reached out to a few of out old dogs for help and we gladly gave it. They were focused on having fun and finishing the race (it is easy to fail). They nailed it. With a conservative approach and some luck, they finished 6th, which was not expected. They seem stoked for next year which was the best possible outcome. It was great. So, I enjoyed a mix of travel, racing and hanging out with old friends. Did not get covid which is a bonus. Just checked.
On the art side, I got the “pick your mood” thing working on the matrix. Hated it. Removed it. But that process led me to sort out what is there into some buckets of “hard” vs “soft” patterns. I am now thinking of setting the mode when I compile and then the piece is what it is from then on. (hard, soft, or both). Along the way, I worked on some new patterns for the big matrixes and fine tuned some others.
The gear thing has morphed a few times. Actually, that idea is still there but it has had kids. The one that has my fancy now is has taken the form of a small sand table with some external controls, possibly TOF sensors.
Today I had a jury showing. I hope to be accepted into the Topanga Canyon Gallery, a local artist run gallery. So, there was a bit of focus on getting ready for that. I think it went well. It helped that they were familiar with some of the work I did with Kit on his pieces. They liked getting to meet the man behind the curtain.
This is the first time a lot of my stuff has been shown to anyone. I showed a medium sized matrix, the kinetic “baseball” piece, 2 clocks (large square and vertical tower), some round lanterns, and a basket. The discussion was good. They will let me know later this week. It was good for me either way. Like this blog, I am not used to talking about my “process” so it is all a new world for me.
I also am signed up for their Artist studio tour in June. That event has a preview show where 8 x 8 inch pieces are shown. I have some ideas for that….