Tuesday, August 30, 2011

bacon cakes

L to R: SandySingletary, Elizabeth Snipes, Tom Pitts, Jim Slagle, Linda Neely, me & jon holloway
We baked Professor Slagle a bacon cake for his birthday last week. No, the cake did not taste like bacon nor did it have bacon in it. It was merely sculpted and colored to resemble a huge, tasty slab of the delicious meat.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

sky blue sky



Doug McAbee: Sugar Coated


Exhibition Dates: August 15 - September 30, 2011
Gallery Talk: Wednesday, August 24, 4:30 pm


The commute to work. A conversation with his wife. The funny thing his kids did this morning. This is where Doug McAbee's Sugar Coated ideas come from. His interest in the power of color, beauty, and humor in visual communication continues to inform his work. McAbee's artwork often dips into serious or sinister subject matter, but always does so with a sense of humor, a shiny color, and a spoonful of sugar. His drawings often incorporate graphite with color ink and can mix well-rendered images alongside more hastily sketched images. While each image used in a drawing or a sculpture holds a significant personal meaning to McAbee, he is interested in how these meanings shift when unrelated images are fused together. McAbee is even more interested in how these images and forms almost always take on new meanings in the eyes of the viewer.



Sugar Coated will open on August 15 at Greenville Tech's Greer Campus Galleries. The work will be on display until September 30 and can be viewed from 8am to 8pm Monday through Thursday and 9am to 5pm on Fridays. Doug McAbee will be on hand for a gallery talk on Wednesday, August 24, 4:30pm. The Greer Campus Galleries are operated by and for the faculty and students from the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at Greenville Technical College. The Greer Campus is located at 2522 Locust Hill Rd in Taylors, South Carolina. For more information call Gallery Director Enid Williams at (864) 250-3059 or visit www.gvltec.edu/vpa and click on Greer Galleries.

Friday, August 12, 2011

back in the ussr

An internet stroll turned into an image search which led to this very odd find. It was like finding a whole room of people talking about you while you were sitting right there in front of them.
I never new my work was about democracy and the "freedom of action within human laws".



Kulturologia.ru

http://www.kulturologia.ru/blogs/190311/14187/

Metal "newcomers" from Douglas Macabi (Douglas McAbee)



American sculptor Douglas Macabi (Douglas McAbee) weirdo. Not only that, he writes in his biography, was raised by wolves like a balloon, in deep space. It also creates a painted steel sculpture unusual, resembling aliens, monsters, or well out of the animated film "Monsters, Inc.", which in their unpretentious simplicity reminiscent of children's crafts clay. But people, however, I do.


His artistic career began as Douglas Maccabi graphic designer and worked in this field for over 15 years. But at some point he realized that the call is still waiting for him somewhere else, and that the time for self-realization, there are fewer - and found a lesson for everyone. So, for now Maccabi is a professor of art at Lander University in the U.S., and creates its own unpretentious sculptural installations made of steel, to the delight of myself and the people for amusement.


Sculptures Douglas Maccabi resemble, as already mentioned, alien beings, but as for me, there are more similarities with the Soviet playgrounds that were built in parks and gardens in the distant 70th - 80th of the last century. You remember them, swings in the form of dogs, slides in the form of elephants, and other "attractions", created for children by unknown masters.


Although, if no kidding, the bright-color abstract forms, invented by the author, looks quite interesting and even pleasant, if not look for hidden meaning in them, and be perceived as another fad pretty weird creative person Maccabi Douglas (Douglas McAbee).




Comments

Dennis_Churaev 3/19/2011 8:33 p.m.
In my opinion, the general style of a few "children." Not bad would suit to decorate children's playgrounds. However, although I would hardly put it all in my apartment, some products I like ... More precisely only the trees on the latest photos. It is unlikely that I would have bought something like "a green tree on wheels. Well, I love crafts of iron, so thanks for the picture interesting.


charmik6 3/19/2011 9:57 p.m.
In fact the aliens are very suitable for children's playgrounds or parks. The child sees the figures in his imagination. It's very simple and unpretentious, childlike. The author really came down to us from the "deep space". I myself would have bought a couple of aliens (but only for a symbolic price) and would put them in the garden, somewhere near the bench.


SVENN 3/19/2011 twenty-nine past ten p.m.
Although I do not quite understand how the interior can be used for most of this design, but these glands I definitely like it.


luckshmie one forty 03/20/2011
but what have the interior? your home is worth a lot of sculptures?


Oxan 3/19/2011 10:33 p.m.
Find creative solutions that will attract the attention of modern society is very difficult. It seems that even the author does not aspire to complex structures, but rather seeking the simplicity of forms and ideas. Unpretentious metal sculpture reminiscent of children's creations, and it is close and understandable to everyone, even to buy and put them into your home not everyone wants.


luckshmie 03/20/2011 1:42
so what have your own house? :) It's probably for garden decoration, or for cultural and entertainment centers, restaurants, in general, non-residential premises.


bija088 [LiveJournal] 03.20.2011 six twenty-nine
Democracy, what is good, his freedom of action within the framework of human laws, too, in art, like a man this way of working, let them work


Marina 03/20/2011 7:12
Nice stuff. Above all, they "will not have anything," just to please.


Keny911 eight fifty-two 3/20/2011
Nuu ...) on the aliens are not very similar, but it looks very fun and interesting.)))


lyalyaka123 03/20/2011 10:42
but what no meaning here is, I think uverena.mne everyone in life has ever created such things as a child. just before their call was not accepted and art exhibit on display


maestro999 3.20.2011 1:19 p.m.
Cheerful)))
Very similar to children's toys)
I really liked this creation in its simplicity and originality. Not everyone is to conceive of such. I think that these sculptures will be very even to the point in children's institutions, venues and parks.


rustdotko 03/20/2011 4:38 p.m.
Every man to his own taste. As I duck these masterpieces are not very much, but as anyone. Although the work was carried out qualitatively and with a peculiar taste.


wladipavlo 3.20.2011 4:47 p.m.
good girl ... a talented ...


Lan 03/20/2011 thirty-one past nine p.m.
And the eye is not pleased, and economy is not amiss.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

whisker wars

Congrats to newly minted Professor Donovan McAbee (he's the one on the right).
Here he is comparing beards with Jesus before heading off to start his job as a religion professor at Belmont University.
And before you ask, no, we are not related. He's from a different set of McAbees. They have hair.

Monday, August 1, 2011

finest worksong


One new drawing and three new sculptures have been added to the website. Go on and have a look.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

fear and rafting in north carolina

So what do you do when you put the finishing touches on 3 new small sculptures and deliver them to the powder coating place?
Well....you get embarrassingly excited about getting the sculptures back and seeing how they turned out. And then you ditch your worries by going whitewater rafting at the USNWC
The US National Whitewater Center is just outside of Charlotte, NC. It is the world's largest man made recirculating river and it is also a US Olympics training site. Go here for a better sales pitch: www.usnwc.org. I got to tag along with my wife's group from work on sort of a spur of the moment type of trip.
The river features a 22 foot drop over one long route and one short route. Dropping 22 feet in elevation over a long route makes for a nice family adventure and insures that everyone will get wet. Dropping 22 feet on the short route makes for a few terrifying moments and insures that someone is going swimming. There may or may not be a near death experience involved.
Our group covered both routes twice and it was pretty easy to see the strategy of the rafting guides. The first run is educational. The guide gets to see how the group follows instructions and how they react to surprises. The second run is apparently a contest to see just how many people the guide can get tossed overboard by the class III and class IV rapids.
The good news is that they will save you from the watery peril. On our final trip through the short course our guide decided we should do it backwards for more of a challenge. Of the 8 people in our boat only 3 of us held on tight enough to to remain in the boat. Even the guide went in the drink at one point but he only did that to help rescue the person who had the near death experience.
While there was a serious element of fear involved in the adventure, this really is a safe and controlled experience. The USNWC has never had a drowning at the facility and most of the injuries there are well deserved ones brought on by really dumb ideas being put into action. In addition to the guides in each raft there are swift water rescuers stationed around the rapids with rescue ropes. But try telling that to the 5 people who were cast into the river. And even if you're relatively safe in the boat there's an adrenaline rush involved when you have to pull people you know out of the frothing water while continuing to rush over Olympic sized rapids.
I saw facial expressions of fear and panic that will no doubt find their way into some future artwork. And because I didn't have to swim for my life, I also partook in a very healthy dose of belly laughter at the expense of others. I'm not proud of it...but it was hilarious.
All photos courtesy of Google image search. The actual photos of our boat in action can be found on the USNWC website but they were copyrighted.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

the search for Bill Murray

This is awesome. I want one for my office door.

It's odd how our eyes are trained to take in the scenery without noticing the utility lines.

St. Philip's has no sense of humor when it comes to ghost and graveyard tours.

When I am memorialized with a statue of my mug I'd like to look happier than this guy.




Someone stole someone's graffiti idea and made more graffiti out of it. Sounds like the work of Shepard Fairey?

George the horse & Georgie the wife