Studio AND at The Science Fair!

Don't miss your last opportunity to see Studio AND's latest project this weekend at The Science Fair!

The Science Fair, is a show fun show featuring "Scientist-Artists and Artist-Scientists". It is hosted at the Flux Factory in conjunction with The Metric System.

THE SCIENCE FAIR!
The Flux Factory
39-31 29th Street
Long Island City, NY 11101
June 5 – 13, 2010
Hours: Saturdays and Sundays only, 12-6pm
Special Flux Thursday Award Ceremony: June 10, 8pm

Last Weekend, Eliza Strickland From Discover Magazine stopped by the show and wrote a lovely article and posted some photos from the show which can be found HERE



Studio AND is a collaboration between myself and my wonderful studiomate Audra Wolowiec. In 2009 Studio AND created The Department of Mineral Science, a pseudo-instutional branch dedicated to the inspiration of urban exploration. The department's main area of study focuses around the curious pheonenon of Urban Meteorties.

Urban Meteorites are part of an ongoing investigation into the creation of a plausible fictional material. Composed from the materials found in the urban landscape, Urban Meteorites are presented as an artifact from an imagined future.


Press Release:
Flux Factory and The Metric System are proud to present Science Fair, an exhibition of works by artist-scientists and scientist-artists!

Inspired by grade-school education fairs, Science Fair is a collaborative effort that examines science-based projects and concepts through the lens of art. Artists will create their own presentation booths and interactive experiments to be on display at the Fair. The exhibition explores the potential for science as a breeding ground for art: a way to inform and inspire art as a springboard for creative thought.

The Fair will showcase over two dozen projects including an artist-run weather station, robots that draw, urban meteorites, a cabinet of curiosities, and electro-magnetic field mapping.

Participating artists: Robin Brehm, Daupo, Lisa Glauer & Kaethe Wenzel, Fred Forest, Samwell Freeman, Hope Ginsburg & Colablablab, Kate Hartman, Jay Henderson, Jaime Iglehart, Scott Kildall, Rafael Hidalgo Múgica, Julia Oldham, James Rouvelle & Lili Maya, Daniel Schludi, SP Weather Station, Chad Stayrook, Studio AND, Flint Weisser, Elizabeth Whalley, Jing YuThe Metric System is a New York-based collective that encourages cross-disciplinary collaborations between artists, thinkers, scientists, and political activists.

New Work!

I am still recovering from the all the hullabaloo from NYC Design Week and the frenzied weeks leading up to the main event. After getting several solid nights of sleep, I am still regrouping, putting the studio back together and getting ready to start the next projects that had to remain on the drawing board for this round. In the meanwhile, I have gotten the chance to take photos of my work and update my webpage. To see what all the fuss has been about click HERE.


The Model Citizens NYC 2010 show was a complete success and really distinguished itself as an breakout-independent alternative to the ICFF zoo. My deepest thanks to the amazing people that worked so hard to make it happen! There has been lots of buzz surrounding the event, and bunch of some articles can already be found at: Core77, Inhabitat, Design Glut, NOTCOT, and Metropolis


I am planning on posting a lot in the coming weeks. I am taking a break from the shop and going to Providence and Boston for final critiques at RISD. I am also very much looking forward to checking out the RISD Graduate Exhibition, the RISD Glass Graduate Thesis Show AND the RISD Glass Senior Show. I will be bringing my laptop to download some of my thoughts amassed while pulling together all of this work.

Model Citizen NYC 2010

Hello Everyone! I am pleased announce that I will be showing all (very) new work at Model Citizens NYC next week (may 15-17) during NYC Design Week and ICFF.

http://www.modelcitizensnyc.com/

This is the second incarnation of Model Citizen NYC and, I have to say, I think it is going to be a phenomenal show. MC-NYC is organized by my dear friend Mika Braakman, who has really out done herself this year. I had the chance to visit the space at Hosfelt Gallery last week and it is absolutely gorgeous (and across the street from the Javits Center).

This years show will be featuring over 40 artists and designers from all around the country and the world AND will be host a small pop-up-shop stocked with a small assortment of curated production. I will be selling two small production runs, including the acorn-pods shown above.

In addition, I am thrilled that a bunch of old friends will also be showing work including: Emily Rothschild & Tom Weis, Brendan Ravenhill, Virginia Griswold, and GRAIN Design.

I will be looking forward to catching up and seeing their latest and greatest! If you are in the NYC area next week you must stop by and say hi!


MODEL CITIZENS NYC 2010

Opening Night Party: Saturday May 15, 5am-9pm

Show Hours:
Saturday May 15, 11am-5pm
Sunday May 16: 11am – 7pm

Monday May 17: 11am- 7pm
 


Hosfelt Gallery
531 West 36th Street, Second floor

New York, NY 10018


GOOGLE MAP

On 36th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues.

Making A Good Thing Better

Yesterday, a new tool arrived that I was eagerly awaiting. It was a Lee Valley Veritas Pullshave. I am about to start shaping the seat of the chair that I am working on and I wanted any alternative to my too-flat-scorp (as see below) that I have and also didn’t want to bust out the angle grinder and fill the shop with an inch of dust.

The Pullshave is basically a concave spokeshave with the wing handles replaces with those as you would find on a cabinet scraper. As with every tool that I have bought from Lee Valley, the tool is very well built, affordably priced and arrives a 10-minute-honing-session away from wood-shaving-fun-time. However, I have discovered that sometimes no matter the quality of the tool sometime you have to modify/ tune a tool to get it to work specifically the way you want it to work.

In the past couple of years, I have I bought and restored dozens of used tools- some newish and but most pretty old (mostly from the turn of the century- the 20th century). During my restorations, I learned a lot of tricks about how tune tools to sing like the day they were made, and in many cases better. Restoring tools isn’t for everyone. It takes patience, time, and the willingness to take a file to the tool. For most people that can be somewhat daunting with an old tool, but with a shiny brand new tool it can be outright terrifying. However, sometimes a little grinding or lapping can make the difference between a good to and an outstanding tool.

So what was were the issues with the Pullshave?

Rapid Prototyping

There are plenty of times when for one reason or another you have to get things right the first time. You might have a fast approaching deadline, perhaps you only have enough material for one try, or the material is expensive enough that you really can’t afford to waste it. In the case of my latest projects, all three happen to be the case.

I am preparing a new body of work to show (Model Citizens NYC 2010) during NYC design week and ICFF. With just a month left to get prepare and I have a very (over) ambitious plan to launch a furniture collection, a series of chandeliers, and have two small production runs for sale. There’s a lot to do and there’s no time to waste. There is also very little time to test/experiment/prototype/fail so every design decision has to be sound as a pound.

Working To The Line

Most making is all about working to a line. The line is an ideal. It’s an invisible barrier exists in all things. Sometimes it is hidden somewhere deep within, waiting for you find it. Often, you have to stalk it with great care, sometime creeping up on it very carefully. Sometime you approach the line with fear, stopping short before you get there. Other times you might plow straight past the line, usually the result of impatience or inexperience. Maybe you were already at the line, but you weren’t able to recognize it.

What is the line?

Jack of All Trades...

... master of none.

That's how the old saying goes. I think about this expression a lot, as it relates to both people and process.

In the picture above, is my No.62 Low Angle Jack Plane (yup, it's a jack of all trades). This plane is fantastic! It's one of the first plane's got when I started down the dark path of woodworking with hand tools. What makes it so great? Well to start off, it's got a bevel up blade, bedded at a very low angle (12 degrees). Considered a large format block plane, it's a crack shot at tackling end-grain and shooting the ends of boards. The sole is 14" long which also means it's totally proficient at jointing and flattening boards (as long as they are not too big). Also, it's got an adjustable mouth to shift between wide open (for material removal) and super tight (for fine smoothing). Finally, because the blade is bevel up, by buying multiple blades you can optimize the effective cutting angles and blade profiles for just about every planing scenario. Sounds great right?

Well, what are all those other planes doing in the background?

About this blog

So I have finally decided to start writing a blog.

Q:Why now?
A:Why not...

Q:Why blog?