RIFFING ON GUITARS

Salvaged roadside guitars were measured, traced, cross-sectioned and chopped.
A friend gutted her dead piano and I was gifted with a huge bag of piano hammers.  Vintage furniture limbs and sundry household implements made the cut for repurposing in these sculptural assemblages.  These high-flying, stringless instruments are available for anyone to play.  Exhibiting now at Sudbury School of Music.

Guitano II: Running at The Mouth, by Cathleen Bradley

I don't type very well so ...

Louie Armstong is scattin' in the center

Guitano 1: Play Me Another, by Cathleen Bradley

Game on!

Stay tuned for more riffs.

Doggy gets into the act, too. (photo by Paige)

Now Exhibiting ...

... accepted in the 2013 Frances N. Roddy Competition / Concord Art Association, Concord MA.  / exhibiting 'til October 13  /  juried by Nick Capasso, director Fitchburg Art Museum  (formerly of deCordova Art Museum).

Window Shopping

My goods are now gracing the storefront window in the Drawing Room
at Anthi Frangiadis Associates.  This one-stop shop for Architecture / Interiors / Planning now houses my pillows, a lamp, a fowl-playhouse, found-object sculptures, assemblage constructions and more.  If you are in the Cape Cod area, please take time for a lovely coastal drive to 11 Spring Street, Marion MA to check it out for yourself.

CB's goods in the Drawing Room at Anthi.

Students in the Studio

The summer art sessions in studioCB have proven once again that stretching one's imagination and thinking creatively rules over prepackaged art kits any day.

Kids, ages 9-16, have been designing, drawing, print-making, drilling, cutting,  hammering, measuring and re-imagining.

One student's exploration of replicating an object using 6 different mediums.

Sam's Walldoll measures almost 3'.
He learned to use a small hand drill
and to wire parts together for a
strong hold.

Lauren's wall sculpture was inspired by  women's vintage headwear.

Leather boots started from cardboard and styrofoam,
by Serena and Erin.

Ben's eye-full includes piano parts and leather.

A 10 year old found her groove mixing it up with paint, pastels, pens, pencils, and a tissue dress pattern. 

Bubble wrap and water colors created the blue and lavender polkadot blossom.

Colored pencils, black ink art pens, crayon pastels and a perforated kitchen tool  template.

Layers, layers, layers!

A steady hand holding a black ink art pen made this pink and orange posy pop!

US Flag / Assemble Your Own

Why buy Old Glory when you probably have stuff around the house to make your own.

Frame and Substrate:  Old window shutter minus the slats , piece of MDF
             Mixed Media: old books, building blocks, postage stamp, bingo game, music sheets, random hardware, ruler, license plates, left-over scraps from prior art projects, leather, furniture and architectural remnants
Tools: bandsaw, hammer, nails, wood glue, screws, hand-drill and bits, sand paper, ruler

Old Glory II

Red, white and ...

... blue

Repurpose a Wooden Box

               Old wooden, weathered window boxes get a new license on life
----along with all the rescued and repurposed paraphernalia that now dress them.

All for sale last weekend of June in Marion MA,  SEMAX sale.

Nothing is safe from reuse

Former garden gate and rescued plate team up.
.

Sitting pretty, with or without a purpose, really.

Cracked bat hits a home run and offers a grip 

.

Spring in the Studio

 

I'm still working with my stash of century-old farming implements.   After years of being stashed in a dusty barn attic, the lengthy tapered timber was cut,  delicately cleaned and then varnished to show-off the original layers of bold paint.
 Now gleaming and repurposed into sculptural assemblages, the timber's old farmyard counterparts ---mules perhaps, just might be jealous of their counterparts' new lease on life. If only the barn's walls could talk ...

Renoir Tea

Joy-ride

Barnyard View

Gardner's Tea II

Finally seeing the light of day, this quartet is off to the FIne Art and Fiddle Fest !

 Sudbury Art Association will be well represented this Friday and Saturday May 17-18, 2013,

Wayside Inn.  Should be a lively and colorful feast for the senses: music / food / art /sunshine

Earl Grey: Teapot by way of Found-Object Assemblage

 Teapot #4 .  Repurposing tough old timber cut from a long, tapered farming implement.

Earl Grey, 

Found-objects, polished and repurposed

A tall deluxe grande

High octane, 

A cup of tea to start your engine before you head out the door

Overkill

As I have said, art should make you feel something.   It should move you  ---make you smile, cringe, dream, visualize, think.

This is my reaction to an NRA notion that teachers should carry guns in schools.   Disturbing.

And seriously, if we register our cars, all guns should be registered, too.  Background checks?---take as long as you need.  Don't get me going on types of guns ... big difference in hunting an animal vs. shredding an animal ---unless the plan is to make jerky on the spot.

    

Overkill /  12"x12"x6"

Overkill (back and side view)

Always something surprising on the inside.

Apple Power

Problems of Power (2'x2') from studioCB

Problems of Power,  a mixed-media construction.

Apples are used symbolically in many stories and myths ---carrying themes of immortality, youth, love and power ... just ask Eve.

-timber (original paint)
-leather
-book covers
-acrylic paint
-vintage game boards
-baseball skin

Nothing like creative relief when a project has been taking up mental space for awhile.  This apple-of-my-eye is on view at Dr. Mia Fitzgerald's office/gallery until ... someone bites!

heavy is the head that wears the crown

on fire with a stash of painted timber

*note the assemblage's title, lower right

Old Glory

My long-time desire to produce a community-made assemblage has come to fruition!

 Old Glory. (found-object assemblage, 2'x3', attached to plywood cradled frame)

Finding the right glues to hold objects tight was key.  

Recognize anything you throw away?

Presently, Old Glory,  is on exhibit at the Goodnow Library in Sudbury, MA and will move around town to other public and private spaces and businesses for local viewing.