C.V.SmithARTWORKS - Meanderings of a Maine Artist... sculptor Cynthia Smith

Oscar Wilde versus the Chicken or the Egg

2/9/2023

Fellow Saltwater artist Pat Higgins recently emailed me a photo snails on a vertical rock formation because they reminded her of my gallery display of snail magnets (see my blog post from 9/17/19). Oscar Wilde once said "Life imitates art far more than art imitates life..." but I certainly think there is an equally valid argument to be made for the opposite sentiment. I know that after first coming up with the idea of creating snail magnets, I then had to figure out a way to effectively display them. A memory from my youth (and that is going back some!) of periwinkle snails attached to pier pilings came to mind and I was able to recreate a version of that image by attaching two short lengths of old cedar post to a length of weathered board. Finished snails could then be affixed to small magnets that had been imbedded in each post resulting in an appealing, and somewhat life-like, presentation. As for Mr. Wilde's observation regarding life and art, I think that, in the end, it may come down to the same conundrum as in the "chicken and the egg" debate. As for the snail magnet display, I keep having to replace the snails, so it would seem that visitors to the gallery relate to this creation resulting from a childhood memory.

Saltwater Artists Gallery '22 ... DownEast Best of Maine

10/26/2022

The 2022 show season has come to a close for Saltwater Artists Gallery. Our last day was Saturday, October 15th. It was a successful season with many returning customers, as well as many new ones. We were very proud to have been voted a finalist in DownEast magazine's Readers' Choice Best of Maine Art Gallery category.
Also of note during the 2022 season...new members Nicole Nappi (painter) and Beth Thompson (jeweler), proved to be a perfect fit to the gallery...in August four of our members, Mark Malinowski, Carol Ast, Scott White, and Bob Schilke held a successful 1st annual Plein Air Day, painting in the area around the gallery and Pemaquid Point... and stained glass artist Janet Lockhart organized a fundraiser at the gallery in support of Ukraine, raising over $3,000 to be donated to the World Central Kitchen and Save the Children.
 We will be keeping our customers up to date on member activities during the off-season via our Gallery newsletter and we look forward to opening day on Memorial weekend of 2023.

...my display area at Saltwater for 2022

Hope in the Window ... Reincarnated, Framed, and Planted

5/28/2022

Painting & backing board

I would never claim to be a painter, but I do have a few paintings remaining from college classes that I took many years ago. I recently un-earthed a 13"x16" section that I had excised from one of those paintings (I had "liberated" what I felt was the more interesting portion of a larger composition). As is often the case for me, this kind of rediscovery can be the impetus for a "reincarnation". In my mind I immediately pictured this image of a woman peering out of a small window. The proportions of the woman and her apparent proximity to the window would make her look larger and the window look smaller. I also wanted something on the sill - perhaps a small flower pot containing a seedling?

I began this piece by adhering the painting to a 1/4" thick piece of birch plywood so that I would be able to mount it in the to-be-constructed window frame and to insure that the canvas wouldn't distort over time. I then proceeded to construct a small window that included a recess on the back side where the painting could be attached with small screws. I painted the window an off-white, and, before installing the painting, I painted out the partial image of a second figure that could be seen over the left shoulder of the woman in the foreground.

"Window" constructed & painted

Back side - showing inset

Painting edited & mounted

The next step was to tackle the potted plant for the sill. I had a 3" terra cotta seedling pot that was a perfect size for what I had in mind, but it was "new", so I "aged" it using acrylic paint. I wanted to attach the pot with a bolt rather than simply epoxying it to the sill. I put a 1/4 thick layer of Apoxie clay in the bottom of the cup to prevent the pot from cracking when the bolt was tightened, and then drilled a hole through it after it hardened. I then drilled a hole in the sill and made sure that the pot would screw into it securely. I was ready to "plant".

Seedling pot - before & after "aging"

Attachment set-up

Styrofoam "plug"

...planted

To create the illusion of a dirt-filled pot, I first fashioned a slightly tapered cylinder of styrofoam that fit into the pot. I coated the top of the styrofoam plug with a 1/4" thick layer of Apoxie clay, and textured the clay to look like dirt. After the Apoxie clay hardened, I used acrylics to paint it a "dirt" color and then epoxied the cylinder into the pot. The final step was to drill 2 holes so that I could "plant" 2 very small (plastic) flowers and then screw the pot into the sill. C'est fini!
(P.S. I generally have some sort of internal narrative or back story to most of my work, and the title "Hope in the Window" for this piece came from my dismay over the war in Ukraine and my hope that good will triumph over evil .)

"Hope in the Window" ....complete

Midsummer Night's Dream ... Mask Sculpture for River Arts

5/1/2022

As the May 7th deadline for the upcoming "Wild Things" show at River Arts Gallery in Damariscotta approached, I consulted my inventory of potential sculpture submission pieces. The piece that jumped out as most appropriate for the theme was a mask that I had done a number of years ago. It featured the face of a character that had a jester-like appearance with wild hair, a broad collar with bells, and large donkey-like ears... and, with a little tweak, would fit the bill.

Mold ... gessoed mask ... plaster cast

Front view

Detail

Detail

Back view

The original process for making the mask had first involved making a life-mold of my face and then making a plaster cast from that mold. The cast was covered with plastic wrap and then then draped with artificial chamois cloth that had been dipped into a mixture of wheat paste and wood glue (1/5 ratio). Once the chamois dried it was trimmed into the desired shape. I added ears cut from sheets of backed gray felt, then coated the mask and the felt backing with gesso. After attaching the mask to a dowel and sealing the inside of the mask with a thin handmade paper that had pieces of natural grasses imbedded in it, I tinted the face with color and added leather eyebrows and thin strips of leather for the hair. Finally I attached the small bells on wires to grommets I had placed along the edge of the mask collar. Ready for fun and frolic.
In order to show the mask to best advantage at the River Arts show, I wanted to mount it on a stand, but I still wanted to be able to preserve its integrity as a usable mask. To this end, I drilled a hole in the end of the handle so that the mask could be placed on a base for display, but could be easily removed, if so desired. I made a base out from a 6" x 6" x 3" block of sapele wood. I sanded and sealed the base with satin poly and then added a short 1/4" metal rod.
"Midsummer Night's Dream" was now ready for show!

Base

Midsummer Night's Dream

Underwater Landscaping ... Deep Sea Diver Upgrade

12/28/2021

Original "Deep Sea Diver"

Recent downtime found me taking a second look at a sculpture titled "Deep Sea Diver" that I made last spring (see blog entry for 4/29/21). I felt that the support rod took away from the desired visual impact of the "dive" concept of the piece. The question was - how to hide or obscure the rod and not the "diver". I think I knew the answer before I asked the question... that I might be able to incorporate some leftover pieces of twisted bark that I had used in the making of my bronze sculpture "Lucky Seven" (see my blog posts for 4/22/16 & 7/18/16). Bingo!
As I experimented with the placement of several of the bark strips, I found that the curved ends of the strips would curl closely around both the bottom of the rod and the body of the "diver". The next step was to figure out how to attach the strips securely.

Testing

First 2 insertion holes

Attachment pins

2 attached

Attaching the strips involved using my Dremel to create insertion holes for the ends of each strip in the driftwood base. I also added a small metal pin into the edge of each strip at the point where the edge of the strip actually touched the body of the "Diver". I drilled holes to receive the pins in the body and then epoxied each strip end and pin into their respective holes. I further secured the strips by adding a toothpick "pin" through overlapping flat areas of the strips. In addition to the 3 long strips that I attached around the rod, I also added 2 shorter strips about an inch further behind the base of the rod to further enhance the flow and effectiveness of the composition. I feel the addition of the "landscaping" added to the illusion of motion and of being underwater...and, even better, added a sense of playfulness. :)

ArtinME '21 & the YARMOUTH ART FESTIVAL ...

10/11/2021

ArtinME, the annual statewide juried art show at BRAF Gallery in Boothbay Harbor
is back for 2021!

Viscerl Torso... 3 views

After a year off due to the pandemic, the Boothbay Region Art Foundation again will be holding the their annual juried exhibit that is open to all full and part time Maine residents who work in drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture and mixed media. The juror for this year's show was Keith Oehmig, an accomplished painter and the Director of the Wiscasset Bay Gallery. He chose 63 pieces for the show, representing the work of 41 artists. The two that I entered, "Visceral Torso" and Unintended Baggage", I'm happy to say, both were juried into the show. The show will run from Oct.ober 14th through Nov. 14th, Thurs. - Sun., 11am - 5 pm.

Unintended Baggage

The Yarmouth Art Festival is back to its in-person format for the 13th edition of this annual juried show at St. Bartholomew's Church in Yarmouth show after having to go virtual in 2020 . The jurors for this years show were Peggy Greenhut, founder of the Greenhut

Of One Mind

Gallery, Anne Haas, former Bowdoin College art librarian, and freelance art curator Wes Lafountain. Out of the 587 pieces submitted, the jurors chose 179 by 108 artists for this year's exhibition. Again, I'm happy to say that my plaster relief sculpture entry,"Of One Mind", was juried into the show. Net proceeds from the '21 show will be donated to the Yarmouth Food Pantry, St. Elizabeth's Jubilee Center, and the Friendship House. The show will run Wednesday through Friday from October 20-22 (10 am-7 pm), and on Saturday, October 23 (10 am-3 pm) at St. Bartholomew's Epsicopal Church in Yarmouth.

Saltwater Artists Gallery '21 ... New Harbor, Maine

6/24/2021

Early sales and a display area update

Life in Maine is finally getting back to a more familiar state of normal. Masks are coming off, vaccinations are going into people's arms, and businesses are gearing up for full capacity. After opening for long weekends in mid-May, Saltwater Artists Gallery in New Harbor opened full time, seven days a week, on June 18th. There has been a steady stream of visitors stopping by the gallery. Folks then head just down the street to see the view from the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse and to check on the progress of the rebuilding of the Seagull Shop & Restaurant that was destroyed by fire in 2020.
This Saturday, June 28th, we will be hosting our "Meet the Artist" reception from 1-5 PM. It's a great chance for visitors to stop by to talk to our member artists while viewing all of the artwork on display in the gallery. We are a non-profit cooperative gallery with 25 jury-selected member artists, who work in a wide variety of media: painting, sculpture, wood-turning, glass, jewelry, printmaking, pottery, pottery and fiber arts. The 2021 season has started off strong, and we are looking forward to the reception on Saturday and to meeting the many folks who appreciate and support our local Maine artists.

Open full time for the season

Stairway Triptych ... Hanging at Saltwater Artists Gallery

5/26/2021

3 pieces

Holes drilled

With the start of the Maine art season fast approaching, I used the last couple of weeks to finish up one more project for my display area at Saltwater Artists Gallery in New Harbor. It is a three-piece ceramic relief sculpture that had been glazed and fired, but still needed to be mounted on a backing board.
On the back side of each piece there were a series of holes for mounting pegs. After determining the spacing of the pieces on the backing board, I drilled corresponding peg holes in the board and spray painted the board with Caribbean Sand textured spray paint. I then epoxied short wooden dowels into the holes in the ceramic pieces. The last step before mounting the pieces on

Pegs epoxied

Reverse side set-up

the board was to attach a wooden strip on the back (to allow the piece to hang flat in spite of the weight of the ceramic pieces) and a hanging wire.
Finally I epoxied each piece to the backing board - it was ready to hang! I loaded it and the rest of the work that I had selected into my car and headed to New Harbor to set up my display area at Saltwater Artists Gallery. The gallery opens for long weekends starting May 28th and then will be open daily starting on June 18th...stop by if you are in the neighborhood!

Mounted

Hung

..."Stairway Triptych" and friends - ready for Saltwater Artists Gallery opening day

Deep Sea Diver ... Driftwood Rescued, Rehabbed, and Reborn

4/29/2021

Driftwood "seal" - view 1

Driftwood "seal" - view 2

My latest project was the rehabbing and rebirth of a piece of driftwood that I found a number of years ago at a coastal antique/collectible/junk shop. Someone had tapered it, sanded some areas smooth, given it a glossy coat of shellac or polyurethane and some kind of push pin eyes. How it eventually ended up at the shop I don't know, but it called out to be rescued. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I couldn't leave it behind.

Driftwood "wave" top surface

Underneath the "wave"

Assembled base with rod

I knew the first thing I had to do was to try to remove or tone down the glossy exterior coating on the driftwood. I ended up using paint thinner then denatured alcohol, followed by some gentle elbow grease with 220 grit sandpaper. After removing some areas of "punky" wood, I proceeded to shape and sand various "protuberances" to enhance the seal-like form that I saw in the contours of the driftwood. Finally I gave it a coat of satin polyurethane.
The next step was to create a base and support on which to mount the "seal". This would involve another piece of rescued driftwood, a short section of an old cedar post, and a metal rod. This second piece of nicely grayed driftwood had a wave-like shape that I thought would work well with the direction I was headed in with the piece. After cleaning up some pithy areas and shaping its edges a bit, I fitted and attached a 3 3/4" tall piece of an old cedar post to the underside of the "wave" to elevate it off of the yellowheart board that would act as the base of the sculpture.
The first step in assembling the piece involved drilling a hole in the base to accept the 12" metal rod that would hold up the seal., That was the easy part. Next I had to drill a hole in the seal's chest to receive the other end of the rod. I had to figure

out how I wanted to position the seal over the wave and then determine the angle the hole needed to be drilled in order to achieve that angle. The final step was to epoxy the rod into the base and then the seal onto the rod. The driftwood seal was finally where it was meant to be.

"Deep Sea Diver" ... 3 views

Branch Hole Sculpture ... Mounted & Complete

4/17/2021

As I said in the first installment of this series...a picture is worth a thousand words.

- and now on to my next adventure in sculptureland....