Michael David Wickerson

20WICKERSONSTUDIOS12

2012-01-17T07:22:00.000-08:00

Cupola Cart

2011-12-04T08:59:00.000-08:00

This special gift is for our mid-wife, Sara Wallbaum. She truly wrestled with bringing Max into this world. Our thanks cannot be expressed enough. - Michael, Beth, and Oscar

Beacon

2011-12-04T08:52:00.001-08:00

A beacon of light shines across the cold November field while Beth gives life to her second son, Max Oliver Wickerson, 200 yards away in front of the family hearth. He is a giant.

10WICKERSON11

2011-09-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

10WICKERSON11 by Michael Wickerson | Make Your Own Book

"feather"

2011-08-18T06:18:00.001-07:00

Authenticity has become a key word for me in my life and it reflects my ability to positively affect the existing world around me. It is a force that can be defined by work and distance, however I recognize that the work must be powered by my heart and the distance covered must be done through personal vision.

Naked Architecture

2011-08-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

Interested in the architecture of happiness, Michael Wickerson has nurtured a relationship with Architect/directeur Erik Muelenbelt from Naked Architecture in the Netherlands. Both Erik and Michael share several interests in dealing with the possibilities of reconstructing old machines that give a city a unique medieval atmosphere; consider the possibilities of incorporating linear metal castings into existing buildings and structures; and desire to complete the construction and installation of a U-tope at Wickerson Studios in the United States. Sustaining a working and living environment off of any grid system remains the most difficult and exciting question faced by both artist and architect in this international exchange of ideas.

Wickerson Studios

2011-07-22T06:49:00.001-07:00

Bronze Casting

2011-06-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

Just incase you are interested, I am casting 40# pots of Silicon Bronze in 1 hour in my backyard, I only use KINGSTON charcoal and a gas generator. I am completely off the grid and the power is fantastic to witness. I believe that I am the only human alive doing this. No propane, no natural gas lines, and no electric power lines. Like I said, to witness the furnace in full action is overwhelming. I must act in the early morning hours to avoid heat exhaustion. I melted a steel lid this morning and had plenty of time to clean the metal before pouring. I really must congradulate myself on my sabbatical research that began last fall in Berlin. I call the foundry, the Greive Foundry, and I feel completely authentic in my actions. My anxiety has transformed into pure adrenaline, once and for all. - Michael

The Grieve Foundry

2011-05-31T06:30:00.000-07:00

Stationary Equipment:
Bronze Foundry, horizontal bandsaw, vertical bandsaw, drill press, AC welder, table saw, hot saw, compressor, cement mixer, generator, 250 amp stove for burnout, bridge crane, vertical boom

Hand Machines:
Grinder, saws-all, drills, skill saw, router, chainsaw

Hand Tools:
wheel barrow, dolly, shovels, spades, diggers, axes, etc...

Fuel:
Propane, Coke, charcoal, electricity, pneumatic, gasoline

Gravel road, winch system, bloc and tackle, small lawn tractor and 10 cu. ft. trailer,

Garden Food:
Oats, wheat, rye, barley, corn, watermelon, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, corn, hops, broccoli, etc...

Digital Prints Available, 1995-2008

2011-02-27T12:06:00.000-08:00

Custom digital prints are available from www.cornbreadworks.nl . Images document the works from six exhibitions spanning 13 years traveling from Canada to Holland:
Pekao Gallery, Lifting & Pulling (1995)
Meg Gallery, Resting Machines (1996)
Meg Gallery, Use-Value/Exchange-Value (1998)
Meg Gallery, Ice Tools: Process (2000)
Meg Gallery, This Equipment Belongs to the Earth (2001)
Sluishoef Oranjerie, Cupola/Cupola (2008)

Fallen trees and surrounding mud

2011-02-22T09:39:00.000-08:00

Wickerson Studios is a 'state' created from the clay of the earth and the timber of the fallen trees. Two structures have emerged from their foundations: a bathhouse and a foundry.

The bathhouse digs deep into the earth and boils rainwater into the air. It is a place for the mind and soul and constantly resists the term, dwelling. Gardens grow both inside and out and animals nest in its branches and twigs. No work will be done in this place. It is a place for well-deserved rest, relaxation and healing.

The foundry is the laboratory. Raised and rammed from the dead trees and surrounding mud. This building houses the equipment required to cast liquid iron and bronze and the machines capable of manipulating and transforming cold steel. Traditional lost wax castings find their forms within this earthwork and the artist's endurance and strength are tested within its walls.

Sunlight is the only light that is ever provided. The winds and rains penetrate the privacy of these two special places. Everything is seasonal. The summer sun exhausts and the winter chill bites. It is easy to feel alive in this place.

-Michael Wickerson, Winter 2011

Treadmill: Naked Architecture

2011-02-18T18:28:00.000-08:00

Stadskraan, Utrecht
This is a study to explore the possibilities of a reconstruction of an old machine that gave the city of Utrecht a unique medieval atmosphere. The way Utrecht’s wharfs have been used is most visible at this point. It’s the wharf in front of de ‘Winkel van Sinkel’ where the crane discharged boats towards the low wharf, where a ‘wed’, a long ramp, was used to distribute the goods (mostly beerbarrels) into town, or towards the higher street level, where the ‘waag’ was located, to weigh the merchandise.

Link:
http://www.nakedarchitecture.nl/frsets/new/Stadskraan/Stadskran.html

Stadstimmerwerf

Quotes and Notes

2011-02-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

I recommend constant activity in the study of nature; and with this sort of activity more than any other I bring calm to my life. - Laertius Diogenes Epicurius letter to Herodotus

A concept is a phantasm of the intellect, and is neither a something nor a qualified thing, but [rather] a quasi-something and a quasi-qualified thing; for example, there arises an impression of a horse even when no horse is present. - Laertius Diogenes Logic and the Theory of Knowledge

Ambiguity is a speech which signifies two or even more things, linguistically and strictly and in virtue of the same usage, so that by means of this speech several things are understood at the same time. For example "a house fell three times" and " a flute girl fell". - Laertius Diogenes Logic and the Theory of Knowledge

And regret is [a feeling of] pain [one has] about actions which have been performed, because [of the belief that] they were [moral] mistakes made by oneself; and this is a passion of the soul which produces unhappiness and internal strife. - John Stobaeus Anthology 2, 5-12 (pp. 57-116 W-H)

Hesiod said this of stalling; "do not stall until tomorrow and the next day;" and " a man who puts off his work always wrestles with disaster" since stalling produces an abandonment of one's proper jobs. - John Stobaeus Anthology 2, 5-12 (pp. 57-116 W-H)

Recommended Texts:
The Sculpture Reference - Authur Williams
The Self-Sufficient Life and how to live it - John Seymour
The Illustrated Signs & Symbols Sourcebook, an A to Z compendium of over 1000 Designs - Adele Nozedar
Natural History, the ultimate visual guide to everything on earth - Smithsonian Institute

Iron and Bronze Casting Collaboration

2011-02-07T17:45:00.000-08:00

How does your project address an important problem or strength?

We wish to continue supporting the education of iron and bronze casting processes introduced to high school students over the past two years in collaboration with the sculpture department at KCAI and continued at Wickerson Studios during the fall of 2010.

To what extent does your project employ research-based effective practices?

High school student research involves both hands on demonstration through workshop exercises and conceptual development involving writing and presentations.

How does your project promote innovative and challenging teaching and learning?

Traditional methods of casting are not commonly introduced and accomplished during general curriculum at the high school level. Digital media can be used as a foundation for modeling and working traditional materials and processes in the production of cast bronze and iron.

Does your project advance discovery and understanding within its field or across different fields?

Metal casting can assist a student in a wide range of subject matter and interests. Historically it remains a basis of every civilization. Artifacts and implements speak of a cultures political and social significance. Religious and secular relics demand interpretations and economies are held together by the commodities and lifestyles which are dependent on metal casting production which defines everything from a civilizations military weapons to a civilizations household domestic utensils.

Student's interest in physics, chemistry and engineering will be able to take a keen interest in this ancient project and many student will discover their own personal voice through exploring their ability to craft forms and manage a complex studio/laboratory environment.

Does your project develop concepts, approaches, tools, methodologies or technologies to solve problems in a new way?

Computer programs are becoming more and more the foundation for how academics and businesses approach everything from architecture to designing cups and saucers. This virtual reality of computer-based technologies must still find it way into our world through actual object and form production. It is the bridge from the conception of an idea to the manifestation of the object-in-the-world that posses the greatest problem for anyone desiring to create on all levels of society. Sculpture still has a traditional relevance and importance in regard to this challenge for culture and society. New technologies are always welcome but they need not eliminate the traditional and old. Efficiency in a new medium does not negate the beauty of the past. The synthesis of the memories of the past and desires for the future need to reveal themselves in the present through a thorough understanding of all possibilities.

Wickerson Studios: A State of Dwelling

2011-01-24T06:14:00.000-08:00

With all this snow I have decided to clean up the woodland on my property and set the timber into a new building on the foundation that once supported a barn on my land. I have cut down most of the trees I require and I am currently hauling the felled trunks on top the ice and snow with rope, block and tackle.

Volunteers should be interested in and capable of:
1. Hitching and hauling logs (rope, block and tackle)
2. Cutting and joining timber (adze, chisel and mallet)
3. Raising a natural framework (pulley and lever)
and
4. Designing and fabricating the doors and framework for the windows and roof. (each self propelled wheel)

Who: Volunteers
What: Second Dwelling: Earth and Timber
Where: Wickerson Studios
Why: To Build a State: And a 'state' is used in three senses: as a dwelling place, as a complex system of [people], and the third is a combination of these two senses. - Cleanthes
When: January/February 2011

Requirements:
Volunteers will have to provide insurance information prior to working on the property.

Interested persons should express their interest via email through the contact page located at: www.wickersonstudios.com

Ongoing information will be provided under the "PROJECT" section located in the "ART" section of the website.

Coke Fired Bronze Pour

2011-01-19T10:01:00.000-08:00

I have been wrestling with this for a week and finally I managed to turn this gas furnace into a coke fired furnace. I have been able to melt silicon bronze with 40# of coke in the furnace and 2 gallons of gasoline in the generator that runs the blower. It takes about 2 1/2 hours to melt. The trick is to burn the coke evening around the pot and keeping the pot from dropping. Propane and natural gas would cost more and require less of my attention. This has been frustrating, to say the least, but I enjoy the struggle.

Zokaites: Man of War, cast iron, 2010-2011

2011-01-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

In addition to assisting in the arrangement of the foundry and metal shop equipment in and around Wickerson Studios, Bobby Zokaites managed to install his recent work, Man of War, 24 hours prior to seasons first substantial snow fall. Furthermore, Bobby plans to burn out a small investment mold and cast the first bronze work in the open air studio during his two week winter stay at Wickerson Studios in the winter of 2011. Good luck!

Iron Pour with Shawnee Mission High School

2010-11-15T16:30:00.000-08:00

This Iron Clad Collaboration began when Rosie Riorden appeared one morning in the sculpture foundry at the Kansas City Art Institute along with 11 other high school teachers. What followed was a high energy, fast paced workshop that consumed everyone in the studio. The #90 crucible had to struggle to keep up with the students who volunteered to cast the sand molds around the clay and carved objects the teachers were making. From the start, students like, Lea Griggs, were able to demonstrate the casting methods they had been learning in the sculpture department and demonstrate them in a safe and extraordinarily efficient manner. When the smoke had literally clears, every side, top and bottom of each sand mold held an individual work. Teachers poured metal, many for the first time, students ran the furnaces and I enjoyed every trilling minute of it.

After a couple of months, I received a call from Rosie inviting me down to the Shawnee Mission West High School and I immediately invited one of my directed study student, Torre Lewis. Rosie introduced us to her students and showcased the new Patrons Gallery the high school. It was at this time that I recognized the potential for making this show into something much more complex and difficult and Torre was certainly up for the challenge. With the assistance of Timothy Skornia, Shane Jezowski, Lea Griggs and several other students, the students began volunteering to work directly with Rosie's students every Friday morning at 7:15 am over the course of the fall term. I was glad to hear that they organized an iron casting field trip on Friday October 2nd and began brainstorming ideas. In the end, they all managed to carry out their vision in a clear and determined fashion while mentoring Rosie's students.

KCAI sculpture students provided the Shawnee Mission students with images and examples of pre-existing molds and soon they were in full production. The field trip to KCAI was organized and an iron casting workshop and demonstration was coordinated with a trip to the Nelson and the Kemper. I will let you judge form the exhibition as to how excited and satisfied the high school students were in regards to there first cast iron collaboration. In turn, the KCAI students followed up with the patina, cutting and writing workshops associated when the project and interviews were compiled on paper and video. All that remained was for us to do was install the entire exhibition which included framing and hanging all of the work, publicizing the event and shipping a 500 pound furnace, that melted all of the iron, into the exhibition space.

At this point in time, I can honestly say that this has been the most rewarding exhibition I have taken part in. The opening reception was fantastic, people came together, Torre gave a slide presentation, and the video documentation revealed the essence of the "Iron Clad Collaboration". If you missed the opening, I highly recommend that you attend the Shawnee Mission West Gallery Gala on the 3rd of December.

It is my hope that Rosie and I will be able to extend this invitation to future students at both KCAI and Shawnee Mission West and let new students step into the professional, teaching/mentorship role that so many students benefitted from taking part in during the fall term of 2009.

Part Two:

During the Fall of 2010, Rosie organize a field trip of 40+ students to Wickerson Studios and participated in an all day iron pour that took place during Michael Wickerson's sabbatical from KCAI. Experienced artists: Ashley Anders, John Northington, Shane Jezowski, Stephanie Sterling and newcomer, Max Adolf Nerman, helped to organize and make the day a fantastic experience for all involved.

Small Furnace in Berlin

2010-11-07T06:36:00.000-08:00

Michael Wickerson has just returned from and extensive trip to Holland and Berlin in an effort to better situate his family into the Euopean Union. Relationships continue with cornbreadworks.nl and nakedarchitecture.nl and new relationships are being formed with miriamarentz.de, hotelvillaruimzicht.nl and noyons.com . During a short stay in Berlin Michael managed to fabricate a small aluminum furnace for a collective of artists in hopes of returning and casting some new works in the summer of 2011.

Earth Casting with Oscar

2010-11-03T14:27:00.000-07:00

Celebrating four beautiful seasons at Wickerson Studios, Oscar has witnesses five iron pours and helped his father complete two new and successful earth casts on the property. Although his participation has been kept to a minimum, he has inspired his father to experiment with different ways to create forms that listen and speak to the earth.

Hamlet's Mill

2010-06-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

I have completely lost myself in this landscape sculpture. Hamlet's Mill harkens back to Jung's Tower, a lighthouse in Baltimore, a revolutionary water house in Toulouse, a midwest kiva, an Iranian ice factory, and a traditional coke kiln. Rammed from earth, clay, straw and water; this structure rises from the mud and sets aloft stabilized bricks that intend to arch underneath a herring bone roof. Form follows function, as the space defines itself and sets my body and heart to work. Keeping pace with the rains and the sunshine dictates what chores must be completed today. I am only as good as I am when I am laboring over this form.

"O" is for Oscar, "S" is for Schmidt

2010-05-26T04:40:00.000-07:00

Wickersonstudios has been the happy home to visiting artist and teacher, Araan Schmidt, for the last week of May 2010. During that time Schmidt has worked on; completing his 4500# sand mold, fabricating a #420 ladle for casting aluminum, and casting a 120# letter "O" for our son, Oscar, directly into the earth, not to mention casting his own life-size 400# aluminum form.

Michael Wickerson and Jim Whitworth aided Araan Schmidt in 90 degree weather, and I doubt wickersonstudios will see a harder working and more determined individual for the remaining summer months of 2010. Beth Allison documented the entire event and baby Oscar witnessed his fourth iron pour by the age of eight months.

Wickersonstudios now stands in the wake of Michael's one year sabbatical and has the ability to work iron, stone, timber, and raw earth in a facility that can boast having a 60 x 60 sculpture pad, a bridge crane, hoist, a-frame, cupola, ladles, stone tables, a cement and mortar mixer, a horizontal band-saw, drill press, 4000# of coke (coal), a wealth of timber and lumber, and a field of four leaf clovers. In addition, wickersonstudios is fully equipped with a full range of machining, woodworking, landscaping and special sculpture tools.

Please feel free to contact us, should you be interested in proposing a site specific work and/or would just like to shoot around some creative ideas with a herd of deer or a rafter of turkeys.

From Adobe to Adobe

2010-04-09T08:10:00.000-07:00

WickersonStudios.com will be seasonally exhibiting a selection of artists and scheduling four public cast iron pours per year. From Adobe to Abobe; the physical building of brick and mortar construction to virtual graphic design applications of Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator and InDesign; artist, Michael Wickerson, and designer, Beth Allison Wickerson, would like to celebrate and share their understanding and appreciation of these art and design forms with the national and international professional and creative community.

Please let us know if you would like to be invited to our Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter openings and iron performances.

Michael, Beth and Oscar Wickerson

Cupola, Cupola

2010-04-09T08:01:00.000-07:00

Cupola, Cupola is a complex mixed media sculpture intended to display an alchemic vehicle that fuses together the concepts of both a ship and a bell tower. Inspired by the Klokkenstoelen of Northern Holland, this cupola capped tower and iron casting cupola come together in order to facilitate their own entropic existence. Imagine this smoking leviathan, meandering along, as the bells chime and the wagon lurches, all the while, casting 2500 degree liquid iron into functional wheels and bells.

Cast from boilers placed below the Kansas City Art Institutes administration building in 1904, this artwork memorializes, records and honors the matriarchs of the Wickerson, Polley, Grieve and Evans families in 200 pound iron and nickel cast bells set up to 18 feet in the air. Bellows assist in igniting the charges of iron and coke fuel while the machine struggles to work endlessly into the night.

The ship gathers the flotsam and jetsam of miscast and dead sculptures in its hull and recycles the heavy metals back into
functional equipment. Although "all that is solid melts into air" and "this equipment belongs to the earth", this Sisyphean wagon trudges along, breaks down and rebuilds itself, as it bellows and rings out with all of its might. - Wickerson 2010

"Whether in Cambrian or in other earth
Conceived; or yet in Protozoic slime
And ooze in the abysmal depths of time,
Dawn has concealed thine elemental birth;
Or whether yet, on-creeping man in dearth
Of tool offensive, welcomed thee sublime,
Perverting all thy virtues but to crime
While unmatured lay thy finer worth.
It matters naught-save only this-that now-
Man's better nature to thy baser yields;
His heart is steeled with temper of thine own;
His soul is hardened with thy touch, and thou
Dost send him blindly forth to reap these fields-
'Blood, sweat and tears'-thine iron hand has sown."-G.H. Case, "To Iron Ore", in M.F. Harrington, ed., Poems of Newfoundland, p. 5

"Nor do I doubt that whoever considers this art well will fail to recognize a certain brutishness in it, for the founder is always like a chimney sweep, covered with charcoal and distasteful sooty smoke, his clothing dusty and half burned by the fire, his hands and face all plastered with soft muddy earth. To this is added the fact that for this work a violent and continuous straining of all a man's strength is required which brings great harm to his body and holds many definite dangers in his life. In addition, this art holds the mind of the artificer in suspense and fear regarding its outcome and keeps his spirit disturbed and continually anxious. For this reason they are called fanatics and are despised as fools. but, with all of this, it is a profitable and skillful art and in a large part delightful." Biringguccio, "Pirotechnia

International Residency Program at Can Serrat

2009-07-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

Can Serrat is located in a rustic farmhouse just 45 kilometers outside of Barcelona, within the confines of Montserrat Natural Park. During the month of July, Michael David Wickerson will be working on a series of new artworks that will draw from his knowledge of casting and focus on the landscape of the surrounding region. Extensive trips will made to Barcelona, Spain and Toulouse, France in an effort to better comprehend the magnificence of both the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean. From the mountains to the sea, Wickerson hopes to find a home, if just for a little while, that can frame both his existence and the one he hopes to bring into the world in the fall.

Visit www.canserrat.org for more details.

Three Weeks of Iron Casting/ Three Artists

2009-06-25T23:11:00.000-07:00

Three Artists, 20 thousand pounds of molds, 2000 pounds of iron

During the summer of 2009, artists Araan Schmidt, Michael Wickerson and John Bridges, completed a 20 thousand pound sand casting workshop that spanned 24 days in the month of June and they completed two irons pours for students (Sara Tellini, John Hilger, Mitch Kirkwood), alumni (Casey Palmer, Zac Meyer) and the public (Kim Lindaberry). Working from simple cope & drag designs, multi-piece floating cored molds and inventive 2 & 1/2 ton molds that utilized 850 pound reinforced cores and dozens of 150 pound mold sections, Schmidt, Wickerson and Bridges struggled through the 100 degree heat wave in order to discover what durability and endurance truly mean to both the mind and body.

In the wake of re-casting one ton of iron boilers from past cultural artifacts into new forms ranging from full figures, vessels, bells, abstractions and fire plates, Schmidt, Wickerson and Bridges must now focus on filling their enantimorphs in the late summer months by designing a continuous cupola capable of charging a new 500 pound ladle at KCAI, accessing Clay & Bailey Iron Casting foundry, and simultaneously casting 600 pounds of bronze for one selected artwork.

Casting on this scale has provided the means for testing the stamina, determination and strange conviction one must have in order to push oneself through this kind of un-alienated labor.

Love for labor remains the driving force that passionately weds the means to the ends. - Wickerson July 1st, 2009

Cupola, Cupola

2008-06-21T14:52:00.000-07:00

An exhibition of drawings and sculptures by Michael David Wickerson, at the Sluishoef Oranjerie in De Bilt, The Netherlands

Quietly situated both in and around the glass sunroom of the historical Sluishoef located at Utrechtseweg 315 in De Bilt, the Netherlands, Michael David Wickerson has installed a series of his recent drawing and sculptures by collaborating with an open-minded group of trans-continental architects, photographers, artists and digital professionals.

Cupola, Cupola is a collection of new fangled drawings, bronze sculptures and outdoor public works that have been inspired by the time Wickerson has spent traveling, working and living in the Netherlands, specifically Friesland. It is the northern Klokkenstoelen that captured the imagination of Michael Wickerson and later melded with his iron cupola designs. These bell towers and furnace wagons are the subject of this exhibition and the basis of all of Wickerson’s current projects and works.

This trans-continental exchange would not be possible without the generosity of Annemarie Engbers and Hans Sluijmer, partner of Architectuurbureau Sluijmer en van Leeuwen, and Jaroslaw Rodycz and Christel Derksen of Cornbreadworks

USUK Cast Iron Symposium

2008-06-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

USUK International Cast Iron Sculpture Symposium at Butley Mills Studios

Chair of the Sculpture Department at the Kansas City Art Institute, Michael David Wickerson, will participate in the 9th USUK Symposium at Butley Studio in Suffolk, England. Alongside fifteen artists selected internationally, Wickerson will have the opportunity to produce new cast iron artworks using traditional and experimental methods. This event will conclude with a Public Iron Pour and Group Exhibition. Please view www.corallambert.com/usuk2008.htm for details regarding selected artists and their proposed artworks.

USUK was founded in 1997 by Sculptor Coral Lambert and over the past ten years has traveled to many different places including Wales, England and in America, New Orleans, Minnesota and New York. The 1st, 3rd and 5th USUK were hosted by Sculptor Laurence Edwards and the artists of Yew Tree Farm in Suffolk, England. They are excited to have the 9th USUK Symposium held at their new home of Butley Mills Studios. Situated two hours north east of London, the studios look out over the Tilde River, Orford Ness surrounded by farmland and ancient Oak woodland.

The Last Canadian Man in America

2008-02-26T13:33:00.000-08:00

Chainsaw / Forge / Kiln / Cupola / Solar

Absolute Freedom at 7 Rivers Resort! There is no other way to describe it. Imagine 42 acres of timberland backing onto seven rivers in the middle of America. A place full of meandering gravel paths with heaps of cut and dried hardwood. What more could test the strength, endurance and imagination of any creative spirit? What do we really know about pioneering our own alternative buildings, forging a life for ourselves and constructing and operating our own kilns and furnaces? In fact, unless one has ever challenged themselves beyond the realm of theories and ideas and attempted a hands-on approach of demonstration and experimentation, absolute freedom may very well remain impossible to achieve.

Although most of the processes overviewed in this booklet may appear filthy, exhausting and undesirable, it is my belief that the highest form of clarity in life cannot be achieved without the uncertainly and risk involved in chain-sawing raw timber into new-fangled dwellings, forging metal, firing clay bodies and casting molten bronze and iron. Courage and survival still stand hand in hand. Sustaining oneself depends on relying on ones own resources. Personal instincts, skills and feats of stamina continue to uncover and reveal the wonderful experiences that await us in our lives.

As strange as many of the illustrations and photographs contain in this booklet may seem; my intention is to dig deep into our common desire to build our own foundations on this earth, disregard any traditional dogma, and allow for a more sensitive and better world to emerge.

Half Man / Half Beaver (Chainsaw)

What kind of tree? How kind should one be? I cannot imagine a more efficient and powerful tool that could be set at arms length. The chainsaw is capable of creating the joinery necessary to raise fallen trees and begin building structures dedicated to the pleasures of living life. Remember, every grueling winter could have been held at bay, in the wake of this cruel and superb saw.

By keeping the cuts simple and the design raw, the chainsaw strikes forward and slices backwards, creating bevels and planes that are intended to keep water out of any dwelling. Shelter is provided and artisans and craftsmen move inside. Water towers facilitate the private steam houses and lavatories. Bellows are set in motion and the storage houses fill up with coke, iron and limestone. This building tool is capable of setting carts in motion and launch vessels into the sea. This tool allows the architect, engineer and artist to find common ground. Building makes sense and buildings rise up.

Ownership is called into question when one spends their efforts on creating structures that are intended for many people. Should the one who worked the hardest have the gatekeeper’s authority, or should the one who labors the longest take it easy and free. Never forget that community depends on free exchange and absolute freedom awaits only those who are willing and able to facilitate all that they need.

7 Rivers Resort is located near Warsaw, Missouri. This resident artist project is focused on "getting back to nature". Workshops involving timber will be the basis for building structures, wood carving symposiums, and habitat workshops. These building seminars will allow innovative and experimental artists to reach out into their surroundings collaborate directly with nature in the hopes of pioneering alternative visions.

The progressive thinkers who are affiliated with 7 Rivers Resort are intent on: contributing to human health and welfare, finding technological and innovative new ways to improve life, expanding our knowledge of the world through unique discoveries, protecting our environment and improving our natural and physical surroundings, and conserving and contributing to our common cultural/artistic heritage.

One chainsaw, one backhoe and nine days labor was all that was needed to raise the first “Bull Horn” structure down Artisan Alley at 7 Rivers Resort. A modern day Big Joseph Montferrand (resident artist) came together with Jim Lohe (site manager) and Pat Clarida (property owner) in order to construct the first of many dwellings intended to facilitate housing, baking, carving, forging, casting, firing, dancing and living life.

The Anvil is Ringing (Forge)

What about the pressing need for hinges, latches, bolts, locks and lock plates; sharpened harrow teeth and hoes; and steeled axes? At some point it becomes necessary to center the tuyere and pump the bellows, draw the smoke up the flue and strike down on the anvil. While forging one must become skilled in hammering, fullering, forge welding, puncturing, bending, cutting, riveting and tempering. From the decorative design of a gate to the tempered iron of a pinpoint awl, the forger divulges their craft.

Prior to harnessing the power required to cast liquid metals, the forger demonstrates their skills in transforming and manipulating some of the most stubborn material on this earth. Out of the junkyards of today, handicraft and invention emerge at the hands of our second creator, the Demiurge. This modern Vulcan re-creates from that which has always existed. Iron bars and metal stock are formed and twisted, drawing out their meaning into the world. Forged artifacts take their place among us and satisfy our needs for both the fine arts and practical use.

One of the first craftsmen to appear on the horizon is the forger. Their familiarity and nostalgia, mixed with their contemporary problem solving abilities, makes them one of the most desired instruments employed in a community of artisans intend on regaining the sight of its own goals. The forger very rarely redoubles their efforts without considering where that path leads.

One forge, one anvil and one million strikes of a sledgehammer rang out and revealed the passions of the blacksmith. Providing the visiting artist with the facility and opportunity to create their artworks and heat their studio at the same time seemed to good to be true. Innovation and new technologies allowed the forge to generate residual heat for the forger’s abode and ease the rising need for hot water and cooking conveniences.

While the craftsmen focus on the road underfoot and the artists explores the horizon, it remains for the artisans at 7 Rivers Resort to meld their desires with their talents that are required to assemble a enduring community intent on discovering their collective capacity. The forge stands along side the anvil and together they represents our need to shape or world and lay bare our handiness. The forger recalls and values “what one person can do, another person can do”.

Ole, the Blacksmith (resident artist) laid hold of the forger’s instruments in the fall of 2007, and with those tools he bellowed out a range of new forms and artifacts. Sculptures rose up, the rocks were set in the trees and idle materials began to move. Energy revealed itself in every living being and every being thing. The rocks spoke, the trees sang and the earth moaned.

The Kilns are on Fire

Missouri hardwood is cut with the axe and split by the froe into long strips of fuel and fires rage in the hand made downdraft kilns. Heat races through the bottom flue, under the pottery and up the fourteenfoot stack on the other side of the clay house. The slurry from the neighboring rock quarry is transformed into fired earthenware and stoneware. Heated, once again into solid rock: vessel, tiles, bricks and plates are brought into being. Artifacts are prepared, set a blaze and finished by the dozens.

The hands of the potter press hard into the clay, however the voice of the earth imprints itself, even deeper, in the mind of the artist. Working both rationally and spontaneously, the sculptor refuses to let clay rest or dry out in order to achieve a satisfying form. Soil is set on high, the earth achieves honor and even dirt and mud are celebrated. At the end of our lives, we must also transform back into clay and it is clay alone that stands the chance of being reassembled into a puzzle picture view of our time on this earth.

The ancient pottery needs only to be rebuilt. Its design is timeless and its purpose is clear; drive out the water and cook it into stone. One needs only to consider, very seriously, if the object they have shaped deserves the privilege to be transformed into rock. Once loaded into the kiln and slowly heated, this clump of earth is allowed to hold its form, attain its efficient composition and emanate a meaningful aura.

The Kiln is on Fire – part 2

One kiln, one stack and two thousand degrees Fahrenheit is achieved in order to bake clay in an oven, reach the temperatures required for a furnace and produce synthetic rock in a proficient kiln. Sculptural clay and ceramic sculptures are the outcome, however the downdraft kiln holds the vital heat used for heating the studio and baking a long list of provisions and rations. One needs only to unload the kiln door, brick by brick, and lay back on the stones in order to feel connected to the energy flowing in and around them. The open hearth harkens back to a communal setting, circulated around an open fire, free from confining structures and walls. In this place, one recollects being comforted and a great sense of belonging is achieved.

All of the fuel is available on 7 Rivers Resort. The earth longs to create equipment knowing full well that all equipment belongs to the earth. 7 Rivers Resort beckons the craftsmen and artisans to step forward, One only needs to dig deep into its clays and try their hand at creating the makes of this world. The bricks of the kiln yearn to be heated, long to be taken to temperature and wish to challenge the forms contained within their walls. Few object will endure and stand the test of time. Uncertainly and risk produce the greatest rewards.

The inept, idle and unlucky stand very little chance at creating a clay form that demonstrates the “primacy of the art object”. Clay has waited a long time and longs to wait. The artist has a short time to craft anything of significant value. Mackenzie Inu (resident artist) labors ceaselessly at 7 Rivers Resort: throwing, coiling, hand building and molding many artworks. The fires are tended for days at a time and the waste piles are crushed into grog for several other projects. Yet, in the end, the door to the kiln is opened and stunning and striking objects emerge from this alchemic portal.

Cupola and the Cupolette (Furnace)

The collier tends half a dozen hearths and dances about the long green poles around which he has built a chimney of small “lapwood”. Vigilance depends on finding “mulls” and “jumping the pit” and drafts could mean the end of his hard work should any one of the piers be set aflame. Cords of timber are transformed into charcoal and are mixed with salvaged coke and coal. The sole purpose being to produce enough fuel to charge the iron and reduce it to molten metal.

En-anti-morphs are carved and burned out into every available material. Sand and clay are mixed and made moist. Brown sugar, molasses and corn meal are also blended. Negative spaces are carved into dry hardwoods and sandstones. All molds are formed, rammed and allowed to bake as the blast furnace is ignited and pumped full of air. Only the light of the moon and the flame of the furnace assist the foundry-men, who must charge the cupola with iron, coke (coal) and limestone. Liquid iron is achieved and the tap hole is botted up. Within minutes the slag hole is oozing and excess iron finds its way to the top of the iron chamber.

At this point, the only sound in the foundry is the sound of the furnace itself. The bellows are halted and the caster and the “deadman” must catch the molten metal and transfer it into all of the molds. The tap hole is hammered out and a hundred pounds of red liquid rushes through the dam hole. Any sign on water will cause an explosion of metal “shot” should it come in contact with the volatile liquid. In the end, molds are filled, cooled, opened and their contents are cleaned and polished. The foundry-men have completed their work for the evening and set their sights on creating an even larger furnace: the Cupolette.

Cupola and the Cupolette – part 2

One cupola, one iron crew and two thousand pounds of iron, coke and limestone are set in motion and cast iron radiators and bathtubs are melted into are wide range of new functional and decorative designs. Natural sands and clays meld and take on shapes in order to direct the molten metal in an attempt to create contemporary stove plates, vessels and accessories in and around Artisan Alley. Flask upon flask and cope upon drag, the foundry-men demonstrate their innovative skills in achieving some of the most difficult objects and artworks produced at 7 Rivers Resort.

In a culture designed to make individuals consumers, the foundry man still has a chance at transforming some to the most difficult and stubborn materials on this earth in a non-alienating way. Organic forms are generated from his hands and a sense of being our own “second creator” is achieved. Once again, we allow ourselves permission to fabricate and build our own world upon this earth, a world that is not based on the illusion of choices and superficial artifacts. The found man understands the importance of filling vacant spaces with new and interesting things. These things, in turn, take on a being of their own and the “primacy of the art object” emerges in all of his creations. The denying of his craft is almost impossible, once faced with the complexities and beauty of his once liquid iron forms.

Ursula Biringuccio (resident artist) appeared on the northern horizon and began hammering out shards of iron from pre-existing forms in the winter of 2007. She began by drawing negative forms into the open air of 7 Rivers Resort and framed her invisible ideas with a wide range of molding sands and skills. In the midnight hour on a cold winters eve, her cupolette was ignited and charged full of all that was necessary to tap out one ton of molten metal and create some of the most complex and creative forms at Artisan Alley. She brought the necessary technology of iron casting to 7 Rivers Resort and left a wealth of knowledge and artworks in her wake.

The Sun-Catcher (Solar Heat)

All of the new fangled structures on Artisan Alley are south facing and they are designed to demonstrate a great amount of care being considered in balancing the use of “glass to mass” in regards to their passive solar heating capabilities. Drawing from the works of James Kachadorian and utilizing a basic knowledge of his ten solar principles, Michael “two-pound sledge” Wickerson (resident artist) and property owner, Pat Clarida (Clarida Construction), have focused on building a studio based community at 7 Rivers Resort capable of facilitating a range of artisans and craftsmen. Jim Lohe and the other directors have been essential in digging out the foundations that were required to lay out infrastructures and buildings that will heat and cool all of the dwellings and workshops.

Orientation with respect to the sun, year round activities, effective solar masses, and well-sealed structures are just a few of the principles that the members of the 7 Rivers Resort community are following. In addition, projects are focused on utilizing simple and inexpensive devices for storing and heating water, baking goods, and drying firewood. Overheating is being tended to and residual heating systems are being utilized to draw heat from existing ovens, forges, furnaces and kilns. Without professing to have all of the answers, the directors of 7 Rivers Resort are intent o understanding and demonstrating their knowledge of working with existing natural systems. Proper air circulation and tight insulation are the keys to providing a pleasant atmosphere for the artisans to work and live within.

Above and beyond any traditional approaches, the members of 7 Rivers Resort are determined to pool their resources, problem solve in non-conventional ways and prioritize creative and passionate efforts for developing passive solar heating structures. Innovation is the most valued skill in regards to the progressive thinkers associated with 7 Rivers Resort.

The Sun-Catcher – part 2

One sun, one Artisan Alley and two miles of gravel road are brought together in order to form a community driven to carve out a place for themselves in the world and provide alternative visions for the world. One need not begin by changing the world; one needs only to change people sensibilities towards the earth. Once this is accomplished, the world cannot help but adapt and change towards this enlightenment.

What would one do if their week’s work was cut in half or their heating and cooling bills were made nearly obsolete? Would they pick up an instrument, would they toil in a greenhouse or garden or would they throw a “perfect game” of horseshoes? What is our Renaissance going to be like? How will we recognize it? The new is a lot more alien to us than we can imagine. Good luck in a achieving your goals.

In the hopes of digging deep into our common desire to build our own foundations on this earth, disregarding any traditional dogma, and allowing for a more sensitive and better world to emerge; the directors at 7 Rivers Resort and the Workshop Masters of Form down Artisan Alley have chosen to lay bare they intentions in this booklet.

Process Space Festival

2007-06-15T14:06:00.000-07:00

MULTICULTURAL EXHIBITION: PROCESS-SPACE FESTIVAL, ALUMINUM CAST WORKSHOP, BALCHIK, BULGARIA - Michael David Wickerson, the Last Canadian Man in America, demonstrated an aluminum casting workshop on the beaches of the Black Sea at the Process Space Festival held in Bulgaria. Utilizing a primitive technique of curing ceramic crucibles and fabricating a furnace from found clay and sand, Wickerson incorporated compressed gas, electric blowers and aluminum to recreate ancient golden forms that are native to the Thracian Coast-line.

The Process-Space festival aims at stimulating the innovative research methods of contemporary artists in order to explore well beyond established genre borders relating to creative self-expression, without any limitations. To date, the Festival has welcomed more than 500 International Artists and Art Critics. - taken in part from www.process-space.com

This international residency program located in Eastern Europe serves a bridge and communication link for innovative thinkers and artists from the Americas to the Asian Continent. It is my hope to further establish the international recognition of this event, diversify the contemporary arts community, prepare artists for world citizenship, reflect upon the current and emerging needs in fine arts, industry and design, and enhance the position of the Process-Space Festival as a leader in promoting art and design within the international community.