Sometimes life get interesting

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It's been awhile since I posted updates. The primary reason is that I had a misfortunate mishap where I dislocated and broke my shoulder, and damaged a tendon and my rotator cuff. This took place in mid-April. I had successful repair surgery on May 2nd and have been doing physical therapy to rehabilitate my shoulder.

I had already started my artist residency for the University of Wyoming's Microbestiary project. I'm one of three artists who are working on interpreting microbiology through art. The other two are Tristan Duke and Reza Safavi. We had a visit together in March where we visited scientists and facilities at the University of Wyoming. I was scheduled to do a second trip in May, but had shoulder surgery a few days before the trip was to happen.

I was about half-way through my installation project for the residency when my mishap occurred. As soon as I was released from the sling after my 6-week post-surgery appointment, I got back to the project.

My main project for the residency is an installation of glass blown and sculpted borosilicate protozoans. I included 168 protozoans to fill a 3 ft X 9 ft space (same proportions as a microscope slide). I had fun doing research on protozoa for this project, and I enjoyed making my sculptures. The exhibit opens on August 26th, at the University of Wyoming Art Museum, and will run through the end of the year.

There are 168 protozoans in this installation, which is titled Microcosm

I based the sculptures on real protozoans. There’s more diversity in these eukaryotic unicellular organisms than I had ever imagined.

This was my mock-up installation. The frame for the exhibit will be different, but the arrangement of the sculptures will be what is shown here.

Here’s a link to a video I posted on instagram, which gives a more intimate view of the installation: Microcosm

Exciting news...

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I retired from my academic career on December 31, 2022. I'll still be interacting with the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, but as a professor emeritus.

My time in retirement will be spent mostly on making art, but I will finish out a bunch of research projects that need to be attended to soon. One new development is that I'm now represented by Jacob Stout Gallery (https://www.jacobstoutgallery.com) in Dublin, Ohio. I'm the first wood artist to be part of this new venue, which is located at 24 N. High St in Historic Dublin. The gallery specializes in Sculpture, Jewelry, and Glass. My work fits into the sculpture category.

In addition to the gallery, there is a glass studio in the back area of the lot where classes are taught. Jacob Stout has some big ideas for his new space, and I think there's a good chance for this historic district to morph into an exciting arts district.

Adventures with wood and glass

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This past summer I took a two-week intensive course on flameworking with Gianni Toso. We were working with soft glass, which is fun. However, several of my glass friends and instructors have insisted that I should be working with borosilicate glass - especially for making the stands I use for my carved leaf bowls. So, I jumped into that realm this semester by taking an independent study course in glass at The Ohio State University.

I'm sold. I will continue to play with soft glass, but I can foretell that my future work will be mostly in boro. The funny thing is that when I order borosilicate color rods from one of my suppliers, they send me stickers that are about marijuana use. I do not intend to ever make bongs or other smoking apparati. I do get a kick out of the stickers, though.

My first wood and borosilicate glass sculpture is Bole-tangle, which is 11 X 6 X 5.5 inches, and made from black walnut and Oregon myrtle. The hollow form is light-weight. I made this to look as if the glass vines were growing in and out of the vessel.

In this view, you can see where the vine emerges from the hollow form and lid.

On the lower left side of the vessel, the vine appears to enter the wood.

One major thing I learned is how to repair broken borosilicate glass. It turns out that there are different kinds of connections in boro - hot seals and cold seals. A hot seal is when the glass that is connected is totally melted together. A cold seal does not have this feature and can break with just a gentle tap. So, I learned, by lots of practice, how to make hot seals.

I also found out how much I enjoy making leaves and vine-like structures.

I like the tension and motion of this piece. It has generated a bunch of ideas for future work.

I'm addicted to glass...

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So far I've learned glass blowing, kiln-formed glass, and now I'm learning how to flamework glass. I started with soft glass but am now learning how to work with borosilicate glass.

Autumn is the time of year when I take every opportunity I can to make glass blown pumpkins. I have several styles available on my Etsy store [1]. Here are some examples:

[1]: Handmade Glass Blown Pumpkins https://etsy.me/3dFGdps

The Ohio State University Glass Club will have their Pumpkin Sale Oct 10-11, 2022. It will be in the lobby area of Hopkins Hall from 9 AM to 5PM.

The other thing I’m working on is a hollow vessel on a sculptural glass stand. Here is a teaser:

AAW Symposium - Part 2

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The summer sure got away from me so I'm just now getting around to adding to my symposium coverage. It was really a fun meeting, especially after three years since our last in-person symposium. The event always starts on Thursday and ends on Sunday. This year, for the first time, we had a first-time attendee reception. I was on the planning committee for this and was in charge of the icebreaker. As a prize to the table that had the most points from a game about woodturning experiences, I gave away eight of my glass spin tops. I made these in the hot shop from molten glass. They seemed to go over well, as did the many others I gave to friends.

First-time attendees, playing with my glass spin tops

Examples of my glass spin tops, right out of the annealer.

Making a wooden spin top on a lathe is pretty easy, but it's not particularly easy to make one out of molten glass. I made a bunch of these as skill-building exercises for tool and glass control. Just last week I taught myself how to make spin tops flameworking the glass - wow! That is SOOOOOO much easier!

I had a piece in the Bridging the Gap exhibit, AAW's annual juried exhibition, which starts at the symposium and then travels to The Gallery of Wood Art in St. Paul, MN. My artwork, Ambrosia, received The People's Choice Award. People viewing the exhibit can vote for one piece for this award. It was nice to receive this confirmation about my artwork. It's certainly one of my favorites.

Ambrosia - People’s Choice Award

I'm also on the AAW Women in Turning (WIT) Committee. We had a session on Thursday evening about mentoring. For the first time in AAW history, we did a hybrid format for this session. Our panel moderator was remote while our three panelists were at the symposium. We also had a number of guests attending remotely. The WIT Committee is often leading the way in terms of trying out new ideas (e.g., our WIT in-person and virtual exchanges, WIT Presents, liaison program, etc.). Our committee started in 2015. It has been an honor to be part of this innovative program.

Women in Turning hybrid panel session.

As I previously mentioned, it's always great to see old friends at the symposium. David Ellsworth is AAW member #1, and he, along with John Jordan, have been to every AAW symposium. David is really good about mentoring new turners who are becoming "known", and it's always a pleasure to see him at a symposium.

AAW Symposium 2022 - Part 1

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It has been three years since the American Association of Woodturners got together in person for a symposium. This year it was held in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The attendance was around 1000 - a bit smaller than usual, but still vibrant and abuzz with reunions among friends. There were a lot of fun interactions all through the weekend.

I was the event photographer again this year. I’ve been doing this for the past decade or so. I always enjoy meeting new people, interacting with them as I make photos, and the challenge of finding dramatic lighting and compositions.

The highlight of the symposium for me in terms of making photos was the Battle of the Bowls, which was held after the Saturday night banquet. Stuart Batty and Mike Mahoney have been doing this for years, and I’ve seen several renditions. The set-up and lighting for this particular edition was spectacular for photography. I selected some of my favorites to put into a video set to music. Please enjoy, and feel free to leave a comment either here or on my YouTube video.

Ambrosia

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I finished this work in time to submit it to the 2022 AAW juried show, Bridging the Gap. The title refers to the ambrosia beetles that infected the silver maple wood.

The size is 8.5 H X 11 W X 10.75 D (inches). A piece like this takes a lot of patience. I started it over winter break, in December 2021. I finished it on 3/27/22.

There's a lot of fussing that went into making the details as good as I could - lots of undercuts, lots of challenges. The geometry of the shape makes it challenging as well. I'm happy with the result.

Vitrispathis albus - My Latest Wood and Glass sculpture

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I usually start a new project by thinking about it for awhile and then just jumping into the work. This piece took a different path. I started with a sketch of the overall piece and then worked on each element of the design, in sketches and then figuring out the logistics.

2021. Wood, turned and carved; acrylic paint; fused and sandblasted glass; blown and sculpted sandblasted glass; LEDs.

31.5 X 15.25 X 13 inches.

Side view

Back view

This is the most challenging piece I’ve ever done. The woodturning and carving were familiar and, aside from the design elements, straightforward. The leaf shape (patterned on a spathe in the Arum family) was my first challenge. I had to first make a clay texture mold in the shape of a leaf and bisque fire it. I’ve never done ceramics so this was a fun thing to learn. Then I had to cut two large leaf shapes out of sheet glass, fuse them in the kiln, and slump this onto the texture mold.

The gallery photos below have captions that you can see by hovering your mouse over the image.

The other glass element took myself and a team of seven assistants about 2.5 hours to make in the hot shop. That was then sandblasted after it came out of the annealer. Jonathan Capps was gaffer for the cylinder and then I took over the bench for the sculpting. My glass classmates were fantastic in helping me pull this off.

The only log section in my shop large enough for the base was a 20-year-old honey locust piece. Hard as concrete and cracking like crazy. Enough said… I don’t recommend this approach. I also turned a bowl for the top insert and a disk for the inset base (held by magnets).

The final step was to place LED strip lights in the light chamber and wire it. Right now the LEDs are powered by two 12V batteries daisy-chained together. A big thanks goes to Steven Sabin for helping with this step.

The lighting is soft and subtle. This sculpture is not meant to be a lamp, but it does have a lovely ambiance for relaxing in a comfortable room.

Parallels and differences

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I've been learning techniques in glassblowing and fused glass since the beginning of last year. Fused glass seems like puzzle solving to me much of the time. However, glassblowing is much more akin to woodturning than I would have ever thought. How so? Both involve rotating material that is shaped, both have highly specialized tools and equipment, both engage the hands and mind during the crafting with an intensity in focus that takes one into a different realm of awareness.

There are lots of differences, of course. Glassblowing often requires a team of craftspeople to complete a project, and the person who designs the piece is considered the artist. This is a concept that is foreign to woodturners. In woodturning, the designer is usually the sole maker involved in creating a piece. The way the material is rotated is also completely different. For example, in woodturning the lathe rotates the material towards the turner while he or she applies the tool - using both hands - to make a form. In glass blowing, the gaffer (the one sitting at the bench) or an assistant turns the pipe or rod holding the hot glass while the gaffer uses a tool to shape the material. The pipe or rod is rotated toward and away from the gaffer, using the left hand, while the right hand uses the tool on the hot glass, which is hanging off the end of the pipe or rod. Hot glass has to be kept in motion or the glass can drop onto the floor or become a misshapened mess. Wood secured on the lathe is much better behaved than liquid glass on a blowpipe.

Having the ability to multi-task and complete tasks in rapid succession is essential in glassblowing, and one certainly gets a full-body workout from spending several hours at a time in the hotshop. If glass gets too cold while it's being worked, it will crack or break. Woodturning is much more sedate in its pace - you can walk away from the lathe and return hours or days later and continue working the wood. That only applies to dry wood, of course. Turning green wood is another challenge that requires a faster working time in order to keep the wood from cracking as it dries.

To make a hollowform in woodturning, the maker removes the material from the inside of the wood blank using specialized tools. A hollowform in glass is formed by blowing a bubble into molten material, which then hardens as it cools. Woodturning is a subtractive process - removing wood to make a shape. Glassblowing is an additive process - gathering material from the furnace and adding it to the pipe or the form that is in the process of being made.

Both activities have their dangerous sides - a spinning block of wood can cause a lot of damage if it is thrown off the lathe and one can be injured in numerous other ways, too. In glass blowing, the temperature of the glass exceeds 2000°F as it comes out of the melting furnace and the working temperature of the glass is not much cooler. When a piece is finished the temperature is closer to 1000°F. Burns are the most common injury in glassblowing, but one can also get cut in various ways, some torches can cause damage to the eyes if protective gear is not worn, and I would hate to drop some of the things we use in the hotshop on my foot...

Common aspects of both crafts include the making of functional objects (tumblers, cups, vases, bowls, plates, candle holders, etc.). Both crafts can be used to make sculptural objects or purely decorative ones. I think most people have a greater appreciation for glass than wood, unfortunately.

Although I'm approaching my two-year anniversary in learning to blow glass, I'm just now becoming comfortable with the material and tools enough that I can actually make things that people think are cool. In contrast, my beginner's stage in woodturning lasted only a few months. At an equivalent stage in my woodturning adventure I was gaining attention (nationally and internationally) for the work I was making. I don't think that will ever happen with my glassblowing adventure, but I'm having a whole lot of fun.

Here's what I've been making in the hotshop this past month. I'm just happy that I can actually make something people can recognize as the object I intend it to be ;-).

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Heres the link to My Etsy Shop if you’d like to see some of my works in glass, including glass-blown pumpkins.

The AAW Benefit Auction

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Ceremony. With Clay Foster. 9.5 X 3.5 X 3.5 inches. Bronze bowl atop a plinth.

Ceremony. With Clay Foster. 9.5 X 3.5 X 3.5 inches. Bronze bowl atop a plinth.

The American Association of Woodturners 2021 Benefit Auction is now posted online. The online bidding begins July 2, 2021. The live auction is Friday, July 16, 2021 beginning at 6:30 pm eastern time.

The link to this piece in the auction is: https://auction.woodturner.org/Andi-Wolfe-and-Clay-Foster-Ceremony-2021_i41808475

Just an update as of July 16, 2021: This piece sold for $2,300.00, and the proceeds go to an excellent cause.

My first collaboration with Clay Foster

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I have been an admirerer of Clay Foster's sculptural work for a couple of decades. Over the years we have become friends and correspondents but we had never collaborated on a piece. The opportunity arose this year, and I'm very happy to present our piece, Ceremony, which combines my cast bronze bowl and Clay's architectural stand that is inspired from African cultures.

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I learned how to make a two-part rubber and plaster mold for glass casting, which is also useful for bronze casting. I used a bowl I had previously turned from maple for the mold. Part of the two-part mold includes a reservoir that can hold the glass pieces for melting in the kiln. When I cast the first of the wax replicas of my bowl, the reservoir made it appear to be sitting on a stand, which, in turn, reminded me of Clay’s wonderful ceremonial bowl series.

After the bronze casting was released from the mold and separated from the reservoir, I asked Clay if he would be interested in doing a collaboration. Luckily for me, he said “yes.” I worked on achieving a patina on the bowl and then sent it off to Clay.

His stand is beautiful, I think. I hope you agree. The piece is 9.5 X 3.5 X 3.5 inches (24.1 X 8.9 X 8.9 cm), made from cast bronze, wood, brass brads, and grout. The bowl is solid, which means it’s heavy (3 lbs!).

This will be in a live auction on Friday, July 16th during the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) virtual symposium 2021. I’ll post a link when it’s available for bids. In the meantime, here are our artist statements and background information:

Clay's Statement:
Ceremony is born deep in the belly of ancient stories, and lives on in the emblems of ritual, becoming sacred by generations of use.

Andi's Statement:
Working with bronze has an element of ceremony in that the coordination of the team during the pour feels ritualistic. The steps are always the same: melt the wax out of the mold, put the mold in the sand pit, remove the crucible and carry it to the pit, pour the molten metal, wait for it to cool. It's highly choreographed with each participant's role clearly defined - very akin to ceremonial activities.

Andi: I recently learned mold making for glass casting at The Ohio State University, and used one of my wood-turned bowls for the exercise. While in the process of glass casting I was given the additional opportunity to learn bronze casting. The wax castings from the 2-part mold I made reminded me of Clay's Ceremonial bowls. When I removed my bronze cast bowl from its casing I knew I wanted to collaborate with Clay to bring the piece to life. We both love old bronze artifacts and African art, and have bronze pieces from Africa in our personal collections. We wanted to emulate the patina found on these artifacts, with areas that are worn and shiny from much handling.

Clay: This is the first collaboration piece by Andi Wolfe and Clay Foster. It is also the first piece Clay has made in over two years because of health reasons, and future production will be limited.

Donate Life organ donation registration (https://www.donatelife.net)

Clay received an AAW Honorary Lifetime Member Award in 2017. You can read the article about it and find out more about his incredible work here: https://www.woodturner.org/common/Uploaded%20files/POPMeritAward/2014Foster.pdf

It takes practice...

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I did my WIT Presents session last Saturday. It was a lot of fun to put together my slide show and to think about my journey as an artist. One thing we sometimes forget as artists is that we all start from the same place. For woodturning that means that we learn how to use our tools, how to make beads and coves, how to turn that first bowl or hollow form, or whatever. After awhile the techniques we use in turning become second nature - we no longer have to think about how to make a cut, how the wood will behave, or how to achieve a pleasing form. Each day at the lathe brings new achievements and new challenges.

For those of us who develop a recognizable style of work, the primary challenge we face is how to continue to grow as an artist, to move beyond what we've done before but to still have a body of work that is recognized as our own.

I spent a lot of time in my presentation talking about how to find one's voice. I'll pass along the words of wisdom I gleaned from Jacques Vesery's AAW symposium rotations many years ago, and what I've incorporated into my own practice - "use what you know."

We all have unique life experiences, which sometimes include different ways of interpreting the world, or seeing patterns in nature, architecture, geometry, the human experience, etc. While some are content to imitate the works of artists they admire, most of those artists would probably prefer to not have their body of work copied. Many recognizable styles have been developed over the course of decades, by trial and error, and with lots of time invested in practice.

We have a sharing community. Artists teach or demonstrate techniques for an audience or a group of students all the time - it's one aspect of the work that creates a viable money stream. Woodworkers tend to follow step-by-step instructions published in magazines, on websites, or in videos, from live demonstrations, or from taking a class. It's only natural to want to create the works one admires. I will only point out that there is a real difference between technical ability, the craftsmanship of making, and artistic ability - that spark of creative energy that builds a unique and recognizable body of work. I believe that everyone who has technical ability has the potential to move beyond imitation of another's work. One only has to believe in one's self, and to explore the things that are unique to their experiences in life.

I really like the idea of art as a practice. To be competent, to develop creativity, to explore new design ideas, it really does take practice - hour upon hour upon hour..... it seems like forever. I find this aspect of making art the most rewarding.

If you'd like to see the video of my presentation, you can click here