Copper Lion Revisited | Paper 24

("You are the best human I know. Thanks for making me want to be the best human I can be.")

Certainly that must be worth much.
Acrylic and mixed media on wood, 9"x5 1/2".

Shameful to think that if my wallet had gone missing, so may have this little piece of paper. So I made it part of this piece. Shameful to know that it's doubtful I can use it as my resume.

Wood Signs for Woodland Nephews

One of my very favorite friends is going to be Aunt Mel for the second time (this May), and I did a carve+stain+sand on this tree truck cross-section for her to take all the way back to her nephew's nursery, in Sandpoint, ID. 

Visionary Museum Part 4, The Roof

Hello Baltimore! We are now on the roof. The fourth and final phase of the mosaic project and the 20 year anniversary of the American Visionary Art Museum entails the crowning and covering of the small rooftop surface (upper skylight shaft) visible from across the Inner Harbor, and most visible from Federal Hill Park.

Like always, this is a proper mix of manual labor construction, and fine art. In November we spaced and hung the steel struts and installed 90 cement board panels, then de-installed to take back to our studio for design and mosaicing. Late spring/early summer look for us up in the lift piecing together the final glitz and glam. PS even when icy cold, the view is worth it.

Aurora Borealis: Wall Complete

The Visionary Museum mosaic wall facing Federal Hill in Baltimore has [long been] completed! Just recently there were some great photos taken.

above photo: Dan Meyers

First day of install.

I'm in the lift with Kyle Miller, and Eddie from Schaefer House!

View of Inner Harbor, and third story panels from the AVAM roof.

The core of the Northern Lights spiral. 30 lb. cement half-sphere painted with electrifying automotive paint .

Completed October 2014. Click here to see midway point process photos.

Paintings on the Billboard

A group of my paintings were flashing on the 52 ft. LED billboard over Baltimore's Penn Station! 

Put together by the Shanklin Media Group, and Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, this is a tremendous way to showcase MD artists. You can look through their featured artist database to see what's coming up next. My personal profile is here.

Paper 23

Some little pieces of paper to start the new year. 

Things that make sense, things that are bits and pieces of what we learn as time happens, things that are in my ink notebook.

Always a good idea to ask this question. Especially to people you love (who are very close to you). Like.. in a timely and relevant fashion.

It always helps.

And now I love leeks.

Just say what you think, just pick something, just choose something, have a preference, keep caring about what you care about. And no one can actually know what you're thinking without it coming out of your mouth.

And sometimes at all costs. People can get pretty creative when they really want to.

The Schaefer House Boys

Part of my work (glass studio+mosaicing+AVAM) involves teaching, coaching, and interacting with a group of young men from the William Donald Schaefer House of Baltimore, (a group home for boys in the juvenile detention system) who are being treated there for various health and addiction related issues before going home. Sincerely- they are a pleasure to work with. 

Listen to their interview this Friday at 7pm (+ Saturday at 3p), on WYPR (MD NPR station 88.1 fm) as a segment on The Signal, with Aaron Henkin. It is so good! Or listen here.

The boys learn foundations by building their own pieces, and then make 2d circles and 3d "pop-out" spheres that are permanently installed in the main architectural mosaic at the museum.

They are eager to be there. They are ambitious and diligent. They always get right to work on the masterpieces they have been constructing from session to session (after changing the music selection).

They have also developed a very specific art skill that not even other high schoolers (who are young artists in stable home/school environments) traditionally would have. For that, I am so proud of them. They are funny. They make funny things (see "Fats Life" vs "Fast Life" above.. Fats was one guy's nickname). They all make beautiful glass hearts, and most of the time for their family members (hear about it in the interview).

This Sunday, October 26 at 3pm, is the opening and completion ceremony at the Visionary Museum. If you are in Baltimore stop by 800 Key Highway, it's free and open to the public. Several of the boys will be in attendance to hang their very last panel and see the whole 2000 sq. feet in it's permanent glory. I cannot wait to see and hear their reactions.

Why Not..

24"x30" acrylic on OSB

From here to there. Highway inspiration. Of course there are dozens of explanations, but it may have been stolen (the irony) because it's not there now.

New Index

I was curious to see if I would work better (+faster) with a hands-on version of "every piece of artwork I've ever made" in tiny piece of paper form. It helps and I love it. It's like an odd little game every time I comb the images selecting which work samples to send off. 

Just for the sake of place holders I used things that were unfinished (pear below) but only one shot per mural. New categories coming soon on scbaker.com.

Found: North American Slides

Another tiny, red-toned drawing;

5"x7" ink, acrylic, pastel on paper. 

Based on slide below:

Whose slides?

In 2010 I used to go to the American Corner/Federalsburg, MD auctions. This is deep into Maryland's Eastern Shore.  One night I took three slide packs from a completely discarded table where everything was free, after the winning bidder took only what they were gunning for. They are labeled Alaska 1965, Plane trip to Slippery Rock, Some beautiful mountain landscapes, Cabin Caliadonia [meaning Caledonia?] *Special one, Mary & Walter, and Beach scenes. They are all very gorgeous slide photos. This particular one is a runway in Canada, of which there were several. Out of 90 slides, there is only one with people, (two people standing on a beach). There has to be some universal old photo lost and found. The ones I saw online seem junky. So if you read this and take interest, pass it along. 

Key info: slides, Alaska, Maryland, A. Curtis Andrew Auction, 1965, Canada, Caledonia, Walter & Mary.

Black Walnut, Classics, and Cold

Happy New Year. This is a photo from 1948 of my grandmother giving my grandfather (not married until 1950) Japanese silk pajamas. My mom stated that it was probably a smoking suit. Dreamy AND fun. In the vein of curious gifts, my parents gave my brother tap shoes for Christmas this year. 

Black walnut tree cross sections from the Anderson Farm in Ohio, made into lovely hangables:

Proof that the new-old 1977 F150 still looks so beautiful even in the snow.

Eventually I hung a white artificial tree from the ceiling by guitar rack, (not realizing the ceiling-tree's sudden popularity) but because it's so logical with annoying pets. This wood ornament was a gift from Collodi, Italy, the town where Pinocchio was from!