7th Annual Love Show

Come on down to 918 Bathurst on Friday November 20th between 7-9pm for the opening of the Love show presented by Lonsdale gallery. Here are a few words about the show "Since its creation in 2002, the Love Exhibition has worked to raise awareness about the privilege that surrounds us and our responsibility to support others. Each year, proceeds from the show are used to support community-based organizations that combat violence and encourage self-esteem. Each of us has infinite abilities of kindness and love." All art works are 8"x 8" or smaller, I have a small drawing up this year, Hope to see you there! (Here's a pic of the piece if you can't make it, Click to see the full size)

Butter Sculpture 2009!!!

I recently spent six days inside a giant refrigerator sculpting butter at the CNE. In case you don't know, the CNE hires a group of artists every year to create individual sculptures based on a theme. It all takes place in the agricultural area where there is a giant fridge with windows on one side that allows people to see the process as it happens. This year the theme was "it came from outer space". I decided to go with Darth Vader, I was a little lazy but I'm happy with the end result. Vader is about a meter high and roughly one hundred pounds of salted butter. This was my fifth year sculpting at the CNE and although it's cold and greasy work, ultimately I enjoy it. Thanks to everyone who made it out this year.

Willem Dafoe Part 5

Here is the plaster cast ( left) next to the plastic original. Everything turned out great with the cast! Come back soon and see how the project is progressing.

Willem Dafoe part 4

The final step is to pour the silicon rubber into the shell. The rubber coats the face inside the shell capturing all the details of the surface. This particular silicon is called Mold Max 30 and takes about 8 hours to set. Once the silicon is ready I take the mould off of the board and remove the face. What I'm left with is a perfect negative impression of the face. The advantage of rubber moulds is that they can produce a high number of casts before they deteriorate. I still don't know how many we plan on making but the sky is the limit!

Willem Dafoe part 3

The next step is to create a plaster shell over top of the clay blanket. I like to add fiberglass to the plaster for added strength. Once the plaster is set I lift the shell off and remove the clay. Now I have a 3/8" gap between the plaster and the face. I also have a pouring spout and some vents where the straws were. Next I drill the shell back into place and get ready to pour the silicon rubber.

Willem Dafoe Part 2

This particular mould is called a blanket mould. The first step is to cover the face in a 3/8" thick clay blanket. The next step is to make a pouring spout at the highest point, in this case the nose. Straws are placed at all the high points, later these will act as vents. I also added a clay strip around the edge which will act as a key for the rubber to lock into the plaster shell.

Willem Dafoe

Recently my friend Sarah's boyfriend found a cast of Willem Dafoe's face at Value Village for a whopping $7.99. Some research ensued but the origin of the cast is unknown. We gather it was probably made for a movie Willem Dafoe did in Toronto.
There are a bunch of defects in the casting e.g. the head is all warped at the top and there are some air bubbles on the surface. But it's not everyday you come across something so odd. We are huge Dafoe fans and are working on making some art with this thing.
We don't know exactly what we're going to do with it yet but the first step is making a mould. For those who are interested, I'm going to post pictures and words as the mould progresses.