whittling

Main Entry:

¹whit·tle

Pronunciation:

\ˈhwi-t^əl, ˈwi-\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Middle English whittel, alteration of thwitel, from thwiten to whittle, from Old English thwītan; akin to Old Norse thveita to hew

Date:

15th century

archaic : a large knife

verb

Main Entry:

²whittle

Function:

verb

Inflected Form(s):

whit·tled; whit·tling \ˈhwit-liŋ, ˈwit-; ˈhwi-t^əl-iŋ, ˈwi-\

Date:

1552

transitive verb1 a: to pare or cut off chips from the surface of (wood) with a knife b: to shape or form by so paring or cutting2: to reduce, remove, or destroy gradually as if by cutting off bits with a knife : pare <whittle down expenses>intransitive verb1: to cut or shape something (as wood) by or as if by paring it with a knife2: to wear oneself or another out with fretting

— whit·tler \ˈhwit-lər, ˈwit-; ˈhwi-t^əl-ər, ˈwi-\ noun

kevin

so as my co workers and i get closer to finished with these projects i will fill you in on details one by one.

Kevin and I, after the seemingly regular period of time it takes to get to know your way around people when you start graduate school, decided to break the ice by playing frizbee. Kevin and I both have a history of sports and general outdoor stuff so it seemed like a good thing to do. Kevin is tall and really coordinated and I am short and reasonably agile so we made a good match for games like catch and stuff where you need two people. We would both probably admit that we are pretty competetive too. It was a really good stress reliever during those first awkward weeks especially.
As graduate school has progressed Kevin has been game for going on hikes, rafting and skiing trips, and other adventures that might sometimes prove challenging to find companionship for. Some of these trips were for school and Kevin was a good level head to have around. When I took 10 of the MFA folks on a rafting trip, Kevin guided the other raft.
So when I asked Kevin to work with me on something for my show I figured he would be game. He said yeah and I said we would talk more. We parted ways for the evening and the next time I saw him he said he had an idea. He apparently has done this thing with certain friends where they go hiking near a waterfall, and at some point, they take turns taking pictures of the other looking like they are puking out the waterfall. I automatically liked the concept and thought about how we could work out a photograph that would make it look like the little wooden sculpture of him was puking out the waterfall. It sounded fun so I started whittling a little version of kevin puking. Trying to get that posture right has been challenging and I acidentally carved his right hand in the thumbs up position. I think he's signaling that he's actually okay.
On a chilly Saturday, we took the little sculpture and a camera to Oneonta falls up along the Columbia Gorge and went on a little hike. The resulting photos will be scrutinized and chosen from and one will go in a frame that Kevin and I are making. The frame is going to have whittled sports memorabilia adorning it. Kevin and I both recalled the sports photos of kids in cheap frames with soccer balls hot glued to the face. Sports kid nostalgia I guess.

marc fischer

I like the mixture of formal argument and personal touch in his writing. I've had some good discussions on relinquishing the urge to be original and would like to have more. Read this.
This is Marc Fischer from Temporary Services and he's lecturing and visiting with us tonight. I'll report more depending on how the lecture goes.

write ups on the tank

The newest one where she is upside down in Disjecta got in the WWeek

Big thanks to the Jace Gace for all their cooperation.

the oregonian article

the mention on port

PDX pipeline



thanks to all who came and or responded

details

when artists i admire make statements about art in general i listen hard but am usually a little suspect. i don't know why. i guess there is always a real gut decision at the base of my character judgement. I'd like to imagine that the care an artists takes in the way they interact with people, or the way they deal with stress, for example, is as important as the work when I'm considering what i think. everyone probably has something of a tendency towards this. maybe its like meeting val kilmer or something and finding out he's actually pretty down to earth. I'd be more inclined to go watch his movies if that were the case than if he turned out to be a dick. then after that it would be difficult to step back from a performance and really judge objectively. like making an assumption about his ability to stand the tests of time like jimmy stewart, ronald reagan and sean connery. these are ridiculous examples.

for me it is all in the details. when i look at work i imagine the person who makes it. i imagine if they would be interesting to hang out with. would they listen to anything i had to say? i would like to sit a few rows back from them on the bus and watch. then i would make my decision.

even making these judgements often seems so self righteous. who am i to judge? but as i'm sitting here scrutinizing my own aesthetic i am weighing other's for comparison sake. i don't guess that makes it right but it seems like what i'm supposed to be doing here in grad school. it does make the everyday decisions i face unfold a little smoother with a quick reference guide of who and what i like most close at hand.

i have always thought that jasper johns was an ass hole since i saw a documentary of him installing his work when he's old and he was bossing everyone about. pretty cruel. now i just think of that when i see his paintings. but i like rauchenberg. they were pals so maybe i'll give him another chance. he was probably cooler when he was younger and not as drunk. and i think baldasari would be a hoot to take a class from so i tend to like his work. (maybe not all of it but most)

books on cd

Recently its been all books on cd. I'm trying to do a bunch of whittling and listening to stuff passes the time quickly. I need it to slow down actually. since my thesis show is fast approaching.
So I really like historical fiction. There is usually something awful about the actual writing. sometimes in a good way though. its either boring or over-the-top romantic. I think it comes from the fact that the author is primarily a historian/nerd more than a solid writer. i like the boisterous ones. All the hyperbole and adjectives in the world can't seem to get across how dastardly and complex John Wilkes Booth or Joseph McCarthy were. When someone gets super excited about what they are researching there might be some personal dignity relinquished just to make an image stick. Aside from all the drama, I get into the "facts" as they are presented and enjoy drawing connections between the little amount of history I remember and the highly detailed, flowery context the author describes. So I'm going to go ahead and say that I like the excited puppy history writers more than the dry ones that probably have voices like the adults from Peanuts.

I also like learning about world history through a material. I've read a book loaned to me by Walter Lee on gunpowder. Fascinating. I read one that took me through all the changes in technology and culture as new metals were discovered and mastered. I'm currently reading a book on the history of wood. Yeah it sounded a little vague to me too but it goes way far back to hunters and gatherers and brings us up to how it is still a sound ecological, functional, and economical building material. Anyway I like how in something like 400 pages an author isn't afraid to tackle all of human existence. It is bold, filled with generalizations and takes on an almost geologic perspective. Like humans are only going to really take up a little of earth's time. Its humbling and comforting to me at the same time.

Recommendations:
Manhunt,
the twelve-day chase for Lincoln's killer

The Age of Anxiety,
McCarthyism to Terrorism

don't hate me because i'm beautiful

the closest it gets from a safe distance

heres a video of the tank at the opening.

tank

this is a sneak peak. little is revealed in case some of you still want to visit.

infiltrators

sometimes you have a girlfriend that has a belt that has a lock and key on it. and sometimes while she is busy watching tv you can lock the lock and hide the key without her knowing. then when she has to pee she will be stuck in her pants until you tell her that the key is actually in her pocket. then, if you forget to log out as blog administrator, she will add an entry resembling the one below as revenge. and the cycle continues.

movie projects

so i have been thinking a lot lately about all the things that make me tick, and i realize that my love for musicals plays a big roll in who i am. thinking of scrapping all of my previous thesis show plans. instead i will concentrate on whittling the whole cast of my favorite move, Grease. pretty sure it is my best idea yet.

tank

My buddy Gordon and I are working on this big big tank. here are some parts completed. The idea is a metaphor of the futility of our attempts to understand warfare. It's also been crazy for me to be working in such drastically different scales. The little version of Gordon I'm carving is going to look pretty rediculous on the tank. Hopefully.

collaborations

i've been thinking a lot lately on the nature of collaborations. i have a project right now where i ask people to help me with making a portrait of themselves. or i actually whittle the portrait of them out of wood and they help me make the setting for it. i began by asking them to collaborate with me but now i'm having issues with using that word since the pieces are my idea and are for a show i will be formatting. it is tough for anyone to measure the level of personal investment given by another person so the only thing i have to go on is if they seem willing or excited. so now i just ask them for their help on the project. i think i'm okay with this. in return for them helping, they get to keep the final object.
the whole issue i'm having is just with how to word things. approaching people with a project like this is hard. i want to genuinely cooperate on something and not have there be any undertones of exploitation. i wonder if that is even possible.

alright

so i've been ramping up energy for some new blog posts. the blog's been on hold a bit while i gathered some thoughts. these are some unfinished whittlings i've done of my friends. the faces i'm saving for later because they are hard.

some entries soon to come maybe...

-collaborations

-the history of whittling

-tanks

-gifts

sigh

views of my fake home from shelby davis on Vimeo.

adventures

landscapes

whittling

whittling is a fascinating pastime.

Sculpture we saw in LA

we saw this on our trip last may and it has stuck with me a bit. big toy. it gets pulled along the beach and leaves a tiny repeated version of LA in the sand.

portland from mid willamette