On a personal note- My son married his soulmate January 3rd

The photographer sent us a sneak peak of her photos from the wedding. The photographs are  beautiful and I loved Paige Ramsey’s description of Griffin and Alex. 

https://www.theramseysphotography.com/elopement-at-the-houston-arboretum/ 

Elopement at the Houston Arboretum | Griffin and Alexandra

If there was an award for the shortest amount of time between emailing us and getting married, Griffin and Alexandra would be the winners. They contacted us just 3 weeks before their elopement at the Houston Arboretum. Making them the last wedding booked in 2017 and the first wedding photographed in 2018. And it was the best way to start the year.

Griffin and Alexandra are incredibly personable. They’re the kind of people you feel like you know immediately. It can be hard as a stranger to walk into an intimate family setting like this, but they made me feel right at home.

Alexandra is from Canada, they met in Costa Rica, got engaged in Mexico and now live in America studying at Texas A&M. I could have spent hours listening to Alexandra talk about their work helping small farmers prepare for the effects of climate change on their farms (and we obviously have a special place in our heart for couples that work together).

Because of their love for nature, it makes perfect sense that Griffin and Alexandra planned their elopement at the Houston Arboretum. I met Griffin at the entrance, walked with him back to the north meadow, and then returned to the entrance to meet Alexandra. Their ceremony was short, officiated by a family friend, and attended by just their immediate families and their dog, Grito.

We found a little clear spot at the edge of the meadow (you are NOT supposed to leave the trails to help protect the habitat of all the critters that live in the Houston Arboretum) and captured the sweetest couples portraits.

This simple and intimate elopement at the Houston Arboretum set a great tone for 2018. Couples like Alexandra and Griffin inspire us to live more adventurously and lovingly. To value our families, one another, and the earth more. To take more pride and put more passion in our work.

We hope we can pass some of that inspiration on to you.

My friend judge Carolyn Johnson presided over the ceremony. 

They each wrote their own vows  

Sage did the reading.  

Of course their fur baby Grito behaved perfectly.  

Griffin Joseph and Alexandra Groome Klement ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Happily ever after  

Gust

This is to be the first hat in the series (best laid plans). Like the last hat I poured this fall, it had cool spots that did not pour. I am going to finish it and consult with a commercial Foundry, Legacy Fine Art Foundry, regarding patching it.

I will use an angle grinder and cut the sprues off level with the felt. 

All the chasing is completed here.  

After legacy fine Arts Foundry matched it.  

I think it looks amazing. They did a great job. 

The next step is for me to add the felt texture to the patches. 

“The road” Houston to Seattle a father and son moment.

The poetry between a father and son - documenting a son’s epic ride, and a father’s support. I was contacted by a fellow St. John’s mother Lourdes Hernandez to donate my artistic skills to decorate a boots for the MD Anderson boot walk fundraiser. When Lourdes dropped by my studio, I gave her my typical studio tour/artist talk. She really connected with two bodies of work; first, my hat series 'gust'. Her grandfather wore the same hat. Holding it, her eyes filled with tears, she said she could smell him. This filled my heart, it is a dream moment for an artist to get that type of a reaction from a sculpture. She also connected with 'The road' series of a cyclist. Her son rode his bicycle from Houston to Seattle. Her husband rode the last two days with him. She wanted her husband to see the work. A few weeks later, Lourdes and her husband Randy stopped by. It was clear to me that the connection  between Randy and their son Ben on their cycling trips were very important to both Lourdes and Randy. I offered to do some more pieces with just two cyclists a father and a son, and asked to look at some of their photos from their trips. All the photos of Randy and Ben were in evergreen environments. Randy and Ben are extremely fit.  I did the the five pieces below incorporating trees in the background, making the cyclist trimmer and making the two cyclist closer together. Lourdes gave Randy 'The road' Randy and Ben V for Christmas. I really enjoyed getting to know Lourdes, hearing about her amazing son’s ride across country. I am honored to be able to create a piece of art for their family that documents their love and admiration for their son.  I hope we can keep in touch. 

Score

Loading him up for my last studio visit of 2017.  

I love the shadows he makes on my brick wall.  

Peace pigeon project

After 12 months I have finally had these pieces photographed. Nash Baker took the photos, I think he did a beautiful job. 

It is a large body of work and I had to choose what should be shot and What would not make the cut.

Artist statement

In the fall of 2016 I decided to experiment with sculpture materials. I challenged myself to sculpt a new sculpture a week, each week in a different material. As my subject, I chose the German beak crested trumpeter with leg muffs pigeon because he allows me to express a lot of movement and energy. I have many drawings and a bronze sculpture of the German beak trumpeter. From a sculpturing point of view, his feathery feet keep him balanced without a pedestal allowing for lots of the expression of energy and emotion.

It turns out that the bird known in the US as a German beak trumpeter pigeon is the same bird that Picasso drew as the peace dove. Everyone knows His famous "peace doves". This particular pigeon was given to him by Henri Matisse. It is described as a Milanese pigeon. Possibly it was from Milan, but you can tell by the fancy feathers on his feet that it is a Germanbeak-crested trumpeter with leg muffs. In German and French, the term pigeon and dove are interchangeable.

I am no longer committed to sculpt a peace pigeon a week but I don’t hesitate if a material or found object jumps out at me to turn it into a sculpture. I was not able to photograph these until the end of 2017.

http://www.arttimesjournal.com/art/reviews/May_June_10_Ina_Cole/Pablo_Picasso_Ina_Cole.html

Feather finery  

plaster and yard clippings  

regenerative agriculture/art the search and research for a new body of work.

Regenerative agriculture/art-                                for some months I have been searching for a way to use my art to promote sustainable living and/or regenerative agriculture in an urban environment. I have had numerous conversations with my son, Griffin Klement, and his fiancé, Alex Groome (both whose life’s work is to save the planet and #livewithdignity), discussing what is the most viable message to communicate to people living in urban communities. Our conversations began on Mother’s Day weekend (2017), when I was visiting them in San Miguel Allende. They gave me a tour of the Via Organica farm that teaches locals how to live in a sustainable way. Yesterday, Alex Groome and I went to a regenerative agriculture farm in Spicewood Texas Terra Purezza to continue my research into what I hope to be a new and important part of my art practice.  

It is hard to pick 1 photo out of the 150 photos I took to represent the day. 

This video clip may not be the most interesting visually but listen to Orion as he sums up their priorities at Terra Purezza.  

http://terrapurezza.com/about/  

Tina and Orion Weldon, and Tina’s sister, Karina Mackow were so generous with their time, Alex and I both were very grateful and as well as impressed. They are truly admirable and cutting edge regenerative citizens. 

Karina, Tina,  Orion and their beloved sounder of swine.  

Alex Groome (my soon to be daughter in law) taking photos and videos to post on  http://regenerationinternational.org/ 

one of the organizations that she and Griffin have worked hard to helped organize.  

Alex giving one of the Gloucestershire Old Spot (GOS) pigs a good scratch. They love Love Love you to scratch them. They are playful a sweet creatures as well as good to eat.  

post to be continued.  

Silver lining- Boot walk - Artist designed award boots

I was asked by Lourdes Hernandez to design a boot to be used as an award for the MD Anderson boot walk.  Lourdes brought the boot to my studio.  As I was walking her to her car, she told me about her three battles with cancer.  Three battles; and what she talked about was learning what was really important in life.  Her story and her positive attitude inspired my boot — Silver Lining.

First I painted my boot white.   

I silver leafed the inside.  

Silver lining 

“gust”

This hat is planned to be the 2nd in the series. 

I ended up with cool spots in the pour resulting in spots that the bronze did not fill, big spots that did not pour.  :( 

I am going to clean them up and see what can be done to save it.  

The sprues are cut to the stub  

I have cut the sprue stub off flush with the felt. 

I have repaired the texture . 

Nos Caves Vin - solo exhibition

“gust” patina and playing with the artist statement

10/17/2017  

Another Thursday night of applying the patina  to yet another hat. 

Woven in felt, every hat tells a story, shaped with memories, recording beliefs, and veiling sorrow, some eloquent and some twisted. Cradled in our imagination, they blow in strange, wonderful ways, spinning from generations that are inhabited by our respect to balancing our present responsibilities and fears. In generations past, in fable and in legend, hats sheltered spirits, represented people and occupations, and defended against the elements. 

“gust”

11/10/2017

guess what I did last night? 

this is the first piece in the series where the lining has blown away and the moth holes have grown into full fledge hole.  

The torn grossgrain ribbon and rip in felt. 

I didn’t get to say goodbye

memories - unequaled  

I stopped by Sloan/Hall to give the sales staff my artist statement talk about my memories body of work.

https://sloanhall.com/

This is my first experience letting someone else sell my work. It has always been one of my favorite Houston stores. The staff is very friendly, attentive, and very knowledgeable about the products they carry. I they will do a good job of representing “Memories”. I talked about my work and about the pieces they are carrying and then Shannon Hall handed me an envelope. It was a payment for the the big piece “Memories- unequaled”, and I am still shocked. I didn’t expect anything to sell so quickly. -  I didn’t get to say goodbye. Clearly, I have some separation anxiety with regard to my art.

“memories”

Driving home from Austin, I was stuck in traffic and very stressed. My whole body was tense and I was gripping the steering wheel tightly. I looked up to see a giant billboard for one of the Hill Country lazy river family resorts. On the billboard was a stick with roasted marshmallows on it. Instantly, the tension melted away as I was overcome with happy memories. I thought, "Wow! That imagery is so powerful, it drastically changed my mental state. I have to share this." Working on the pieces I felt a little silly, but the more I thought about my bronze sticks with marshmallows on them, the more I realized that the American leisure time tradition of roasting s’mores is a story not only worth sharing but worth telling: families and close friends gathered around a toasty campfire, roasting marshmallows on a stick, telling ghost stories, and making warm, sweet memories.

Peace pigeon #22

Last fall I started a project - an experiment with new materials. I made a new sculpture every week, with a new material. My subject the German beak - trumpeter pigeon. He is graceful, interesting and conducive to expressing energy. Picasso drew this same pigeon and called him a the peace dove.

http://www.arttimesjournal.com/art/reviews/May_June_10_Ina_Cole/Pablo_Picasso_Ina_Cole.html

I can't seem to stop the project. Here is another pigeon, I found him on our afternoon dog walk.  

Healthy herds

 A few summers back I drew three monumental  elephant drawings. Enlight of the recent national news I repost these. We need  protect the elephants, we can not risk a mistake, conservation and healthy herds a are a necessary fact to sustain life. 

“Score” #14 armature of the face and head

11/15/2017

And just in time as I have a studio visit tomorrow with Patrick Palmer the master of heads. 

full face frontal. 

Below is the head and body from every angle  

Front right  

front 

Front left  

left 

back left

Back  

Right side 

Front right  

close up 

“ Score” #12 armature/fingers to hold the violin.

Here is a pattern I made to Help me gauge how big each finger section should be. 

Here I have tacked the first and second joints.  

Once I decide if I like the placement of each joint then I will strengthen the welds.   

The fingers on both hands seem to be ok. Hopefully when the lath and concrete are added I will still be happy. 

“score” #15 artist statement

11/15/2017

As I work on a piece I start tinkering with what the artist statement should be. Many times both the piece and the artist statement take on unexpected directions and meanings. Below is my latest rendition. 

“score”  

artist statement  

From the beginning of time music has been used as a powerful way to influence human emotion. Modern scientists report that music has the ability to change brainwaves that control our emotional energy.  It is presently used not only as an artistic expression, but also in physical and emotional therapy.

“score” was inspired by a slow shutter release photograph of my cousin, Concert Master Andrew Irvin, that captures multiple images as he plays his violin.  Applying this concept of multiple images with the raw materials recycled wire, steel, and white concrete  “score”  embraces both the primal impact, music has on our emotions  and the contemporary elements of music. ”score” not only expresses the energy of playing the violin but also the raw energy expressed through music. The application is raw, emotional and visceral

“ Score” #13 armature/tails

11/14/2017

The figure is wearing a tux with tails. 

View from the backside of the piece- I added the  back of the pants leg and jacket tail on the left side of the figure.   

full body view

Both jacket tails welded in. 

“ Score” #11 armature/fingers to hold the bow.

This piece is abstract but, in order to capture the gesture I really have to understand where the musician is exerting his energy in regards to how he holds the instrument. I found the below link online that talks about the proper way to hold the bow. I also researched how to hold the violin. It is held with the chin and chest leaving the fingers the ability to move up and down freely.  

 http://www.singingwood.com/violin-bow-hold/HowToHoldTheViolinBow.html

The fingers that hold the bow.  

The left hand is missing all the fingers. That is the palm and back of the left hand. I will work on the fingers tomorrow.