Hi and Happy Summer. I will be in  a group exhibition called Oh Canada, opening at Gallery on the Bay, 231 Bay St. N. Hamilton, ON this Friday, June 16 from 7 - 10. There will be 150 pieces all together (6 from me) representing all provinces and territories. The show runs for a month. Hope you can make it if you are in the area.

New Bronze in progress: Splitting Fish

I have just finished a new wax and balsa piece in preparation for bronze casting. It represents a pair of older fishermen in Newfoundland and Labrador splitting and cleaning fish at a splitting table. The piece will be called Splitting Fish but I think of the characters as Slim and Shorty.

The process of making a bronze has many stages. First I make the elements in clay. Next I make molds (often in two or more pieces) of the clay pieces with a two part rubber (four coats) then make a plaster "mother mold" over the rubber to keep it from flopping. Then I pour melted wax into the mold and when set, remove the wax piece. I join the various pieces together with "sticky wax"  and clean up the pieces by removing any flashing or flaws from the casting and filling bubble holes with wax. Finally it is ready for the foundry where they will make a mold around the wax, burn out the wax and pour molten bronze into the cavity of the mold. This is called the 'lost wax' process. In this case, I made the table from balsa wood as it was more structurally sound than making it with clay. The wood will also burn out of the mold at the foundry just like the wax. The mold is then broken away from the bronze piece and the bronze is cleaned up (again removing flashing etc.) and then coloured (patinated) with various chemicals and heat and finished with a buffed wax coating.

The photos show the finished wax and balsa piece, ready to go to the foundry.

I have also included a picture of my messy - no busy desk. Will post again when I have the finished bronze.

Fall Course at Niagara College

Make a 'good' painting 'great' by understanding and applying the secrets of colour mixing and the principles of strong composition. Designed for both beginning artists and those with some experience, students will be introduced to colour and design theory through demonstration and practical exercises. By the end of the course, students will have completed one or more works of art, suitable for framing, in their choice of colour medium - pastels, watercolours or acrylics. REGISTRATION


Note: You will receive a list of required materials before the first class.

Register at Niagara College. Niagara on the Lake Campus.

Class held Tuesdays, September 20 to Tuesday, October 11 from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM $138.00

Equilibrium - New work at Christina Parker Gallery

Please join me at Christina Parker Gallery for the opening of Equilibrium June 17   5:30 - 8:00

The series of eight circus-like steel sculptures express the complexities of holding life in balance. Metaphorically, whether on a unicycle, a tall tipping chair or a person’s shoulders, we teeter in the boundaries between right and wrong, strength and tenderness, the stress of financial survival and the care of body and spirit. The nude figures show vulnerability. Each figure is on the verge of tipping and falling but through perseverance manage to hold on to their equilibrium. In spirit these sculptures are hopeful pieces. The works are sculpted from hammered and welded steel utilizing a torch, hammer and anvil, a MIG welder and a grinder. They appear rough and slightly elongated, with a suggestive nod to Giacometti.

Equilibrium is inspired by a personal search for balance infused by a sense of awe and terror for circus performers – amazed by their feats yet afraid for their safety. These pieces hold their ambiguity in being both precarious and playful.

Teaching in St. John's this summer

I will be back in St. John's from June 15 til August 3. I'm looking forward to seeing all my old friends and family. I will be teaching at the Anna Templeton Centre http://www.annatempletoncenter.com/contacts/

Acrylic Painting

Dates: July 5 – August 2

Time: 5 Tuesdays, 6:30 – 9:00 pm

Description: Join popular instructor Jim Maunder, back for just a few weeks this summer, for an adventure in acrylic painting. In this short introductory class, you will learn the basics of paint application and colour theory as you work from images and still life to create a small series of paintings. We are hopeful that good weather and long hours of sunlight will enable some ventures outdoors allowing you to be inspired by the natural beauty just outside our doorstep. No experience necessary. A great class to take with a friend!

Fee: $138 (includes HST, supplies extra)

And at the Craft Council Clay Studiohttp://www.craftcouncil.nl.ca/contact/

Figure Sculpture

Dates: June 27 - July 18th & Aug. 1

Time: Mondays: 7:00-9:30 pm

Description: Working with clay and a nude model, learn to make lifelike or abstracted figurative sculptures in a respectful and supportive environment. Sculptor Jim Maunder will cover proportion, balance, volume, surface, composition, clay techniques and staining. Experience with clay suggested but not necessary. Adults age 16+



Fee: $210 including HST and materials

In the Soil Festival April 29 - May 1

Orange - encaustic, bronze, & steel

 In the Soil Festival takes over downtown St. Catharines April 29, 30, and May 1. Sandy Middleton,  Mori McCrae and I are having an Open Studio and Sale.

Windswept - acrylic

Nude with upward gaze - pencil.

Come by 36 James Street Saturday April 30 or Sunday May 1 and say Hello. 

Here are some of my works.


 

Working with Opera on the Avalon - March 28, 2016

I've been working with Opera on the Avalon to develop 1500 metal forget-me-nots as a fund-raiser for their opera, Ours. Check out their website, my rendering of the forget-me-nots on the Arts and Culture Centre lawn in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and their promotional video, featuring Newfoundland's own Gordon Pinsent. The aluminum garden ornaments are available from OA's website for $125. Some proceeds are being donated to veterans' charities.