Makkeweks Final Inspection

Earlier this week I met with the City of Oakland for the final inspection of our Makkeweks sculpture prior to installation. Installation is delayed until mid-2017 pending completion of Snow Park but the foundry completed the fabrication of the bronze castings and the sculpture’s interior, stainless steel armature in anticipation of temporarily storing the monster […]

Makkeweks Progress Gallery

Sculpting the eyes of the monster has been the biggest challenge, so I saved that task for last. The eyes carry the expression and are the only crisp-edged, anatomically-specific feature of the sculpture, so they are where a viewer’s eyes would naturally be drawn. The monster’s eyes need to reinforce the gesture of the body […]

Makkeweks, Ifukube, and the Return of the Ray

I’ve flipped the creature and continue to rough out its topsides with my homemade saw Carving is like controlled erosion. A shape emerges in response to the real and imagined forces that dictate how and where material is added and removed. My primary job as I sculpt the Makkeweks sea monster is to manage these […]

Makkeweks Progress

The Makkeweks sea monster sculpture upside down, roughed out in stack-laminated cork No matter the depth of scientific knowledge there will always be monsters. You don’t have to look very hard to find them. Politics, industry and information technology are a few obvious breeding grounds. I’ve been thinking a lot about monsters as I begin […]

Research in Rome

Anna Falchi by the Trevi Fountain while shooting La Dolce Vita I’m very excited for my trip to Rome tomorrow. I’ve never been, but have a dreamlike sense of the city from cinema and art history. There is so much to see, it’s dazzling. My well-traveled friends say just walk, get lost, lose an evening […]

Makkeweks

Last night the City of Oakland approved our preliminary concept for a new public art project to be sited adjacent to Lake Merritt, as a part of the Lakeside Green Streets initiative. This is our biggest commission to date, so we’re very excited to bring the concept into reality. I’ve attached a few images of […]

5th Avenue Marina

I first discovered Oakland’s 5th Avenue Marina when we moved to the city in 1991. I’ve always enjoyed exploring a new city’s wild edges, especially when they involve boats and waterways. The ramshackle marina is tucked away at the end of lower 5th Avenue west of the Embarcadero, on a narrow spit of unincorporated land […]