The $149.99 challenge has been going on for an entire month and I figured it was time to do a little review of things. So far, it’s been an interesting process, here’s some of my observations so far;
Some of the work so far
I find that if I enter the studio with a specific starting point in mind, I’m able to dig in and start generating an interesting form right away. Most of the examples above started with a mechanism, often inspired by a drawing or model on the kmoddl website. I start by solving the simple problem of getting something to move and things start to fall into place. This keeps me from getting stuck, being in studio and immediately making something .
One of my favorite books this month is What It Is by Lynda Barry. She brings up a writing process which feels very much like this, always keeping your pen moving, even if it’s simply drawing a spiral on a piece of paper.
It’s very satisfying to come home from the studio with a small piece in hand ready to be documented and placed on the blog. Whatever else is going on in my life, I feel I’ve accomplished something with the day. This feeling of doing good work is important for keeping sane. Then, feedback from the blog keeps me energized and eager to return to the studio and produce more.
This project is helping me to work out ideas about work and value. I began the challange by proposing that I create one piece a day. Readers of this blog will probably note that by this time I should have 20 or so pieces as opposed to five. Actually, the number is three if you count the Frommer’s Coffee piece which is back on the workbench for a revision due to a stress failure and Bay-Fish which I cannot seem to complete and my latest piece on the workbench ( see below ).
This piece is a special case and brings up some more issues about art and value. I’ll wrap this post up tomorrow along with video of the piece in action.
The $449.97 challenge?
