In the studio and across the alley

After moving into our new house we have finally set up TerraFerma studio and are beginning on a pair of custom panels. The client saw our work at the St. Paul Art Crawl. After describing what qualities she liked about the work and figuring out the size that would work best in her home. Our working name for the pair is "Hawaiian Gorge".
Here Jen is priming the wood panels getting ready for the fun part- corrosion.





Afterwards, Chris went across the alley to visit our friends Tim and Amy in their studio. Tim and Amy do custom letterpress invitations and stationary at Armato Design and Press. Tim is working on a large run of business cards using very thick paper. It's inspiring to have creative people right outside our door!

Thank you

Thank you to everyone that came out to the St Paul Art Crawl and shared their comments about our work.  It was fun to hear so many insightful reactions from such a wide audience.

We loved seeing people get really close to the work to see 'what is that?'.

That, is a rust painting.  A wood panel covered with iron pigment and painted with a brine solution resulting in a painting of rust and salt crystals.

Through experience we are able to control about 80% of the outcome of the painting.   We layer different concentrations of brine solution and let them evaporate.  Depending on humidity levels and salt type, different crystals are formed.  Part of the magic is responding to the surprises that happen when saltwater and iron react. 

Right now we are working on some larger size panels.  Stay tuned for more updates.

Look!

Here is a sampling of what we've been working on lately.  #38 is the most recent while #4 and #5 are from late 2008.  These are all 11" x 14" x 1-1/2" deep 'paintings' on a wood panels. 

#38

#37

#5

#4