Working on the DFD

More progress on the Dream Focusing Device. Here I have the parts ready to be assembled. I am ready to rivet the hinge in place. To do that I need to temporarily hold all the parts together. I drill small holes where I intend to put rivets, then put temporary rivets in place, using ear posts. The blue painter's tape holds the rivets until I remove it. The clamps are my "third hands," holding everything securely while I mark and drill the holes. Tonight I am tired and getting clumsy, so I had to stop.

There is a larger image at Flickr. (Click on the "all sizes" button above this image to see the largest version.)

The Zero Sum Art Project

Most art seems very mysterious. You don't really know how people arrive at their prices, what their materials and techniques are, or where their ideas come from. "Mixed media" or "found objects" isn't really information to my detail-oriented Teutonic mind. Marc Snyder's Zero Sum Art Project isn't like most art. In his ZSAP blog, Marc says "One thing I'm striving for is to make the whole studio process, along with my attempts to follow this set of rules that I invented for myself, as visible to the viewer as possible." This includes lists of his expenses, the materials purchased for the project and even some hints at his creative process.

His rules:
*Artwork can be made only with free/found materials or materials purchased with proceeds from the sale of Zero Sum artworks.

*Zero Sum artwork will be sold on eBay, with the opening bid based solely on the costs of the materials and the auction fees related to the artwork being sold.

*If the artwork sells for a greater amount than the opening bid, any "profit" must go directly back in to the Zero Sum studio.

*If the Zero Sum Art Project is in the red with a balance of negative $5.00 for longer than 2 weeks, the studio collapses and the project is over.

The first artwork was made with free materials: "Heart of Georgia Technical Institute pencil and Radisson Hotel pen on Anti-Defamation League notepad paper." The opening ebay price was $1.77, exactly the cost of the listing. It sold for $22.72.

Zero sum #12 is up for auction on ebay until April 15.

I find this all fascinating. So much that normally remains hidden is revealed for the viewer's scrutiny. Reading over Marc's list of materials, I wonder what he used white spray paint for? Most artists start out by learning techniques, in school, from books or from friends. Over time they probably accumulate a store of invented or adapted processes. What do other people do in the privacy of their studios? Is there an "art secret" that I need to know, to make better work myself? Can I find it in Marc's list of materials?

And no, he's not paying me to say this, he's not my brother-in-law. It's a coincidence that I have mentioned Marc in two recent blog entries.

Pop quiz: What does gardening have to do with art??

What does the picture above have to do with the one below?


I have been spending a lot of time in the garden for the last month. Because of that, progress is slow on the Dream Focusing Device. But I feel so alive and connected to the natural world when I garden. The content of my work mostly is about death or some kind of loss. And nature can teach us a lot about death. I feel comforted to see that the old vegetable plants I throw in the compost bin in October become mulch that nourishes new plants the following spring. Life flows in a cycle that is both sad, because we lose those we love, and reassuring, because life does go on.

Here are the details, if you are also a gardener: In the foreground at the right are raspberries and some perennials. The next bed contains poppies on the left, a tiny tomato plant, and snow peas to the right of the tomato. Further back are two parsley plants, the remnants of our winter garden. And, of course, a lovely orange tree in the background.

Oh, and the other details: The Dream Focusing Device is getting close to being done. I have the hinge ready to attach. Because the Device folds for storage, I had a leg that holds up the back part. But it wasn't working well, so I will have to re-engineer that. And I need a little decorative part for the front. I can see it done in my mind, so I am very excited to work on it.

Reading Matter

I love low-cost, editioned artist's books. They are often so funky, and so appealing. For a long time I have wanted to make a book that could become multiples. Most of my books are definitely one-of-a-kind, I couldn't imagine how to do this. So, as "research" I decided to buy some. Here are a couple, I'll add more in a week or so.


Marc Snyder of Fiji Island Mermaid Press offers an Artist's Book of the Month Club. These little books are charming. Each one is folded from one sheet of paper, and the price is right ($25 for one year). The content is both humorous and serious. The image above is from his latest book, "The Revolution." Check out Marc's blog, he shows each page of "Revolution," with explanatory notes.


I had a table near the Pod Post ladies, Jennie and Carolee, at the last Book Art's Jam. They had a wonderful array of items for sale. For $5.75 I came home with "a storybook of whimsy." It's a zine produced from the notebooks they kept on a trip to Japan last year. It's fun to look at, very dense with text and images.

zero to twelve

zero to twelve cover
Originally uploaded by bertmac.

I finished this book over the weekend. I am having fun with these found object books, and keep thinking of new ideas. I also keep thinking "why is this so fun, when some other projects seem so tedious?" In my mind, this book isn't "serious" while something like the dream viewing device is. I suppose these ideas come from art school. There was a lot of talk about "high art," "low art," and everything in between. I don't see any of my work as high art, so why do I worry about what is serious? Maybe it's more a question of being true to the ideas that I hold about my work. I want it to convey a message, and I feel these fun books don't.

For more views and information go to my web site, or my flickr page .

Let's Pretend

For the last two years bloggers all over the world have been posting their favorite poetry on February 2, to celebrate the Feast of Brigid, or Groundhog Day. Let's pretend it's the 2nd, here is my entry:

The Dead

The dead are always looking down on us, they say,
while we are putting on our shoes or making a sandwich,
they are looking down throught the glass bottom-boats of heaven
as they row themselves slowly through eternity.

They watch the tops of our heads moving below in earth,
and when we lie down in a field or on a couch,
drugged perhaps by the hum of a warm afternoon,
they think we are looking back at them,

which makes them lift their oars and fall silent
and wait, like parents, for us to close our eyes.

Billy Collins

Stopping versus quitting

I have an on-going discussion with my dear friend Wendy. We talk about many aspects of life, but art is the biggest single topic. Recently we talked about why we were not in our studios making art when we wanted to. Wendy says:

"I like Art & Fear -- Bayles & Orland don't
make the stalling out to be pathological. "Writers
even have a phase for it-- 'the pen has run dry'-- but
all media have their equivalents. In the normal
artistic cycle this just tells where you need to begin
cultivating the next new idea. [...] Quitting is
fundamentally different from stopping. The latter
happens all the time. Quitting happens once.
Quitting means not starting again-- and art is all
about starting again." "

By the way, Ted Orland also has a new book out called The View From the Studio Door. I find it every bit as refreshing as Art and Fear.

I thought I stopped a few years ago, not because my brush ran dry, but because I had to make some major changes in our house when I got allergies. It has been hard to get started again. I think too many other concerns have filled the time that used to be dedicated to art. My habits have changed. Now I am trying to re-vitalize my old art-making habit.

There are parallel issues happening with the blog right now. My original idea was that blogging would make me think about art more, and so I would be more inspired. I have begun to wonder if I should be putting my time into making things in the studio instead of blogging. Should I quit, should I slow down? Well, I have slowed down, due to a combination of being sick, my parent's health problems and other issues. At the moment it looks like I will try to continue at a slower pace for a few months. Barring some huge disaster, I will announce it here if I decide to quit.