Our hand-printed wedding invitations were an auspicious omen of the fish theme

Chance is always powerful. Let your hook always be cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be fish. -Ovid

The theme of fish has been a constant touchstone for Ene and me since we first met over twenty years ago, when Ene wore fish earrings and we lived in a one room house cantilevered over the Hudson River. We decorated our first Christmas tree with foil-covered chocolate fish, and printed our own fish themed wedding invitations from a woodcut I made one winter, the ice floes buckling and cracking with the changing tides beneath our feet. As Peace Corps volunteers in West Africa, we subsisted on a diet of dried fish and fufu, then soon after, as deckhands on a salmon seiner in Alaska’s Alexander Archipelago, our boat hauled in over 250,000 pounds of fish in a single season. It’s just like that with us and fish. We never consciously decided that fish would be the theme, it just seemed to fit.

trowel in hand, Ene skins the anchovy

Needless to say, we were pretty excited when the San Francisco Arts Commission funded our proposal for two monumental, ceramic mosaic-skinned sculptures honoring the importance of ‘feeder fish’ to the ecosystem, to be installed at the new Ortega Branch of the Public Library, near Ocean Beach. The project has been an ideal collaboration between Ene and me, and combines our skills more evenly than other projects, giving Ene more of an opportunity for hands-on, full scale fabrication. Ever the intuitive baker, Ene has a feel for doughs and plasters, and seems supremely in her element with trowel in hand.

the rockfish is almost ready for its golden mosaic skin

To read more about the progress of the wowhaus public art project, ‘Abundance’, please click here and scroll down.

Tagged: california coast, contemporary art, deep craft, ocean beach, public art, wowhaus

Ene works with Tami Stewart to apply the first coat of concrete to the rockfish sculpture

After Kevin Cherry welded up the steel armatures for our two fish sculptures, they were hot-dip galvanized and delivered to our studio compound for final shaping and completion. We have hired our friend Tami Stewart, a Berkeley-based sculptor/artist, to help ’skin’ the armatures with expanded metal lath and then apply layers of resin-impregnated, fiber-reinforced concrete, the substrate for a ceramic tile mosaic. Tami has been building natural science exhibits with Academy Studios for over 20 years, and we’re grateful to have her on board at this critical phase.

the anchovy sculpture’s galvanized steel armature, before the metal lath skin is applied

To follow the development of the wowhaus Abundance Project, commissioned by the SF Arts Council to be installed at the Ortega Branch of the San Francisco Public Library, please click here.

Tagged: academy studios, deep craft, public art, scott Constable, tami stewart, wowhaus

Metal artist Kevin Cherry fabricates the steel substructures for our fish sculptures

With minor revisions, the San Francisco Arts Commission has approved our clay/wood models of fish sculptures for the new, Ortega Branch of the San Francisco Public Library, and we are rapidly proceeding with full scale fabrication. Using templates generated from sections of the models, we had discs cut from plate steel, and steel tubes bent to form the ’spines’ of the two fish sculptures. We’ve hired Sonoma-based metal artist Kevin Cherry of Steel Cherry to fabricate the welded steel substructure, which will be hot dip galvanized once the longitudinal stringers are in place, before we ’skin’ the skeleton with fiberglass mesh, impregnated with a cementitious resin.

Petaluma, CA based Van Bebber Brothers bent the 4″d steel tube ‘fish spines’

-To learn more about the evolution of the wowhaus project, ‘Abundance’, please click here and scroll down.

Tagged: contemporary art, deep craft, public art, scott Constable, steel cherry, van bebber, wowhaus

the reassembled 1/4 scale substrate for the Vermillion Rockfish sculpture

After tracing sectional contours for full scale fabrication in steel, I’ve reassembled the wooden parts of the two 1/4 scale models of fish sculptures for our Abundance project. Next I build up a layer of clay over the wooden substrates to approximate the outermost surfaces, which will be ceramic tile mosaic on the finished pieces. Next week I will present the clay covered models to the San Francisco Arts Commission for final approval.

The layer of clay will also help when we’re fabricating the full size sculptures, enabling us to measure the depth of the outer tile substrate, which will be fiberglass-reinforced gypsum. Building the sculptures will be a little like forensic anthropology, in reverse.

model of the Vermillion Rockfish, skinned in clay

To follow the story of our Abundance Project for the Ortega Branch of the SF Public Library, click here and scroll down.

Tagged: contemporary art, deep craft, innovation, public art, scott Constable, sculpture, sf arts commission, wowhaus

Boat-Building on the Stour, oil on canvas by John Constable, 1814-15

People who know me well are not surprised by my obsession with wooden boatbuilding. Though I’ve completed just one actual boat, each year I’m gripped with boat fever, especially during the winter months, when I scan plans and dream of the perfect cruise, surveying piles of timber for hints of the unformed hull. Over the years, I’ve accumulated a respectable knowledge of traditional boatbuilding, having read everything from Howard Chapelle to Phil Bolger on the subject. It doesn’t really matter that I have yet to produce the boat of my dreams- I get as much satisfaction applying my knowledge in other ways, particularly in designing and making furniture and sculpture.

traced sections from my 1/4 scale fish sculpture model to be lofted up to full scale

I recently carved 1/4 scale models of our 2 fish sculptures for the Ortega Branch of the San Francisco Public Library. To loft the models to full scale, I’ve borrowed a half-hull technique familiar to boat-builders, where the hand-shaped wooden form is cut into regular sections, from which lines are drawn. Next I will loft these sections to full scale and make templates that will be sent to a steel fabricator. The steel substrate for the fish sculptures will be built on a jig very much like a boat, with longitudinal ‘stringers’ welded to the steel sections, making the final shape, to be skinned in layers: steel lath, fiberglass-reinforced gypsum/epoxy, then ceramic tile mosaic.

I’m lucky to have developed a venue for my ideas that gives me an outlet for experimentation within tradition. In my experience, innovation in craft is often the result of hybridizing tools and techniques between disciplines.

To follow the story of Abundance, our fish sculptures commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission, please click here and scroll down.

Tagged: contemporary art, craft philosophy, deep craft, innovation, public art, scott Constable, traditional craft, woodworking, wowhaus

1/4 scale, schematic model of the Vermillion Rockfish, carved from pine and redwood

Between meetings for new wowhaus projects over the past week, I’ve completed two 1/4 scale models of our mosaic fish sculptures for the Ortega Branch of the San Francisco Public Library, commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission. I’ve borrowed a few techniques from boatbuilding to visualize the forms in 3d and consequently loft the structure to full scale. Traditionally, a marine architect would carve a ‘half hull’ model in wood to test a new shape, from which all sections and measurements would be made for full scale construction. The model would literally be cut into sections, which translate directly into construction plans and building jigs.

Ene made a lovely sample panel of the reflective, tile mosaic for the ‘anchovy’ sculpture (photo: Genevieve Masse)

To make the models, I laminated scraps of pine and redwood and roughed out the shapes with a bandsaw. Using small spokeshaves and rasps, I then shaped the contours of the fishes, knowing I would later add a layer of clay for surface details. Next I will cut the models into sections to make templates for the interior steel armatures, to be cut and welded at full scale, after approval by Artur Tan, our structural engineer. I’ve been enjoying working subtractively with wood in this way, and would love to do more purely sculptural work in wood, which lends itself so forgivingly to precise carving. The entire process has also been great practice for designing and making my radical board boat and shapes my thinking about future sculpture projects in general.

schematic sketch showing steel armature for the fish sculpture(s)

Tagged: contemporary art, craft, deep craft, public art, scott Constable, sculpture, woodworking, wowhaus

‘feeder fish’, like these anchovies abound this time of year (public domain image)

I’ve begun making the scale models for our giant, mosaic fish sculptures that will live permanently outside the new building for the Ocean View branch of the San Francisco Public Library. Funded by the San Francisco Arts Commission, the project is the latest wowhaus public art project, and continues our ongoing exploration of the role of watersheds in the habitat of a bioregion. The largest sculpture, about 8′ tall, is an homage to the tiny feeder fish that thrive along sandy shores within view of the library, particularly the California Grunion (Leuresthes tenuis), who are known to occasionally spawn on nearby beaches under the new and full moons during springtime.

California grunion (Leuresthes tenuis) spawn at night on beaches (public domain)

Ene and I like the idea of heroizing such an invisible but essential maritime food source, without which the web of life would collapse.  We think the concept of ‘feeder fish’ in general is an apt metaphor for the role of public libraries in a democracy. The second sculpture will be a stylized, scaled up version of the Vermilion Rockfish (Sebastes miniatus), still a familiar fish living close to shore that was once an important food source for the Coast Miwok and the early immigrants to San Francisco’s shores.

study for the steel armature for the 8′ high fish sculpture

Tagged: california flora, contemporary art, deep craft, innovation, public art, scott Constable, sustainability, wowhaus