I feel I must preface this confession. I’m pretty liberal. I believe in universal healthcare, choice, and all that stuff. That said, Donald Rumsfeld is responsible for one of my most used personal mantras.
Remember when there was a war, (that kinda is still going on but we’ve decided not to pay too much attention to all that) and Rumsfeld said “We go to war with the army we have, not with the army we want” and it was in response to American soldiers not having proper equipment? Remember that? I say that to myself all the time. It really helps me square my jaw and figure shit out.
I use it for everything! In the kitchen when I need 2 eggs and have only one. Me and my one egg army is all I have and I make do. Said it probably a billion times to myself during my installation, which was rife with technical difficulties. The phrase has a very pioneer spirit.
I’m also fond of something else he said that kind of got panned in the press, which was that the Iraq war was going to be a “long hard slog”. So when faced with a really difficult task I just take a deep breath and say: “This is going to be a long hard slog, and we go in with the army we have, not with the army we want.” Mental breakdown averted! Liberal shame sort of induced.
So I salute you sir! Thank you for your weirdly inspiring words. Too bad you’re still pretty much a war criminal.
I’ve just discovered that my favorite Internet time and $$$ sink, Etsy, has a nice series of work in progress videos of some of their sellers. I like how some of the videos have the same relaxing qualities of the How Its Made series on the discovery channel. I also like gawking at people’s workspaces and tools.
A couple of my favorites:
I have a new installation up at the 301 Gallery at the Montserrat School of Art in Beverly, MA.
301 Cabot St.
Beverly, MA
Also accessible by commuter rail!
It is in the window, so check it out whenever you can. No need to worry about gallery hours or the like. Opening party to be determined…
Sadly this is the best picture I could take. The sun was setting in such a way that mucked up every shot. I will try to go back when it is darker to get a better shot. This is the shortest amount of time I have ever taken to do an installation. Usually I take a couple days to set everything up. This time I showed up a little before 10am, and I was done at around 2pm. Of course my superstitious brain is going overdrive and is convinced the whole thing is going to collapse on itself overnight. Since my work uses ad-hoc electronics I always live in fear that it will “break” or just stop working. It has been suggested to me that I should create a future artwork about this fear…
There were a few incidents that prevented it from coming together too smoothly. I pulled a couple muscles because a) I am really out of shape, and b) the space itself is only about a foot wide, so I constantly had to position myself in weird and uncomfortable angles. I also ran into some trouble with the staple gun I was using to put the piece together, and it was soon realized that my quarter inch staples were not big enough. So a last minute trip home depot was in order, which I hate doing in the middle of a project as it makes me feel really unprepared.
But! While installing the piece, a Guatemalan man came up to the window and I had a nice chat with him. It was nice to talk to someone in who actually understood what most of the text meant, and I felt hopeful about perhaps reaching out to the Spanish speaking community in Beverly.
Edit: I forgot to mention that this installtion is best viewed when it is darker out.
My thesis show is rapidly coming up and I just have to say: I really love my Dremel. I don’t use it all that much. But every now and then I will look into my kit and discover a new attachment or use. Today I finally figured out how to use the circle cutter. It was perfect! I am surprised it went through the thick wood so well. Props to my cool landlord too. He has a pretty complete wood-shop in the basement and is nice enough to loan me tools.
These are some of favorite tools that I have repurposed for other uses:
1. Any object can be a hammer.
2. Seam rippers are fantastic if you are harvesting wire from cat 5’s or something. It strips the outer sheeth so nicely.
3. sewing pins are useful if you are building small models in foam-core.
4. A $5 soldering iron can be used as a wood-burner or stencil cutter.
5. Emory boards are great if you need to smooth-out something small or delicate.
