MyArtSpace Scholarships and Contest!

www.myartspace.com has created a scholarship program for students of artistic merit wishing to continue their education in an approved MFA, BFA or other higher level degree program (BA or BS in Art) for the arts. The scholarship is intended for students who exhibit exceptional artistic excellence. All mediums are accepted. Including, photography and video, both contemporary and traditional in nature. The scholarship arises from the commitment to supporting artists who are committed to their skill and development as an artist.

For two years myartspace has been a key figure in availing opportunity in the arts on the web and in global events. Myartspace is providing three scholarship prizes for undergraduate students and separately three scholarship prizes for graduate students. Creating an account on myartspace is free. Entering the scholarship competition is free.
The deadline for registration and online submission of work is November 21, 2008. You must upload your JPEGS/videos into a myartspace online gallery. Up to 20 images can be submitted for consideration. Scholarship winners will be announced on December 19, 2008.


First Prize:
$5000 for undergraduate student
$5000 for graduate student

Second Prize:
$2000 for undegraduate student
$2000 for graduate student

Third Prize:
$1000 for undergraduate student
$1000 for graduate student

For more information: www.myartspace.com/scholarships

www.myartspace.com has also launched a joint competition with the Bridge Art Fair. Finalists in the Art Basel Miami competition will display their art at the Bridge Art Fair art Art Basel in Miami this December. The Jury panel for the competition includes Elisabeth Sussman from the Whitney Museum, Janet Bishop from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), JoAnne Northrup from the San Jose Museum of Art, and Michael Workman the founder of the Bridge Art Fair.

For more information visit-- www.myartspace.com/miamibasel/

Something oldish, something newish

I’ve been at a bit of a creativity loss lately, so I’ve decided to revisit some earlier works and rework some of them a bit. Here are two of my "new" old pieces. C&C’s welcome!




Rattus 2.0 ©2008 JNichols



Violent Flower, Cropped ©2008 JNichols

In a child's eyes

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In a child's eyes was one of my first scanographic assemblage pieces. I first arranged and scanned several groups of objects that I had collected over the years, then the scans were assembled into the finished piece. It is an attempt to evoke something of the innocense and curiosity of youth, represented by the strange things that we accumulate with magpie-like zeal.

The Kingdoms

These are the first two scanographic images from a series that I started last year. I intend to carry the concept forward with a series of related scans in each series, and also to add a third unifying series. I have been accumulating elements to use in this project for about a year now, and I hope to get started on the next images in the near future.
Comments are always welcome!



Kingdoms of Nature


Click on the images for a close-up view.



Kingdoms of Man

Conophthoric tunnels

It’s been a while since I’ve done anything new, so I finally started a series of images based on scans of the beetle burrows in a white pine limb that I found. Don’t know where the series may go (or if it will go any further) from here, but here are some of the first of the new pieces. Questions, crits and comments are always welcome!



Click on the images for a close-up view.

Who wooden like them?

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A few years ago we lost an old apple tree that I loved. I saved a few pieces of the wood were good enough to work with, with the intent on making something useful out of them as a way of memorializing the tree. After they were properly seasoned, I cut one of them to length and then carefully sawed three nested spatula blanks from it. I next carved each of the differently sized and shaped blanks into the finished spatulas using gouges and chisels. They were shaped so that they would all fit together nicely when done. The final finish was multiple coats of mineral oil that was vigorously rubbed in and allowed to stand on the surface until the wood was saturated. I used mineral oil because it's food-safe and it doesn't turn rancid like vegetable oils will.

From another piece of the same apple wood, I carved this set of cooking spoons, employing pretty much the same technique that I used for the spatulas.

This last spatula was carved from a piece of rock maple that I was given by a friend. The grain is highly figured, and quite beautiful in person! All of the utensils shown above are used pretty much daily, and have been in use for a number of years now. They have held up well, and their patina and character continue to grow.

From the Anvil's Edge

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Here is an example of some of the forge work I've done. This is a fireplace set that I made a few years ago for my wife. They are a reproduction set based on 18th c. patterns, and consist of a flesh fork, spatula and a ladle. It took about a week to do all of the forge work and then they were coated with cooking oil and baked in a slow oven for a few hours to season them and prevent them from rusting.

This is a detail shot showing the tangs of the handles and the hand rivetting.

This is a detail shot showing the working of the eyes on the handles. You can also see some of the decoration on the handles if you look closely.

Bull

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While looking through some old polaroids, I came across a number of under/over exposed images that I had saved because I found them interesting. This piece is the product of manipulating several of those images. The final piece was output at 12" x 12".