Jonathan Boles

Well my trip to the Harvard Museum of Natural History was both a failure and a success. It was a failure in that i never actually went to the Natural History Museum instead I ended up going to the the Peabody Museum. It was however very much a success because the Peabody Museum was awesome!! It was all the kind of art that I have been interested in lately. The Middle floor was Central American art and artifacts, mainly Mayan tools, weapons, clothing etc.. The top floor was a Pacific Coast Native American exhibit. Masks, Adze, knives, and clubs, were among my favorite of the artifacts. The bottom floor was Plains Indian artifacts. Also on the bottom floor was another North Pacific coast exhibit.  The bottom floor exhibit had Huge tottum polls and Cedar, changing, raven masks. All in all it was a good day. I ended up spending like 2 hours in this place and I took like 50 pictures. It was very inspiring also. There are so many things that Native Americans took so much care in making, that one could spend a whole lifetime just recreating there processes, or reinventing there styles. Thanks Aimee for the suggestion and for an interesting semester of art and exploration (c:

Ok So im finally wrapping things up at school. Unfortunately i didn’t get nearly as far as i wanted to with my, Raven Steals the Sun, masks.  It has, however, been a good learning experience, the main lesson being that things take much longer than predicted, when working with metal.  I am happy with how much i did get done.  The mask is really starting to take shape and i got most of the bronze trim onto the faceplate.  I need to rework the lower jaw however due to an unexpected hazard. The hazard being that the edge of the lower jaw is lined up directly with the wearers throat. My plan is to cut off the trim work and rework the lower jaw.  The chisel and the curved drawn knife have both been heat treated and are ready to be attached to handles and sharpened.  I also had a free half hour in between projects in the metal-shop and i forged a rather large fish hook.  Its fun to just keep forging and getting better and more in tune with how metal works.

This summer I plan to finish the RSTS mask.  I still have yet to start weaving the headpiece and making the feathers, which I plan to carve out of wood. Im really looking forward to the summer. Warm sunny days carving and weaving on the porch sounds nice.

So the, Late Night Poetry Slam, is something I deem worthy of being one of my Exhibitions.  The show featured many mass art students reading poetry and playing songs for an open mic. My favorite performance was by none other that Lewis Moris, the MC of the event. He is a very talented poet and he is recently dabbling in his own rapping.  I think performance art is a very important part of art and having the courage to do it is something am am striving towards.  It relates to my art in that the masks i design would go well in a performance piece.  I hope to someday get my art into a performance show or play.  I pushed my own boundaries at the poetry slam by playing two songs with my ukulele.

So I immersed myself in the “Feeling Facts” fibers show in the, Student Life Gallery.  The show was pretty good.  I’m not as crazy about the “yarn Bombing” and application of Yarn to everyday items, for example the rocking chair that had yarn knitted all around it. I was however very interested in the felted wool art, such as the small dolls and landscapes.  Fibers is a very interesting and unexplored field for me.  I would like to incorporate some of this into my art and masks. On interesting thing that happened in the gallery was a student from another visiting school took a picture of the desert landscapes with his phone and inverted the color, which made it look like an iceberg in the ocean rather than a mountain in the desert.

I realize I have added many of my artists the night before our Family tree was due. This does not mean i have not been thinking about artists and searching for those in my family tree. It does however mean I have made an afternoon of finding a hand-full of new artists and updating my blog to be on time for our discussion on monday. So below are my artists for my family tree. Ending with, however, top to bottom starting with, Patrich Dougherty.

Patrich ‘s art consists of large scale sculptures that are made of, and into landscapes. I really like the idea of using the land in a more organic and symbiotic way. Patrich’s work is very inspirational.  I hope to use more organic materials in my art. Patrich is going in as my other brother, because I love, and am inspired by nature, so much, and i would hope that the persons closest to me would feel the same way.

Alice Wang, a designer, who takes peoples quarks and turns them into art. She looks at the “dark side” of human behavior and designs products around addressing these issues.  One of her chairs for example addresses people who lean back in there seat. Not only does the chair not have front legs, but it has a built in level, to show just how off balance the sitter is. Alice Wang is going in as my daughter, not because I believe she is more or less advanced than me, but because her ideas are what will be fueling future design and art. People are all different and this Lighter faster cheaper mentality does not address people emotional needs, according to Alice Wang.

My Father in this, artistic family tree, is non other than, Jim Henson.  Aside from creating the epic show, The Muppet Show, Jim has created many amazing movies such as, Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. Two movies I have grown up with and loved.  I think me and Jim’s biggest common trait is our desire to create. One of the large draws for perusing art when I was a teen, was possible becoming a movie set, or prop, designer. The Labyrinth is was movie that I would always think of.  He is an artist everyone has heard of, so he’s really nothing new, but his work is so abundant and inspiring that it just has to go into my family tree…. Fraggle Rock anyone?

Peter Schumann is going into my family tree as my other Grandfather. He is the founder of the Vermont based organization, Bread and Puppet.  This politically charged, grassroots, group puts on large scale puppet shows involving actors in enormous costumes and originally served bread during the show.  They have great meaning behind there art which is something I am striving for. I would also someday like to collaborate with large numbers of people like Peter Schumann does in his traveling puppet shows.

Nick Cave is going into my artist family tree as my brother. He is also making elaborate costumes and his work is somewhat tribal in nature as well. He is also into performance art and i would someday like to be apart of some sort of performance organization.

So the latest thing i’ve been working on is attaching the bronze parts the the metal mask. After a few experiments and failed jigs, i have managed to get a system that is working quite smoothly. I have successfully attached two bronze parts to the main mask and i plan on attaching two more tonight, to the lower jaw. Im also planning on buffing out the parts so the look a little nicer. I still have a few more galleries to visit. And my family tree should be done for tomorrow as well. (c;