Week One: Light Switches and Barn Shows

Drift #24
2014

I Started my internship Tuesday, May 29th. 

Week 1 

First here's a little about my Internship and who I'm interning for.

I'm interning for a Sculptor Dennis Beach. In a portion of his Artist Statement, he says “My work involves processes that transform materials, quite often plywood and paint, into objects that combine the beauty and order that I mine from our natural world. I edit, simplify, and bring out the essential elements from the everyday observation of nature.”

Wave #2
2011

I first met Dennis while doing a visit to his studio with my sculpture class back in February. My professor then mentioned that Dennis is open for people interning for him and to have help in the studio. I was interested in Dennis's work, I needed credits, and thought it would be a fun summer experience. My role as the intern is basically is to help Dennis with projects and to learn as much as I can. That being how to maintain a studio, learning a different creative process, working with different equipment, seeing another side of the art world.  

My first day I was a little nervous however, Dennis made me feel welcome. He showed me around the studio a little more in depth than what I got during the studio visit the first time. Showing me all the light switches and their hiding places, which switches to turn on and which ones to leave off, there are a lot of them. Also showing me where different tools should go, as he's finding things laying around and putting them away. He also would see and mention some of his work that's around the studio and would tell me a little thought he had about that piece. Either how he came to that idea or what his plans are for it in the future.

During lunch, his two assistants came in and I got to meet them. Andrew and Emily. After meeting them Dennis left for an appointment, I stayed to work with Andrew for a little bit to see what his role was and to help him. One of Andrews tasks right now is helping Dennis with a huge commission piece for Comcast. I helped Andrew move and clean the bases for the piece before coating them. I left shortly after. 

My second day I was told to turn the rest of light switches in the studio. Dennis then had me put on a clear coat of Varnish on the bottoms of six small one-foot sculptures that he wanted to put in a show that weekend, the "Barn Art Show" at Scarlett Thicket Farm.

After I finished with the varnishing, he had me help hang and to organize another piece he wanted to put in that show. The piece had originally been five circles in a horizontal line, but because the weather that weekend was supposed to rain, an artist had asked if she could use some of his space to put her work inside away from the rain. Dennis had rearranged his work to make the piece smaller. Instead of five in a row, he had three in a row with one on top and one on the bottom making a plus sign. He showed me how to put new screws in the wall properly for that arrangement. Then he had a smaller version of that piece that we used to decide what colors should go where. Once we decided what looked the most balanced and visually interesting I rehung the larger pieces in that order. 

After lunch, he wanted to go to the Barn where the show was being held to have an idea where exactly his pieces would go, how much room would that leave for the other artist and to talk to her one on one instead over email. He took me along with him. 

Dennis showed me the stone wall where his work was going to be. He then thought where the best spot on that wall he could go and have enough space for the other artist. The wall is old and made out of stone, there were limited options of where and how he could hang his piece. I never thought about having to change a piece of work, either because of conditions of the space given, rules about hanging things on the wall, rules about things being on the ground, due to weather issues, or to help another artist. It was interesting to see how Dennis solved that problem without too many issues. He then took another sculpture, one of the one-foot tall sculptures that we had brought along, he wanted to see where in the space he could put them. Whether if he liked to have them on a wall somewhere or would be able to set them on the ground or both. Once he figured that out he went to talk to the artist that had asked about the space. He was able to get his work to a spot on the wall where she would have half of the wall space. 

On the way back to the studio he made a side trip to another sculptor's studio for a visit. The artist wasn't there, but we took a walk around since the studio was in an open field with the remains of an old barn that is next to the White Clay Creek. It's a beautiful place to have a studio but probably gets hot and muggy during the summer. Not to mention there’s no indoor plumbing. 

When we did get back to Dennis's studio he had me start sanding some wood that had been burned by the laser cutter. I got through a small pile of those when it was time for me to leave. 

For just two short days I already feel like I've learned a lot about a process of working that isn't my own and just some situations an artist could find them self’s in. I'm looking forward to the rest of my summer, I feel like there are plenty more things waiting for me to learn.   

 

Pictures of Dennis Beach's Studio