Livengood Studio

A hundred thousand years ago satellite plants thrived in what would become the American Great Plains. These plants, shaped like inverted mushrooms, were ubiquitous. Huge herds of mastodons that roamed the plains fed on them and dispersed the seeds throughout North America.

These seeds grew into satellite dishes. There were no satellites so there was nothing for them to do. As the mastodons died out so did the satellite plants until they were very rare. Then the British discovered a use for them in WWII as radar transmitters and receivers.

Now through the miracle of modern genetics a much smaller version of these incredible plants was made possible. Dishes have once again become ubiquitous on our homes throughout the world. This sculpture is a homage to these hardy plants. (If you believe this, I have a bridge for sale, Cheap!),

This is a clock commissioned by Donna Livengood as a wedding gift for her grandson and bride.  It is done in the style of Greene & Greene.

We were searching the web for women sculptors and learned of Lee Bontecou. Her works were one of the inspirations for Red Vortex. After we finished the rebar circles and their connections, we saw the work of Eric Gushee. We got the steel wire connectors from his work and the rusted steel panels from Lee Bontecou. We considered a number of finishes for the rebar. Red enamel paint covered with Penatrol for durability was the final choice. The panels are rusted steel roofing also coated with Penatrol to preserve the rusty patina. It is designed to be hung rather than supported by a base, because bases are really difficult to integrate into a sculpture. This gives it the additional dimension of motion. It was made as a 95^th birthday gift for my mother, Donna Livengood. Happy Birthday. Hope your birds enjoy this. It is 32” x 32” x 18”.

Finally, Ascent Cathedral is completed. 5 coats of rub on varnish, 4 layers of glass for the base. Spiffy. The glass base was Susan’s idea. The cedar and stacked glass sculpture is 10” wide by 11” long by 27” high. The name is derived from the “flying buttresses” at the base (ala Chartres Cathedral). This is one of a series. I am not sure how many pieces will be in the series. So far there are two. The other is Ascent NightWing.

I started out with the idea of the Ascent series as being dyptics.  As I worked on 2 of them, they exerted an individuality that separated them at birth.  This an another sculpture in the Ascent series. I call it Ascent NightWing due to the black wing-like projection. The black wing is made of recycled oak flooring. The rest of the sculpture is made of cedar, baltic plywood, and 1/4” plate glass.  The piece is 13″ wide by 15″ long by 37″ tall.

As I wrote in my blog back at the end of January, I thought I should go with an Appalachian Mountain Cargo Cult vibe for SATI (see Jan. 29th blog post) Looking back at it from the lofty perspective of June 8, 2022 (on a beautiful Appalachian Mountain day), I find that even I am offended by the idea. After all, I am an Appalachian Mountain resident.

Also, Susan (my wife and collaborator) really didn’t like the feet. After looking at it for several months (husbands are just slow) I realized I didn’t like them either.

So… Out goes the Appalachian Mountain Cargo Cult vibe. In comes the Steam Punk vibe. New Neo-industrial feet. I am presently taking a really old corn huller to recover the external and internal gears. I am planning to use the bottom shelf of an old large kitchen serving cart to add a riff on the feet to the back of the dish area. We will see.

Long time no write. I didn’t like the flatness of the first iteration of Ascent 1. I have added “flying buttresses” to give the sculpture more depth and complexity. I think I will call this sculpture Ascent Cathedral . I am in the process of applying many coats of rub on varnish. The layered glass that goes in the center will be added after the layers of finish have cured.

I finished the glue up of half of Ascent. More bad weather. It is difficult to get to the studio, so I did some thinking in Sketchup. I haven’t used Sketchup enough to be able to “create” in it without a lot of tinkering. So, a lot of tinkering later, this is what I got. Let’s pretend gray transparent areas are the glass and the other is cedar. These drawings got me thinking about doing a series of sculptures of various sizes and glass placement. Lot’s of ideas. Some diptychs, some singles. You know, tychs, diptychs, triptychs, then thundering herds roaming art galleries. Can you see it, migrating sculptures?

I like to work on more than one project at a time. That way when I get stuck on one, I can work on another. For a little while. While I was working on SATI (Search for Any Terrestrial Intelligence), I reached a point where I needed a break. So… I started on Ascent. One of the reasons for the switch was WINTER. SATI is a large piece and I needed to work on it in my welding yard. With an emphasis on Yard. I was outdoors you know. So, Ascent. Smaller, all indoors. So far its cedar with plans for stacked glass and steel additions. It is a diptych. A fancy name for a two piece sculpture. I like diptychs. Their shape can be changed on site to fit the setting and lighting.