Side projects are pretty common for artists across all media, but there is a prevailing misconception related in context to them. People often go, "oh, when you're not making art that is what you do", but the reality is these side projects, be it a big project or simple ritual, are just as important to the creation of art as the time in the studio making it.
Art is about thinking. Skill is mechanical and most people can figure that part out (most, definitely not all people!). To me, being an artist is creating a life where you can live in a way that facilitates having ideas come in to your head, then allows you the time, energy and money to execute those ideas. Artists lives are much broader than simply "studio time" and should be viewed as a package of activities.
That said, I love learning new things. I love setting goals and achieving them. So, when my girlfriend suggested making a pizza oven a few weeks back I said "yes"!
We live in a part of the country that is resource rich so we figured we could build an oven on a very low budget. The first thing we needed was a foundation to build the oven on. If we poured a pad then built a base with hardware store supplies, we'd have immediately been over budget. We had to get creative.
I walked across the street to my neighbors coal mine and asked nicely if I could have a rock. A really, really, really big rock! They were kind and said, "sure, go pick one out".
Me and Erin dug a pit where the rock was going to go down to about the frost line, then filled it with rocks and gravel. Meanwhile we found a BIG rock to use as the base for the oven. We set up a date to move the rock and bought lots of beer for my neighbor who was nice enough to drive it over.
He picked it up with a 5 ton capacity loader, promptly, it picked up the loader. So, we pushed it through the mine and in to my yard.
Art is about thinking. Skill is mechanical and most people can figure that part out (most, definitely not all people!). To me, being an artist is creating a life where you can live in a way that facilitates having ideas come in to your head, then allows you the time, energy and money to execute those ideas. Artists lives are much broader than simply "studio time" and should be viewed as a package of activities.
That said, I love learning new things. I love setting goals and achieving them. So, when my girlfriend suggested making a pizza oven a few weeks back I said "yes"!
We live in a part of the country that is resource rich so we figured we could build an oven on a very low budget. The first thing we needed was a foundation to build the oven on. If we poured a pad then built a base with hardware store supplies, we'd have immediately been over budget. We had to get creative.
I walked across the street to my neighbors coal mine and asked nicely if I could have a rock. A really, really, really big rock! They were kind and said, "sure, go pick one out".
Me and Erin dug a pit where the rock was going to go down to about the frost line, then filled it with rocks and gravel. Meanwhile we found a BIG rock to use as the base for the oven. We set up a date to move the rock and bought lots of beer for my neighbor who was nice enough to drive it over.
He picked it up with a 5 ton capacity loader, promptly, it picked up the loader. So, we pushed it through the mine and in to my yard.
As you can tell, it was muddy and worked as a bulldozer. It was so muddy that after dropping off the rock, the skid loader got stuck in my yard. We had to get a back hoe to pull the loader out. It was exciting!
We then had to start weather proofing the oven. We grabbed the chicken wire, the cement and the sand and did about a 2" coat for the second to last layer. This was one of those jobs I thought would take 2 people about 2 hours. It took us over 6.
At this time the metal door was also fitted moderately tight and given an internal coating of vermiculite cement for insulation.
This coat is not the final one, but we want to let it be a few months to see where/if it cracks.
After this we waited. Then waited. We lit a few small fires to help dry stuff out, but mostly, we waited.
At this time the metal door was also fitted moderately tight and given an internal coating of vermiculite cement for insulation.
This coat is not the final one, but we want to let it be a few months to see where/if it cracks.
After this we waited. Then waited. We lit a few small fires to help dry stuff out, but mostly, we waited.
Then, we fired it! In about 90 minutes we got it to 800 degrees air temp with the oven floor at 400 degrees. The next morning, 12 hours later the oven was still at 200 degrees and 24 hours later the oven was still over 100.
Now that it's just about done, we will have to fill that time with pizza eating instead of oven building.
Now that it's just about done, we will have to fill that time with pizza eating instead of oven building.