Saturday, January 7, 2017

Video of Kohler Residency for the new Tendr Pods!

Kohler was wonderful! Thanks to the Kohler Art Center and the Arts and Industry Program for the opportunity to use their facilities for this project. I've learned so much from my time there. The video from Kohler about the project is part ad part documentation. Let me know what you think!

Monday, July 4, 2016

Something wonderful is at the Exploratorium through September 5thStrandBeests: the Dream Machines of Theo Jansen are up and running for you to experience for the first time in North America. Jansen is a physicist-turned-artist who has been designing self-propelled machines since 1990. His lifelike complex contraptions, called beests, have evolved to survive harsh beach environments. Jansen's Strandbeests have inspired artists to create their own beest versions and the Exploratorium has invited these artists to share their works on Thursday July 7th from 6pm-10pm at the After Dark BYOBeest night. The TE+ND Rover will be there along with Corey McGuire's collaboration Automata Equis, Adam Savage's Pedal Powered Beest and Scott Parenteau's TinSpider. If you're in town I hope to see you there.

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

The Mark VI is up at the Portland Museum of Contemporary Craft until it closes in April. The museum is one of the oldest of its kind in the US and it's closing is a real blow to Portland and the craft community. I love this museum and am honored that my work will is showing there with the rest of the work created by craft artists at the CARPA, Joshua Tree residency. If you didn't have enough of a reason to visit, now you have a deadline.
Marnia Johnston giving a demo at CARPA, Joshua Tree 2013

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

  • Dept. of Art and Art History Lecture at San Jose State

    I've been invited to give a lecture at San Jose State's Department of Art and Art History on Sept. 29th from 5-6pm. The lectures are usually held in Art #133. I'll be talking about the conceptual history of my current work and the processes used to create a ceramic robot. For more information about the lecture or San Jose State's lecture series check out their schedule. In case you couldn't tell, I'm excited about talking at my alma mater!
  • AICAD2015 Symposium

    I've been selected to participate in the AICAD 2015 Symposium at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, Nov. 5-7th. I'll be giving a talk in association with theExploring Science in the Studio program on Friday November 6th. Looks like there will be an amazing lineup of artists and Natalie Jeremijenko is the keynote speaker. Donald Day, Nathan Lynch and Susan Anker will be there as well! I'm so honored to be invited to be a part of this. For other speakers, times and locations check our their website.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Where are the rovers now? Well, the ceramic version is currently at the Richmond Art Center for the California Now exhibition. It's a showcase of contemporary and innovative works in clay, glass and enamel created today in California. The jurors chose the works that they felt melded technical excellence and content and pushed the boundaries of their prospective craft. The reception is Saturday June 13th from 5 to 7pm and the show runs through August 23rd. Hope to see you there

Update: The ceramic rover one first place for clay in California Now!



Monday, March 16, 2015

New rover field test, this time with a new planted platform. This platform is all ceramic, some soil and all native plants. The test took place at Briones Park in the East Bay.  You can see the rover slowly making it over a hill. As I've discussed before, the rover moves slowly (because it only has to keep up with the sun) but it has a lot of torque. There is no sound as I am going to use it in a presentation at NCECA (The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts) and didn't want to mute it or talk over it. Enjoy!

Monday, July 14, 2014

Here are photos of the ceramic version of the rover I was working on during my Anderson Ranch residency. Special thanks to Doug Casebeer for suggestions on how to formulate my slip to get the shrinkage I needed for the parts. The legs are all slip cast ceramic.