Page 28 - the NOISE June 2014

28 • JUNE 2015 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us
aRTsBRIeFs:
NaviGaTiNG The daRk skies
“George’s Glass Guide to the Galaxy,” opens at
Arizona Handmade/Fire on the Mountain Gal- lery for First Friday Artwalk June 5.
George Averbeck’s hand blown glass art is a perfect medium for the artist to create his own floating planets inspired by Flagstaff’s dark skies. The vision for the show is to promote the Dark sky programs in northern Arizona.
“The primary ornament is the dark sky — sil-
ver, black and deep blue with a random spray
of white that uniquely identifies itself with the dark
sky universe we see each night from northern
Arizona! next up is a fly-by of Pluto and perhaps
other objects that lie beyond. It’s amazing to see
science manifest itself in such an intelligent and
peaceful form. I will be making some glass
planet ornaments over the next few weeks to
celebrate this,” Mr. Averbeck says. “Hopefully my
interpretation of Pluto in particular does justice to our distant neighbor as we get our first true view after June 1!”
Mr. Averbeck is making a dark sky inspired set of wine glasses and matching decanter, which will be auctioned at the Pluto & Beyond Gala at the High Country Conference Center, 201 west Butler Avenue in Flagstaff, on June 13. The gala benefits Lowell Observatory, with doors open at 6PM, dinner at 7PM. The artist also has a selection of work on display in the gift shop at Lowell Observatory. AzHandmade.com
CaRviNG The soUThWesT
Rudy Erdmann has been an artist since he was a boy — influenced by his neighbor, a friend of his father’s and a classical artist trained in Paris to pursue art. He knew how to draw, so, in extreme detail, over the course of three weeks, he drew a totem pole struc- ture with over half a dozen southwestern creatures on it — a rattlesnake, mountain lion, bear and tortoise among others. He drew the pole from every angle — visioning his final project. The drawing was just his first step. It was a blueprint for what was to be his second woodcarving project.
The piece first started as a 5-foot tall by 30- inch round hunk of pine burl lodgepole, and after three years he created a woodcarving of
17 southwestern lizards resting and crawling on top of one another. It was an extremely ambitious piece for a novice woodcarver, but it was a project that he claims made the rest of his work a whole lot easier.
He started carving his second piece, and after four days of carving he threw his sketch away. “It’s like watching a kid grow. It ulti- mately becomes what you want it to become, and that’s what keeps you going. There’s a lot of ups and downs in the whole thing,” said Mr. erdmann.
The artist found his passion for woodcarv- ing about 15 years ago, when his life started to slow down. He has a master’s in construction management from Arizona state University and worked in the construction industry for 40 years in Phoenix. However, art was a pas- sion he could not escape. During that time he would practice whenever he could, his weekends full of drawing and painting, his weeknights full of classes. After the lizards in the log, he hasn’t picked up a paintbrush since, except to stain his woodwork.
“I like the tools and the detail you can get into with the right wood, and the seasoning of the wood. You can apply a lot of different el- ements of the art into putting a woodcarving together,” said Mr. erdmann, who hangs at the Gallery in Williams, 145 Historic Route 66, the month of June. TheGalleryInWilliams.com