The History of StrataVarious: The Introductory Preamble

In the early 1980's I coined the name StrataVarious as an umbrella term to cover a set of modular audio component sculptures. I was going to Emily Carr College of Art and Design (now ECU) and although I had an intuitive grasp of my own art I had difficulty with the language of Art. 

Then and Now.

 Perhaps language in general.

 StrataVarious was the name of a series of Installations that often included a performance aspect. 

The idea here is to give a brief overview and then do a series of blogs which chronologically detail how I got to where I am now. 

 StrataVarious: The Sound Studio Permutation 

StrataVarious: The Interdisciplinary Permutation 

StrataVarious: The Bar B Q solo Permutation 

StrataVarious: The Noisy Hallway Permutation 

 StrataVarious:Stairwell Permutation (Hellen Pitt Award Winner) 

StrataVarious: Including the Sink Permutation (Grad Show 1984)

 StrataVarious: Tonight 1984 Permutation(Whiterock) 

StrataVarious: Autoguitar Permutation (Gastown) 

 

 The root concept was to create a sound sculpture by playing a number of unsynchronized

tape loops simultaneously.

The location of the sounds origin also changed constantly by

Connecting the tape machines to the speakers through

Both manual and automatic “switch machines”.

Turntable based speaker/source switcher

 Bar b q motor based speaker/source switcher 

Plastic cup speakers 

Stripped Cassette decks running custom tape loops 

 1/4" mild steel rods with custom 90 degree clamps 

And ,of course, the Noddaguitar.

Recently I've noticed a slow increase in  intrest in 3d sound, 

analogue/digital hybrid modular 

 and of course the term "Circuit Bending" has been around since 1992. 

So perhaps the language has caught up or at least some visible references to point at.

Time dictates another new beginning

I just checked the date on the first entry of this blog - sept 15 2008 - ! That's almost 13 1/2 years ago. Several ideas and new starts have occured in that time. It was going to be Flash, then the red border visual serch meta-Nav. Having retired from my Post Secondary Instructional Associate Phase I feel another phrase weighing heavily upon my conciousness - 'End Game'. In the past there always seemed to be plenty of room/time (Spacetime?) to experiment. R and D being my natural resting place. To not put too fine a point on it - I age. With age memory degrades. Also physical abilities. And, perhaps most cruel of all, time itself seems to pass more quickly. A short, indulgant, story to illuminate the concept and then I'll let it go. I promise. In 1965 or so I remember being in Trout Creek Elementary School. I looked at the clock, 2:03, I looked outside through the expansive glass windows at the hills in the distance. An amazing place to hike and explore. Especially in the Summer when the world became a magical place, free of the interminable boredom of school. I concidered many exciting plans for next summer. The clock said 2:04, the second hand seemed frozen, moving so slowly. And now Breakfast bleeds so easily into Lunchtimeforafternoon snack oh why bother just get dinner. Another day over? Whatever happened to accomplishing something in less than a month? It's perception, not time itself. I must appear to be moving in slow motion. Now that time is Free it melts away like ice cream. How unfair that the currency of life isn't dealt out in the same denominations now that I am able to spend it as I will Daily.

Another 90 Degree Turn

Can I just type here? Yes!? Okay, here we go again there eternal present moment presents another opportunity to dive headlong into the future. In a few months time I will be retiring from my 11year stint at KPU and (re)turning to the idea of being a sculptor/Artist full time.

Where to now?

A carpet of red leaves

a digital collage 

my web presence

is this rabbit hole

just a warren

or is it 

Wonderland

?

SCULPTURE RESOURCES

Okay, welcome to 3D Thinking!

I am building and editing on the fly,

and I have decided to put all the

Sculpture Resources

on it's own site and let the blog be

whatever it becomes.

So the blog is more personal and rough

and

Sculpture Resources

is more on form.

Sources: Tools and Materials

Welcome KPU Students and Alumni 

(and the rest of the world)

This list is skewed in favour of the

Greater Vancouver Regional District

because this is home to KPU.

Home Depot -This is where I do most of my shopping for the shop! They have wood, they have glue, they have wood glue; tape;string;nails;screws;screwdrivers;power tools;etc. Also metal and welding supplies. Did I mention paint? And painting supplies? This is the first stop. If they don't have it, I have some other suggestions and more specialized places.

Fabricland - This is where I purchase heavy duty thread. Also needles, pins, and unexpected things like bobbins! If you are a fabric artist I should not have to tell you they have that too. (Join the club and get deals.)

Lee Valley -   Not only do Lee Valley make alot of high quality tools and hardware, they also search out high quality products to stock that solve problems. I can't tell you how many times I've spent hours browsing their shelves or reading the catalog (online and delivered to your mailbox) from cover to cover.

Opus - Art Supplies. Lots of high quality Art supplies. Pencils, pens, acid-free paper, sketchbooks, paint, brushes, modelling materials and tools, and more. They even stock unusual items like "Flexwax" (great for casting hands, feet, small objects,etc.)

Metal Supermarkets -You can order a wide variety of metal here. Check out the website for dimensions and alloys available. I routinely order Hot Rolled Mild Steel sheet, rod, angle iron, or flat bar. They will even cut it to size for me! Lengths are usually 12' or 20' so it's a good idea to do a drawing and do the math ahead of time. Sheets are 4' by 8' . I usually get them to cut sheets into 16" x 24" pieces, that comes out to a nice even dozen.

Windsor Plywood - Live-Edge / Specialty Wood is what comes to mind when I think of Windsor Plywood. They have a wide variety of wood working tools and supplies, but it is their variety of Hardwoods that convices me to make a special trip out to peruse.

Coast Fiber-Tek-  Fiber-Tek has all you fiberglass needs covered. Also Plaster, Hydrostone, Casting Rubber (Smooth-On products), Kevlar, Carbon Fiber , Fiberglass mat, cloth, woven roving, Polyester, Vinylester and Epoxy resin.  And Make-up and FX. I get the majority of our Casting Studio consumables here at this time. ( concrete, and sand I get at Home Depot)

Rex Krueger "how to find good used tools"- Rex describes his technique for getting good used tools at Auto or Furniture Shows.
More on this.






AND HEY - new developments just keep on rolling in! THIS is where the proper site is being erected even as I type. And so this blog can go on with it's more proper roll as a blog - a place to put regular (notice I didn't say DAILY?) developments. 

Video Recommendations

I am linking here to a variety of

Videos

that I believe are helpful in building skills

for working directly with materials.

Specifically Sculpture.

I'll make every attempt to explain the reasoning behind

each Recommendation.

(Although I am presently employed as a

Sculpture Instructional Associate at KPU

these recommendations are personal and do not necessarily reflect

KPU curriculum)

Mister Chickadee -   

 This is actually a Youtube  Channel , not just a single video. The ones I have seen feature a man's video diary of life on a homestead. Working with basic hand tools- even Medieval Tools- he cuts rock, makes axe handles with an axe, carves his own anvil base, makes a foundation for a shed... Stuff like that. Usually no voice over, just the meditative sound of axe and hammer blows. I could watch this all evening. There is a Q&A session that gives a decent amount of background information on how this channel emerged.

Rex Krueger-
  Another Youtube Channel, it's hard to go wrong with this guy's "build anything with simple basic tools" attitude! Again I haven't watched them all, however I have watched a good number of them, and unlike many videos I watch them all the way through because I'm learning something about working with wood. (My main formal education has been in Welding, Art, and Digital Multimedia.)
The Woodworking for Humans Series is a great place to start. Rex shows you how to build a bench, a mallet and many other useful basic tools. He tells you what you need to do basic woodworking, how to get started and how to find good deals on inexpensive tools and materials. As he builds he gives lots of tips about finding reasonably priced, decent materials, lining up wood, measuring, marking, etc. AND he has free plans you can have dropped in your inbox!
 

                                 (the new location for this information is at Google sites' Sculpture Resources.)