The installation of the roof structure and painted ceiling synagogue replica in the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw

I'm a little late (...probably more like a month late..), but the painted panels I worked on in Poland for the past two summers just got installed in their final resting place, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland!  It's completely amazing to see them displayed how they ought to be - curved - when I have only worked on them flat.

There's been a lot of press about it recently (as it should be!):

• http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/12/5255810/jewish-museum-in-poland-unveils.html
• http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/jewish-museum-poland-unveils-synagogue-roof-18709050
• http://news.yahoo.com/jewish-museum-poland-unveils-synagogue-roof-151838980.html
• http://bigstory.ap.org/article/jewish-museum-poland-unveils-synagogue-roof

Here are some pictures taken by my good friend Krista, who helped install it this past February in the museum:

More photos of the installation, and all the work done in the past two summers, can be found on the project's facebook page and at HandshouseStudio.org.

Blown Up Cross Section Drawing

I made a series of 14 cross section drawings for the construction of the bison model and final life-sized bison sculpture. For my solo show, I blew up the tallest, widest cross section drawing using an overhead projector.  I even transfered my disorderly notes to myself and my scratchy 5th-grade-boy handwriting.  I used this gigantic piece of graphite to draw the whole thing.  It gave the feel of a single (albeit gigantic) pencil line.  

 The only wall that was clear of a lot of hanging pictures and furniture was where we usually keep the trash can in the kitchen.

Here it is at my show. The actual cross section is now 76" tall, which is the height of the bison sculpture at it's highest point.

 It looks small compared to the bison!  That drawing is the actual size of the timber framed section.  There is a lot of felt/fur bulking it out!

This is the original drawing.  The entire drawing is  only 16" tall.  The "wood" is 1/8" thick in the original drawing, and in the enlarged version it's almost 1".

blanco buffalo

The finished model.

American Bison Model, 14.5"x22", 1/8" bass and balsa wood, uncarded felt, wax and a whole lotta superglue, 2011.