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Drop by Drop: an installation of sight and sound
Drop by Drop, an installation of around 5,200 hand thrown, hand painted ceramic elements at 333 University Avenue, Sacramento. Ceramic, steel, steel cable, and water feature. View looking east to water feature, designed to enliven dead space under stairs, and to provide the sound of water to the space. Fabricated by the Jackson team.
Throwing drops for Drop X Drop, a mixed media installation
Took me forever to learn how to even begin throwing. It’s quite a metaphor for life, that there’s no equalibrium with relaxation, that if you’re not centered, you’re out of balance. Nothing can be forced. Nevertheless, I’m not interested in perfection, and that’s a good thing, ’cause there isn’t any. Each of these elements is…
Drop X Drop, an installation
Concepts get into my head and often just hang around until an opportunity emerges. This is the nature of my new commission for Jackson Properties, in Sacramento. The project in Campus Commons is a perfect space to reimagine “240 Tiny Paintings,” from my last exhibition with Solomon Dubnick Gallery, 2008. The original space: Concept rendering. Water feature…
Water: More or Less preview
A unique vision of the world of water as seen through the eyes of an artist, and through the words of those who work in water every day. PREVIEW the BOOK
Latest essay in Bee
“Ken Cooley has scrambled all over the Capitol, inside the walls and out.” Link to essay in the Sacramento Bee.
Busy summer
Shifting between writing and painting, ruminating and making stuff- what could be better? New work for a law firm that’s moving into 555 Capitol Mall: Three photographs, reproduced on aluminum. And ten reproductions from my fruits and veggies series, 12×12″ on panels, including: Earlier this month, I joined a group of amazing writers,…
A new sculpture project
My last exhibition was at Solomon Dubnick Gallery in the fall of 2008. The work was inspired by visits with my Norwegian cousins, in Norway, 2000 and again in 2007. In 2006, my cousin Reidar had called to say that the glaciers were melting, and that I should come. We went to the glaciers, and…
San Joaquin Valley essay in Bee
Link to essay in the Sacramento Bee
Two Valley Views
Next essay in the Sacramento Bee, “Two Valley Views.” Observations about the differences between the east and west sides of the San Joaquin Valley, between the influences from granite Sierra and salt infused Coast Range.