Saturday, March 22, 2008

HOW TO INSTALL A BRICK MURAL

Brick color on the mural for The Whole Wall Project:
Cloud Ceramic's Crimson Dark Ironspot

Mortar Mix: (three bag batch)
1 Bag Design Mix 80# ( 3 bags / mix usually )
1 ½ # Davis Color Black + 1/2# Davis Color Dk. Brown #6059

1/3 bottle dry block / 3 bag batch—caution/ makes the mortar wetter
( dry block helps waterproof the mortar & retain the color /makes it easier to cut and clean).
Make sure the panel is secured / it would take months to get recarved brick back to you.
Panel is numbered from lower left corner on the top of the bed:
brick a-1/ a-2/a-3/a-4 thru a-12. Second course b-1/ b-2 / b-3….. + Roman # section ie III etc.
Lay at least the first palette out on the floor dry…. It’s important to see if all the pieces are turned the right way.
Lay the first course dry in the frame to figure the joint size needed: ¼ to 3/8 size joint is recommended.

Keep joints full of mortar….after it stiffens (about every 3 to 6 courses), cut flush with the flow of the design.
Put in wall ties every three courses.
Stand back frequently to see if everything is lined up.
When finished, brush dry.

Mason to clean panel after it sets and cures. Apply a sealer like Fabrikem to give it extra protection ( 1 Gal. /125 sq. Ft. mist on with a Hudson sprayer.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Friday, March 14, 2008

Brick Carving Accessorizing



This is the assorted carving set that is the basis for any up and coming brick sculptor. Raiding a fine chef's kitchen or farrier's work barn is also a good place to start in accessorizing one's work bag.Pick out a pair or two of the hot new Croc shoes and you are to die for the Spring season!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Back on Project




We are back in Concordia, Kansas to finish the last 20'x20' of the Wall Mural. This week it's the train engine we have to carve.Get back to the house...we have heat, light, and Aline has left a beautiful bouquet of yellow daffodils on the dining table to greet our return.


Enter your idea to name THE WALL PROJECT for the Cloud County Historical Society Museum......the best entry will get a prize! Join in the opportunity to add your mark in the Cloud County community's history.NAME THE WALL PROJECT in your comments below!


Monday at the CCCC Art Dept. Studio: Slow start with a tidy up of the studio. Barbara Stevens ran in to welcome us back. Surveyed the new batch of brick on the easel. Where's the hose? Where's the nozzle? Panel needs an extra course across the top....do we remember how to do this?
Jet lag/travel exhaustion...need a lunch...El Puerto's comes to mind. We happen to spot Dana Brewer coming in...he fills us in on the color changes and suggests we might want to see what is making everybody happy on the deal since the firing. Decide to vere off to Cloud Ceramics right after lunch to review the new flashed color on the panel. Mark Colette comes zooming up on his forklift to say hi.
The Review: The new brick color enhanced by flashing, solves the firing irregularities that have come about in the long process of the carving schedule. Mark points out a few brick we need to carve to fill in between expansion joints on the sunflower section. That'll be a Friday after lunch deal. We'll bring our carving tools...Mark will have fresh brick for us to work on right outside.The doorway and sunflowers we carved on the last trip are all laid out. Wow!
Now,back to the studio...finally we resolve ourselves to a startup and begin scraping the excess shims from the panel surface. Dave Walker comes in after his work in time to help lay up the final course across the top. We stretch out the paper sketch across the top of the panel....fit it on the wall so the tracks line up with the previous section. An hour of tracing...an hour or two of redrawing on the clay with a carpenter's pencil. Away with the paper, a good hosing, finally ,to resoften the surface for carving. Lucky us, this is the best clay for tolerating drying and rewetting so many times. Where to begin?... it's 8 PM...yes, tomorrow!


Tuesday: Make adjustments on the tracks and cow catcher. Start defining the curve, decide to add the roadbed for the tracks...add brush along the bottom with a variety of creatures.
Wednesday: Endless roadbed grading..cattleguard rehashing and brush cutting. Dick and Phylis Cyphers came by to do some deep digging with us in the afternoon. Stopped at 8 and decided the $1.99 Wednesday QFC country fried steak special was too good to pass up. Hauled in to order and deja vu, Dick and Phylis were sitting there enjoying the same ambiance at a $1.99 delicious!
Thursday: Out the gate slow this morning...working the cattle guard in a confused state. Decided a break carving Brick Mouse was in order while Catharine helped put on the tail. Brick Mouse is the mascot responsible for things that go awry in the studio. More on her escapades later. Catharine working the coal car wheels along the top left side of the panel.
Aline Luecke whizzed in for her usual pictoral photo journal update for the Historical Museum archives. Lunch again at El Puertos...I am so hungry I could eat my way through town.
Barely back to the Art Bldg when Catharine got an SOS call from Mark. Come by the brick yard to help figure out a section that was not quite lining up on one edge. Somebody, like brick mouse, misnumbered the brickman's coveralls. Got the puzzle realigned...whew! We revieiwed tomorrow's options on the small number of brick needing to be recarved.
Did I say Mark and crew had another fifty feet of mural laid out on the ground? Even I was amazed(that's the word) to see fifty of brick mural stretching east and then west of me in the field alongside the brick plant! He showed us the flashing that will eventually be the new color for the full length of the mural. For the first time I spotted the sycamore tree with all the kids under and in it. It did actually all fit together !!!
Friday: Yep,back to carving train parts this morning...me on the cow catcher...Catharine on the coal car wheels. What can I say, it's a lot like raking the yard for a week. After the Numero Uno lunch at El Puerto's, off to Cloud Ceramics to recarve the little miscreants that didn't stay where we needed them. Mark Collette and his assistant, Daren, had the side brick set up adjutting the new we had to cut. Daren helped slice away the preliminaries....then to it. We had four different areas to redo, all totalled 32 new pieces. Mark stayed to help number and palettize the fresh cuts to be drilled next week. Two thirty to after 4:30...we are pooped and our carving day has yet to really begin. Another coffee round at Mickie D's and a sandwich. We're back at the studio now on swing shift...hoping it won't be the graveyard shift!
Saturday: Got it going at ten...Dick and Phylis Cyphers on team to help. Can't remember how the day went, except ,finally got those engine wheels carved by nighttime. Carol Urban worked on the engine barrel with Catharine....on and on we scraped. Time out for a pizza delivery on a late lunch, then back to it. I finished the lower brush with additions of various wildlife...bunny,bird with eggs in a nest, and a couple ground squirrels tucked up in the branches. I put Phylis on carving another brick mouse up at the sink counter. Ten oclock, we were done but for a few touch ups....phew!!
Sunday: Tidied up the engine with the crew. Phylis and Dick brushed off the extra crumbs fallen everywhere. One o'clock, the take down gang moseyed in. We helped Dave Walker get ready on the set up, then away to finish packing, and off to the Salina Airport to get me on Easter Break in Texas.

FLASH FIRED


The Blade Empire / March 7th , 2008 Flash Fired

A portion of the whole wall, depicting sunflowers, has been flash fired, and is at Cloud Ceramics, awaitingtransport to the Cloud County Historical Museum Annex. Catharine Magel and her assistant, Mara smith,are nearly finished carving the 140 foot long brick mural. ( Blade photo by Jessica LeDuc)
Sculpting of the Whole Wall nearing completion
Completion date for the Whole Wall Project in Concordia is set for April 5. The wall will be a three dimensional 140 foot longby approximately 20 foot high sculpted brick mural covering The Cloud County Historical Museum Annex East exterior wall which faces highway 81.The mural depicts key development events and rural cultural elements of Cloud County’s history from the founding in the 1860s to the present day.The artist, Catharine Magel and her assistant, Mara Smith, will be sculpting at the Cloud County Community College Art room March 10-14, March 17- 22, and March 31-April 5.Bricks for the wall are being flash fired at Cloud Ceramics. Ben Retter, assistant general manager said, throughout the whole wall project, Cloud Ceramics has continuously searched for opportunities to create a finished product with more than just curb appeal.“ This ‘WOW’ factor is primarily influenced by the incredible detail in the sculpting done by Catharine and her team.” Retter said, “ However after reviewing the mural brick that have been fired thus far, we felt that we could contribute substantially to the finished look of the wall by incorporating sheen and luster with the mural brick. Reduction firing or “flashing” these bricks will deepen the color and bring out the luster and sheen that complements the depth and detail of the carved bricks themselves. Many Smaller brick sculptures and carvings use flashed brickcolors for this very reason. This process will not have any impact on the timeline for the project and will result in an even more impressive” Whole Wall”.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The Why of THE WHOLE WALL PROJECT


My intent with this mural has been to find a universal theme within the history of Cloud County through its visual and actual history. This theme will relate to all viewers allowing a personal connection and interpretation between the viewer and the work. The planting of seeds has relationship to the past, present, and future, acting as a metaphor for hope, allowing the piece to remain timeless. Upon my visit to this area, I found the healing qualities of the land reflected in people who live there. This is significant to include in the work. The friendships and good relations that came out of the prison environment at the POW Camp speaks of our humanity as a whole and our ability to work together for the good of all even during times of war.
The strength we have, as humans to solve problems in times of need are evident as well in the running of the Orphan Train.
There are many clues in the work that hint at these universal ideals. The few I mentioned are the most prominent and other images back up these thoughts.
My interest with the brick mural project is to tap into the community’s intrinsic creativity, history, and culture in an attempt to produce a work of art that is accessible and has meaning for the public. I also see the potential to engage numerous community members in the creative process.
Participation helps build unity into community and can give voice to the community members. Without artistic voice, community grows silent. As we all create together and process, we bring together a new familiarity with the places we live in and with ourselves. This kind of Collective Collaboration enhances the vitality of a work of art and the community it serves. Written as part of the original proposal, by Catharine Magel