There’s a lot to do in order to reconfigure your life around an upcoming three-month artist’s residency -- removed from your usual environment.
My wife Robin and I are self-employed and have no children, so we’re relatively free of entanglements to pursue our interests. All in all, it has been a lot to organize the transition from one household to another in Kohler, but all the strands are starting to come together and a plan has emerged.
Since Robin is coming up to Kohler with me and plans to occasionally assists me with projects, I’m not staying at the Artists’ House provided by the Kohler program. Luckily, we have found a house to rent, just a few minutes away from the factory and amazingly it’s even fully furnished. We got very lucky because we don’t have to move a minimal household up to Kohler in order to make a home. Without too much disruption, Robin can continue her work as a graphic designer and complete her writing projects for her Master’s degree in liberal arts from the University of Chicago. She graduates in the spring of 2008.
Since this is my first artist’s residency, I’m curious as to how the other artists handle their own domestic arrangements. I can’t imagine how people with young children or careers outside of art-making manage to make it work (my hats off to those that do it.)
When we found out last summer that I was in the running for receiving a residency, Robin and I decided to make a trip up to Kohler and take the factory tour prior to my face-to-face interview with Beth Lipman, the Arts/Industry Program Coordinator.
I highly recommend the factory tour if you can make the trip. It’s three hours long, but worth every minute. We had a great tour guide, Joe, a Kohler retiree who has an extensive history working at the factory. Taking the tour gives me a much better idea of what my experience at Kohler might be like. I came away impressed with the sheer physicality of the work at the factory. This is a heavy-duty industrial factory, the “real deal,” -- working there can be hot, dirty, and noisy. I’ve never been in a work environment like it. I have limited experience with industrial America but since the subject informs much of my work, it’s essential that I experience it firsthand. Much of my art practice concerns the “stuff” that makes modern life “go.” Working in the Kohler factory will give me a new and more informed perspective on just how it happens.
I’m reading two foundry technique books recommended by the program. They are: “The Metalcasters Bible” and “The Complete Handbook of Sand Casting,” both written by C.W. Ammen.
Frankly, since I’m a rank beginner in metal casting, I initially had a little trouble visualizing the techniques. However, it’s starting to gel a little more every day. I’m sure when I look back on it three months from now, I’ll wonder why I was ever having trouble seeing it. I think “The Complete Handbook of Sand Casting” is a better book to start with initially; it has better examples on specific situations. It’s also a little daunting trying to figure out which techniques or materials described in the book I’ll have to know and which ones aren’t applicable to my work at Kohler. Time will tell… I’ll let you know.
