Green Grape: 

11/18/2012

 
  So I finally figured out how to get a spherical shape for my green grape sculpture...Turns out, a sphere is actually pretty hard to do...You know, there are spheres everywhere in nature...One might assume that they were easy to recreate...Not so much...Below is my no-weld design...Next step I will be weaving in greenish variations of nylon cord, with some silver & some blue...I have added some details to my no-weld method, here they are:
*coupling bolts: these are essential if you want to bend a rod into a circle & connect it back to itself...
*washers:I have added these so that my hexagonal bolts don't slip...
*Acorn nuts: just a beautiful way to finish off the end of a rod
*Kreps locking nuts: These are nuts that go on the end of rods & nothing slips off...They have a star like formation that keeps them tightly on...
*I also learned a neat way to lock two rods together in a pinch...I fold over some copper strapping over the two intersecting rods, then bolt them together using 10-24 screw bolts with a locking nut on the end...

Important Information: The solo show opening has been moved to December 12, 2012!!! (The Agincourt Library is so busy, that they are putting in an automatic book return sorter...The two weeks needed to do this interfere with my show opening, so Scarborough Arts moved it to Dec. 12, 2012...if you happen to go to the library, forgetting that the show has been delayed, do not fear, your trip is not in vain...Scurry upstairs to the Visual Arts section...They have some amazing art books- you know, the really big ones with lots of pictures in colour! These are books most mere mortals cannot afford to buy just for themselves...Sit down & do something really old fashioned...Read a book in a library! Later go buy some wild bird seed & pet food at the next store Pet Valu store...I haven't explored the whole mall next door, but on first glance it looks like a throwback strip mall- you know the kind where you find some awesome treasure for a dollar ninety nine? It sort of felt like a giant dollar store the last time we walked through- but in a good way...I'm guessing the huge influx of people & money that we are all going to bring into this area will turn it into a destination...Let's do that! I think Scarborough is the new chic...Come join me...
 
  • Lord knows I've tried...But getting a nice spherical shape is hard to do actually...You know, like a ball...or a grape...I had an idea for a 13 grapes on a vine large sort of semi-soft sculpture...Probably with a steel rod under-skeleton with woven nylon on top...Silly...Who knew getting a sphere shape was going to be so challenging? Anyway, so I am working on that...(possibly going to give up, since maybe the idea itself is flawed...Flawed maybe by its normalcy...Things that are too normal, like 13 grapes on a vine in a giant soft sculpture, maybe they are not worth following through...At some point in the work of art making, I have to decide whether the time & effort & materials that I am going to need are worth it considering the final product...)
  •   I still have the raccoon sculpture to finish...I put it on hold, because my two large paintings are breathing in that same space, & I don't want the marble & glue materials from the raccoon to breathe into the two paintings...The paintings are going into a library space & I don't want patrons telling me that my paintings stink like glue...It'd be nice to have a proper indoor studio space for winter...I try to use the Great Outdoors as my main studio space, but winter is cold here...
  •   Below, in one of the photos you will see my second attempt at the prosthetic left hand...This time I decided that maybe the essence of a hand is really the grabbing motion that occurs between the index finger & its opposable thumb...If you just had that, you could still grab at most things...carry groceries, dog on a leash...So, I did a prototype of just that...Eventually, I will figure out how to move the thing...It totally bends at every joint, but HOW to make it bend, from a command given by the owner? probably going to be something like a pair of pliers or something...God knows...I've been tooling around with this one for a while...Backburner type thing...
  •   I have also been handed to responsibility of walking my neighbour's dog Pushak daily at 5:30 pm...My husband (Joseph Grove, also a Vase- visual artist self-employed), decided to walk her dog because she has not been able to walk, like at all, since last November...(2011)...So he was doing it & that was fine with me...But Joseph is in Ottawa right now, taking care of his Dad & one of his adopted brothers(Joseph is biological, but his parents adopted 6 disabled children of various ilks over the years...) So I sort of said I would step in to his dog walking responsibility...The reason this lady, our neighbour can't walk btw, is because she has been on an osteoporosis drug (Actonel) for 7 years that turns out can actually cause hip fractures, femur fractures, necrosis of the jaw, & severe musculoskeletal pain...She had a knee replacement 2 years after starting the Actonel, & 5 years later (now) she needs a total hip replacement...The Class Action lawsuits about osteo drugs are allover the place now, so I was able to tell her about them...I was also able to get her to STOP taking this drug...But the damage has been done to her cartilage...It is a very very bad thing that the doctors in Canada did not know that her knee troubles & even now that her hip troubles were caused by a drug they gave her...Very bad...I had to do the research myself & force the doctors to let her withdraw from the drug...Very bad...I hope cutting short my work day to walk her dog will somehow help me with my art career...That will help me to justify the time spent...Oh I just remembered- while walking with Pushak the dog(Russian name)(half Bishon Frise half poodle, white fluffy), I saw a giant dragonfly on the sidewalk cement...That is when I decided to do the Wall Dragonfly sculpture...
  •   Oh, it wasn't a wall dragonfly to begin with...It was a normal standing sculpture, but Jadzia, one of our intect bengal cats kept rubbing up against it & knocking it over...So I decided to try sticking it up on our wall...It worked! & Lo & behold I had a new design concept...
  •   I maybe will do a line of wall bugs...Maybe...We'll see...
  •   Bye for now, Sari


Oh wait...You can see below as well the GroveBodyPartChart...It shows the TWO elements in each body part that must live in balance...Adding more of one will also lower the other...So figure out which body part in your body is affected, then figure out which way the imbalance sways...Then you can either drop supplementation of the one in excess, or add some of its opposite...

Also, big funny news: We got a phone call on Friday Oct. 19, 2012 from the FSCO saying that TD bank, after a year of us getting no answers, after a year of us complaining to every governing & non-governing body in Canada,( & some in the U.S. & the U.K.), that Td had "CHANGED ITS POSITION"...FSCo stands for Financial Services Commission of Ontario btw...I await the letter from Td to confirm this information...Wow! A year of fighting...A year of no...We had given up...Now out of the blue we get "changed their position"...A victory...
p.s. we had been sold a credit card insurance policy that didn't allow self-employed people to make a claim...I asked for a refund of premiums...All...They said no...Banks are not licensed to sell insurance by the way...Which is why they screwed it up...I am pushing for Canadian Federal legislation that forbids any selling of insurance without a licence...That way, banks, & other charlatans can't screw people with stupid insurance policies, fine print & phone telemarketers...

My letter back to the FSCO in regards to their saying that despite the fact that we are going to get a refund, that TD Bank did not break Canadian Insurance law:


 
  Everyone that called or emailed or wrote a comment on one of my blogs,  for help in getting a refund, was disqualified from making an insurance claim from the get-go...
 
  One was an unemployed first year university student, one was a lady who worked almost full-time hours but found out that some of the 20 hour work weeks she did disqualified her from ever making a claim because she was considered freelance or seasonal or part-time worker...I am self-employed...Another lady was an artist like me, self-employed...
 
  Another man was a retiree...Someone's wife found this policy on her husband's credit card-he had a pre-existing medical condition that ruled him out from claiming...
 
It seems that there is a large group of people who have credit card insurance who can never claim on it...They were simply not pre-qualified over the phone...Once you say yes over the phone the product has been sold to you...Paperwork does not have to be signed or confirmed or sent back in order for debits to begin...
 
  The "out" that people can cancel if they actually get the written contract in the mail (I didn't see mine), & find the fine print exclusions (good luck with that), is not sufficient...
 
 Insurance salesmen know that 97% of people never read the fine print after saying yes to a policy to a salesman...Right or wrong, it is a fact...
 
  But these are not even licensed insurance salespeople...These are unlicensed telemarketers...
 
Perhaps TD Bank did not break any laws according to the FSCO's opinion...
 
 Which means that the law is needy in Ontario...The law is severely lacking...There needs to be legislation across the board saying you just can't sell insurance without a licence...
 
The "incidental" thing is a loophole that needs to be closed...
 
If the Canadian government continues to allow banks this "incidental" loophole, one might start to assume collusion...That this "incidental" thing is bringing in so much revenue, & the government loves revenue, that it is turning a "blind eye" so to speak...
 
Td bank violated many ethical issues...TD Bank violated fair business practices...If another human being did it to their neighbour, it would be the start of a feud...
 
Selling insurance to people who are not ever able to make a claim, then standing on their heels when a refund is asked for?
 
I mean...A YEAR???
 
It is wrong...The law in Ontario is wrong...This insurance was not incidental...It is almost 3 thousand dollars to our family...That is not incidental...
 
Sari Grove
 
p.s. Please excuse my harsh tone- it is not you, just some big feelings about this...The least of which is my own stupidity for trusting a bank...Sigh...

  
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here's the "Wall Dragonfly"...Getting alot of kudos for this...Joseph says do a butterfly...But I'm tired now...Weaving the wings was HARD!!!
 
  So... http://creativeyarnsource.com/index.html Joseph looked at the Dragonfly, still missing one wing colour...I asked which colour I should make the final wing... He said blue...But I didn't have blue(blue Mason line is what I mean) & blue is hard to find here... So after much searching I found the Creative Yarn Source in Ohio...Great resource not just for the cord but as a knowledge base too...As it happens, Mason's line(Mason Line is what they use to make sure their brick walls are straight) doesn't come in blue...But number 18 nylon cord is pretty much the same thing...It should fit in...I picked the variegated Blue cord which is two colours of blue in one spool...Next I have to decide on the leg colours...Any ideas?
p.s. Newfoundland's unofficial flag is green white & pink(three rectangles, like a Barnett Newman painting sort of)...Hence the tentative title "Newfoundland Dragonfly"...


  Thursday: I'm at 12 hours total, spent maybe 86 dollars...I put the dragonfly on the wall today to see how it looks...Awesome! Wall Dragonfly! (see pic)...


Here is a recent decision in the United States about foreign art versus local art...
  http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/2012/07/10/u-s-museums-issue-brief-against-court-decision-with-crushing-copyright-implications/comment-page-1/#comment-4714


Here is the comment I wrote about that decision:
What is important to note, or to wonder about, is the WHY of all this...Why did the United States make this decision? Why? 

  It must be a response to a problem...Let us guess the problem...People are going to other countries besides the U.S. & buying art for cheaper money than they can buy locally...Then they are bringing that art back into the U.S. & exhibiting it for ticket sales at American ticket sale prices...This is a microcosm of something that tourists having been doing for decades, but on a museum scale...

  What is the result of this foreign art buying? Well, artists local to the U.S.A. don't get paid...That is probably the biggest repercussion...Also, alot of travel & shipping happen, which is not very eco-friendly...The fact that foreign artists sell for cheap & then the work gets overinflated when back in the States is a bit of a cheat too...You know the gallery owner who buys cheap native stuff, then brings it home & charges exorbitant retail prices for it?

  I think that is what has been happening which has caused this stern regulatory response...

  What will distinguishing between local art & foreign art do for Americans? It will bring more money to local artists...I think that is a good thing...Nobody likes protections & censorship & laws & rules & such, but I think that Americans are losing out to countries who produce stuff for cheap because they don't have as many labour laws...Like having people live in pods to make iPhones or whatnot...They don't earn much & they don't live well...So the stuff is not made local to the States...It's not good for the foreign countries either...

  Laws come in when people start hurting others...Computers, cellphones & tech stuff are an arm of art, & serve as telling examples of what is happening with the more traditional stuff...Getting made elsewhere for cheap then being resold in the States...

  This is only my take, one take, on the why part...But to sum up, I think local is good...& if laws are needed to make people go local, well it's too bad but I still think it is better than the current way of doing things...Diversity may suffer...But knowledge is not always a good thing is it? 



Links to good people who do good art & who teach too:
http://www.anniestrackart.com/ Annie Strack is a very funny person...(humour is so integral to genius)...
Also: Link to very cool idea designer named...Beste Miray Dogan: http://www.bestemiray.com/
This is Beste's cool envelope with google map idea- print one for yourself...http://www.mapenvelope.com/


new Blog to read that I just discovered today: http://www.jeriflom.com/blog/ Don't know much, but I think the work is cool!
I think this work & what I am doing now with the Dragonfly crosses paths a little bit...




 
Hello & Thank You...

  The incidental exemption, or enrolling activity by the banks, is actually quite massive...

 Estimates are 2 million dollars a year per bank to administer, with a 20 million dollar profit per year...

 This is for the incidental enrolling...

 So the banks ARE selling insurance...

 That little afterthought exemption took $3,000.00 dollars out of my pocket...During the worst decade of my self-employed business life...

 There are probably tens of thousands of people like myself in Canada who were missold this exempted insurance by the bank, over the phone...

 Once you say yes over the phone, the money is automatically taken from your credit card without another word or any signed confirmation at all...

 Statistics on insurance state quite factually that in insurance "enrollment", the vast majority, over 90 per cent, of people who say yes to an insurance policy over the phone, do not or are not able to read or thoroughly understand/comprehend any written documentation that may or may not appear 10 days later in the mail...People who can say yes over the phone are not necessarily qualified to read or give informed consent to complicated & obfuscatory written insurance policies...

I have been through the entire ombudsprocess with the agencies mentioned...I have also attempted to use other intervention with other agencies not mentioned below...

 The insurance industry is making HUGE money on balance protection insurance...

As are the banks...

 Which is why I have not gotten my money back yet...They don't want to give it back...Even though they know that it is wrong...

 They all know they have taken money wrongly...But they are hurting too, so they have turned a blind eye...

 I have been in touch with a major Class Action law firm here in Canada...

 They are looking into a Class Action lawsuit against all the banks in Canada who have sold balance protection insurance...

 In The States & England this has happened already & ALL people sold a policy by a bank are getting a refund...ALL...ALL people who have EVER been sold a policy on a credit card by a bank...

 That is how bad this is...

Canada is the last country to correct this wrong...

It should be our government who initiates this action...Not a law firm...

But our government has been slow to act, because they are in bed with the banks...

The answers below sound good don't they?

But they are meaningless when one person attempts to jump through those hoops...

The incidental exemption is key...

Legislation is only regulating licensed insurers...

Nothing about the banks...

That is the loophole...It is a giant black hole loophole...


Sincerely, Sari Grove
grovecanada.ca

Dragonfly...

7/16/2012

 
   Joseph & I went to walk our neighbour's dog...His name is Pushak...A Bishon Frise...Our neighbour hasn't been able to move that much since she injured her back maybe 6 months ago...So mostly Joseph walks her dog...It's good because both Joseph & Pushak have extra energy...It also gives me a little time to work quietly...But sometimes I join the boys...As we walked home I saw the most gorgeous gigantic Dragonfly on the sidewalk...Not alive unfortunately...But I stared & stared & decided to do a memorial sculpture...
  1)Went home & did a preliminary sketch...see below...
Had a talk with Joseph about the Dragonfly sculpture just to make sure he was ok with it...Joseph pushed me to weave the wings myself out of rope instead of covering with the aluminum mesh I have been using...(This turned out to be very tiring...)
2)Next day, browsed Canadian Tire for supplies I needed...5 hours later, I have the bare bones of the sculpture...Next I have to figure out how to stabilize the legs...


Health Notes: Cut up raw garlic into some rich plain Greek yogurt...Eat with a spoon...Garlic lowers blood sugar in the pancreas...Garlic is an antibiotic...I learned this from Jeanne Claude & Christo...(from an interview about The Gates in New York project)...Eat raw garlic if you have lice or bedbugs or whatever you call them in your state...
  Goji Berries contain Oxygen...Oxygen dries Hydrogen up from your liver...The common cold is essentially a wet liver- too much hydrogen...So eating Goji berries will dry up your liver, & your cold...It is like eating fresh air...
  If you have the flu, it may not be the common cold...Flu symptoms may appear if you have eaten meat from an animal who is unwell...Animals have been unwell lately because genetically modified grains get clogged up in their system...GM grains are big looking but straw-like...Not enough sugar acids...They just look like food...But they clog up your bum & you can't pooh...Then your kidneys start to fail...Because gm grains look like food they sell for money...But they don't taste good & aren't good for you...The justification for gm grains is that people are starving & any food is better than none...So that is why gm foods are on the market...Kind of like strippers who go to law school...Some sort of rationalization there that it is ok to strip as long as you are paying for your schooling...Of course the fact that they are breaking the law seems to be a moot point...Anything to justify strippers...Sigh...Anyways...If you eat some meat & then get the flu a day later that is not a cold...You need to treat that with Magnesium...Magnesium cleans out your Gallbladder...Magnesium is found in magnesium pills, lavender, forsythia (which can be bought from herbalists)...Dolomite is a magnesium rock you can carry in your pocket if you like to carry rocks in your pocket...I do sometimes...Especially if I am going to a marina area where mercury levels are high...Magnesium cleans mercury out of your gallbladder...Magnesium fixes ADHD, ADD, autism, stuttering, jaundice, toenail fungus, jock itch, rashes, violent behaviour, dyslexia, anti-social behaviour...Baby Powder the talc kind is magnesium silicate...Silicate just means sand...Epsom salts are magnesium sulfate...Sulfate just means it dissolves in water...You can get oral epsom salts...You can put Baby Powder (the talc kind not the corn starch kind) in your shoes, your socks, your bra, your underwear...You can put Epsom Salts in your bathtub...Anyways, that is what fixes the swine flu or H1N1 as it is now called...(maybe also lay back on pork eating right now...if you top a pizza with pineapple, onions & tomatoes, it tastes like a real hawaiian pizza without the pork...Ok, the tomatoes are secondary to that flavour...But really, those three toppings are the ultimate pizza choice toppings...)
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first sketch to map out sculpture...
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spent the afternoon in the sun, weaving the green stuff, then cutting copper strapping & bolting it to the rods...
Picture
wrapping the head in white mason's line & the tail in pink mason's line...Put some "feet" on the legs...I think I am at 6 hours of work now...
 
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I feel like titling this "Good Samaritan"...What do you think? It is made of cultured marble that I made all by meeself & it is on top of two separate no-weld armatures that I made...My first foray into making my own marble!
 
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gee I'm still working on this...I keep thinking I am done...I am now doing a second patina coat as we speak...feel like calling it "Good Samaritan" now...
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  So I had some gold powder from KamaPigments.com (Montreal), 

I took an empty Febreze bottle & filled it with some of the custom eco-friendly concrete sealer (no VOC) from Eco-House...Then I added a painting knife full of raw umber mineral silicate paint for cement, also from Eco-House...Shook it all up...
  Put the hand & the wrist cultured marble sculptures into the Petsmart cat litter box, & sprayed away...Flipped them over with my dishglove coated hands, sprayed some more...of course while wearing my super cool clear lens frameless Oakley  Glasses for eye protection...
  Now I will wait as it dries...Cool patina though eh?
  

Picture
Here is a pic of the Oakley Dartboard rimless clear lens sunglasses I wear to work in...They are hard to find now...newer models are not so esoteric...For working you need frameless, because the frame interferes with your line of sight...You need the shield type lens to block out dust & fume...You need a clear lens to see...Very hard to find & no the cheaper brands are not just as good...Eye safety is one of the most important things for an artist...Spend your money there...Said by the daughter of a neuro-ophthalmological surgeon...(me)
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Here's maybe a better picture...
 
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"Hand", homemade cultured marble, life size, by Sari Grove, July 2012... Note: this is still curing so it will shrink & the molecules will appear denser, tighter & shinier in time...

Hi...I'm moving over to GroveArt.weebly.com ...

    Contact Sari or Joseph Grove here...

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Hand over Wrist...is still drying & may need a good sanding...It is made of homemade cultured marble...This July 3, 2012...by me, Sari Grove...Life size...