Mosaic Feather Sculpture Installation - Part 4 of 5

This is the 4th our of 5 posts where I tried to share a little bit about my huge mosaic feather installation at the Mystic Valley Sculpture Park in Mosca, Colorado near the Great Sand Dunes National Park. In the previous posts I've touched upon different aspects of creating these sculptures as well as some of the obstacles we had with finishing and installing.

 

One big issue was that we had to temporarily install all 6 feathers. Some of them were not grouted so that part had to be eventually done on site which came with its own challenges, mostly wind and sun. Additionally, having my newborn and my toddler around added another level to the process.

 

Ofcourse Ethan, who was about 2.5 years old at that time was all up for helping =) He loves assisting me, especially with the tape peeling. I have used the tape method to create all of my 2d mosaics as well as many of my 3d pieces. I teach this very useful mosaic techique in all my Online Mosaic Art Classes. Check it out here: https://www.kasiamosaicsclasses.com/

 

 

The shaded patio we built in the sculpture park was a godsend. Grouting each side took hours. Doing that in the sun would be impossible as the grout would dehydrate too quickly. Fun fact: Even though it was so sunny, the temperatures would really drop in April and May when I began the grouting process and later in September/October when I picked the grouting back up again. So by the end of the day, my hands would start freezing and go numb. This was pretty painful. But I had to push through to finish a full side during our trip out here. Remember, we moved 2 hours away so we'd drive 4 hours for me to grout one side. Ohhhhh this is not a great memory lol 

 

 Once both sides were grouted, Kyle would drag the father back to the installation site and place it back into its pedestal.

 

This photo was from early Spring, when Kyle was still lining up the feathers for the temporary installation before we moved out of the area. This part was also challenging as not all feathers were done at the same time so there was a good amount of guessing and lots of sabotage from our toddler who would constantly mess with Kyle's leveling markers and fill everything with sand. The little guy thought he was pretty hilarious by the way =)

 

It was really exciting whenever we'd get a feather ready, even for the temporary installation. Also seeing them grouted made such a big difference in the overall aesthetic of the work. 

 

Ethan really got a kick out of seeing the feathers go up. He wanted to be picked up a lot to inspect every part.

 

You can see that we took turns with pleasing his little majesty =)

 

Here you can also see part of the rock border we were working on. This is one of the art installations along a sculpture walk/trail we are working on. You can walk all around the feathers and up to them. While walking the trail, you will see them set against Blanca Massiff toward the East where you can see the sun come up or you can view them against the setting sun toward the West. It is really an incredible experience to walk around and see both sides of the installation from different vantage points on the property.

In the 5th part of this post, I will share close up photos of the completed feathers. Believe it or not, the feathers have been out there for over a year and I still haven't taken those photos. But I plan to very soon =)

Alpenglow Over Pagosa Springs Painting

Alpenglow Over Pagosa Springs

  acrylic painting on board finished in gloss varnish, 12″x24″x2″ 2021 ~SOLD
See My Other Available Paintings Here:  

https://www.kasiapolkowskashop.com/product-category/paintings-drawings/

 

I painted this scene back in February a the height of Winter here in Southern Colorado where I live. It was inspired by the beauty of the season's alpenglow effect of the mountains at sunset and sunrise. I find that pink glow so meditative and mesmerizing. The landscape appears so quiets and magical at this time of the day. 

I wanted to express how I feel pulled in by these kind of views by painting a local scene here from Pagosa Springs where I live. The San Juan mountains surround this area and in most parts of the region Pagosa Peak can be seen. I love seeing this beautiful mountain from different angles and it has become a favorite of mine to paint. 

 

 The painting is created on a painter's board that is 2" deep. It is varnished on face and sides with gloss varnish. It has a hook on the back as well as a signed certificate of authenticity. All of my work comes with such a certificate.

Alpenglow Over Pagosa Springs

  acrylic painting on board finished in gloss varnish, 12″x24″x2″ 2021 ~SOLD

See My Other Available Paintings Here:  

https://www.kasiapolkowskashop.com/product-category/paintings-drawings/

 

Wintry Teton Night Painting

Wintry Teton Night

  acrylic painting on board finished in gloss varnish, 16″x16″x2″ 2021 ~SOLD
See My Other Available Paintings Here:  

https://www.kasiapolkowskashop.com/product-category/paintings-drawings/

With this painting, I worked from my imagination to create a dreamy, night scene of Wyoming's Teton Moubntains that I've been lucky enough to have gotten to visit a few times. Painting this was a meditative process where I enjoyed experimenting with layering acrylic wash until I would arrive at the place I wanted to stand to watch the night sky. I aimed for this scene to feel mystical and awe inspiring. Imagine driving through here on a clear, dark night and being so struck by the beauty of the surrounding mountains and trees and the above milkyway that you'd have to pull over, get out of the car and just stand in the cold, taking in the magic of the night.

Art is a family affair these days =)

Mosaic Feather Sculpture Installation - Part 3 of 5

The installation of these sculptures did not go as planned or as hoped. In the previous posts, Part 1 and Part 2, I touched upon the unforeseen circumstances with having to plan a big move during the pandemic as well as during the sleepless months following the birth of my second son.  We had to temporarily install the 6 sculptures in an ungrouted state - I ran out of time unfortunately. We debated moving the sculptures to our new house where I'd be able to take my time with the grouting but that would come with many of its own challenges. So we planned to grout at a later time.

Above you can can get a tiny glipmse into our installation which took many trips and so much effort. Our little Wesley was just a little peanut and he was there every step of the way.

Additionally our then 2.5 year old son Ethan was helping daddy prep the installation site which consisted of lots of measuring, then digging/drilling 6 holes for the steel culverts that would line up and be somewhat level =) 

There was so much testing involved with each feather that would go in. Kyle did an exceptional job juggling it all, especially considering his underage of a toddler, a newborn and a postpardum Kasia.This was really hard for me to do as well but we all came together because we had no other option. I just spent most of my pregnancy working on this special project and we couldn't let it fall apart this late in the game. Securely pacing and moving all the unfinished sculptures from Alamosa to Pagosa Springs and then eventually back to Mosca seemed even more daunting.

 It is safe to say that Ethan is a mid-level assistant at this point hahahaha

Here I am with my little master pieces - specifically my two little rays of sunshine. Ethan was so curious during the whole process and so willing to give a helping hand along every step of the way. Despite his huge enthusiasm, this was a bit challenging for the parents lol But look how happy and proud he was.

And I must highlight our tiny little nugget here. Wesley was literally a newborn in early Spring 2020 during this time. He was getting a very realistic glimpse into the struggles of artists as we barely pulled this off (I touched upon this more in Part 1 of this series of posts). He was a good sport ... I think ... this whole thing was actually so exhausting, that I don't remember much anymore. At that point, I was still not really sleeping, you know that whole night feeding thing with newborns - wow - that was really intense but we made it!

Sometimes, when people looked at the finished product, and for a large project, it may be difficult to imagine what measures the artists had to take to really make that happen. For us, there was a lot of improvising with this one, mainly due to unforeseen circumstances with an unplanned move to a different part of Colorado and needing to get these feathers out of our old studio. I couldn't do any lifting at this point, still recovering from giving birth. So Kyle strapped on the lifting belt around his waist and did the work of 2 people, lifting and moving everything. And here you can see our high-tech machinery used to move the sculptures to location. If there is a will, there is a wary, right? 

 

 

These may be 'feathers' but they were definitely not light, especially the two biggest ones.  But a father of a new born has super powers, at least I am lucky that this one does <3

If you are wondering why are we doing this all by ourselves and you missed the other posts about it. This was right at the beginning of the Covid Pandmic in 2020. We could not ask anyone for help but it needed to be done before a deadline of sorts.

Euphoria does not fully describe the feeling we felt once the 6 feathers were safely but temporarily installed at our sculpture park. This was the day before our move. We were actually busy cleaning our house until our property manager (not our landlord), had a worker cover the wooden parts of the outside of the house with boiled linseed oil and the fumes quickly began to seep into our whole place. Remember, we have a newborn and a toddler, and she was fully aware of this and that we were cleaning the place so that we could get our deposit back the next day. Anyway we had to drop everything and leave the house so as not to endanger the baby - for anyone out there, these type of fumes can actually suffocate a newborn. (And on another fun side note, eventually I assume because we left the house in better shape than when we moved in there, we were accused of breaking a window and stood to loose our deposit - note: the window was actually cracked from the outside, like when a rock chips a windshield in a car - this was clearly seen in photos that were provided to us ... yup, all this insanity and more was happening during this lovely feather project.) So back to the Euphoria ... we did not think we'd have time to place all feathers in their stands but because we had to leave our house, the extra few hours of fresh air were obviously utilized to do more work lol

I was sooooooo tired and sad and exhausted because of the chapter we were closing in Alamosa but at the same time, I was thankful and happy for the time we had there and all that we accomplished. I'll write more on the meaning of this installation but will just mention that feathers are considered to be a good omen from above and it could not be more appropriate for us to spend our last day living in Alamosa and moving from a place where we had an abusive property manager, probably escaping other abuse from her. We ended up moving to a really beautiful place to a house that is owned by a really sweet woman. I believe it was a gift from the Universe - we'll take it!

So we celebrated, we laughed and I felt like I should cry because there were so many emotions but tears weren't meant to flow that day, at least not here in our special place. Here I was happy because we still have this place, our little patch of the high desert where we get to realize our crazy creative ideas and marvel at the natural beauty of the San Luis Valley. 

How could this view not make us happy? Right? Yes, still most of the feathers still needed to be grouted on both sides and the installation would need to be completed months from this day but still it at least looked done from a distance. Much more work was put into it on our future excursions from Pagoas Springs which is a 2 hour drive. Pretty crazy how this project just kept on going, and going and going to what seemed like infinity. But today we have these awesome feathers set against this beautiful and powerful mountain. And we built a whole trail around them and we LOVE walking around there, especially at sunset, seeing the feathers from all different directions, during different seasons and weather patterns is a gift.