Mic Knight’s Bubo, A Sculpture In Aluminum

Mic Knight's Bubo, a sculpture in aluminum The Bubo is an aluminum sculptural wall piece that was inspired by a photo given to me. In order to translate the photograph into metal work, I first resized the image, and traced the outside of the Bubo. However, as the original photo was of a three dimensional object, and taken from a side view, rather than a face-on view, I had to take some artistic license in reinterpreting the image to be made as a metal work.

 

 My goal was to stay true to the original image, doing a fairly close resemblance (or translation) of the image from the actual "side view."  It's basically one large eye from the side view. All this might not be so easy to see in the photos.  However the final aluminum piece is what it is… a sculptural metal interpretation of a photographed image.

I call photos "image manipulations."  It's a photo, however the image is actually manipulated to start with, either by the choices the photographer makes while taking the image, or later on, by using software. A camera takes a picture and then the image is "reproduced."   So to me a very general category of photos are manipulated images. So some of my work begins with manipulated images which I further manipulate by translating them into aluminum.

Bubo is the name given to the horned owl, also known as the eagle owl.
 

Mic Knight’s Art Hits The Sidewalk At Hyde Park’s Chalk Walk

This summer I was pleased to participate in Chalk Walk, an event put on in Hyde Park, Tampa, to bring art and the public together for a day of outdoor fun.

Spending a summer day drawing on the sidewalk was great fun. I felt like a kid again, and I think that child-like sense of play and freedom showed up in my work. The drawing was supposed to be 10 ft square. I got carried away painting the primer white, line to line in the concrete sidewalk. That was about 15 ft edge to edge, something I didn't realize until I was about a third into the drawing, when I noticed the size was too big.  Whew… I guess my inner child needed some parental supervision!

Mic Knight's sidewalk chalk art at Hyde Park

 

Here's another view of my section of the sidewalk:

Mic Knight's entry in Chalk Walk at Hyde Park

 

Maybe my recent work with mandalas had a lot of influence on me. Honestly, I don't know if it was that or sunstroke  bringing out that psychedelic vision!

Mic Knights's entry in Chalk Walk

You think YOU have bad hair days? The heat and humidity gave me sort of a Twistee-Treat vibe, topside.

Mic Knight has a bad hair day at Chalk Walk

Mic Knight Interview–An Artist’s Vision

Mic Knight discusses the vision behind his exhibit, "Unexpected Visions," a series of pastel drawings inspired by mandalas, in an interview conducted by JoEllen Schilke for the program Art In Your Ear, broadcast every Friday on WMNF Community Radio, 88.5 in Tampa Bay, or online  through the WMNF website.

Mic Knight Interview–Part 1:

 

Mic Knight Interview–Part 2:

 

You can see larger views of the individual images here:

Pear Mandala by Mic Knight–Large View

Madala Space Snake (Extremely Unconscious) by Mic Knight–Large View

Clouds Mandala by Mic Knight–Large View

Double Mandala by Mic Knight–Large View

Electric Poles Mandala by Mic Knight–Large View

Blue Moon Mandala by Mic Knight–Large View

Mic Knight

Mic Knight On WMNF Radio’s “Art In Your Ear”

Hey, I'll be on "Art In Your Ear," hosted by JoEllen Schilke at WMNF Community Radio  at 1 p.m. on Friday, April 30, 2010 to talk about my upcoming exhibit, Clouds, Moons and Mandalas, at the Weedon Island Preserver Cultural and Natural History Center

Catch me live on 88.5 in Tampa Bay, or click  here to visit the Art In Your Ear page of the WMNF web site and register for the podcast so you can listen at your leisure. Either way, you'll get some Art In Your Ear.

Look! Here's me with art in MY ear!

Mic Knight on Art In Your Ear--WMNF Radio

Mic Knight Will Make His Mark At Chalk Walk 2010!

I'm making plans to make my mark–in chalk, of course–at the 2nd Annual Chalk Walk art Festival, 2010. I'll be one of 45 artists decorating the sidewalks  of Hyde Park Village with amazing images, all in chalk.  This will be a great way to bring the whole family out for an amazing Mother's Day under the Florida sun. I hope you'll join us!

Tampa Bay Chalk walk 2010

Here's the activity schedule:

May 7, 2010:

Sidewalk and Plein Aire art begins at 8:30 a.m.

7 p.m. live performance by Chris McCarty

Drink specials from 3–10 p.m.

May 8, 2010:

Sidewalk and Plein Aire art begins at 8:30 a.m.

Bounce House and Face Painting

Chalk Drawing Experience for Kids

Artists and Open Air Market

7 p.m. Live performance by Have Gun, Will Travel

May 9, 2010

Sidewalk and Plein Aire art begins at 8:30 a.m.

Artists and Open Air Market2 p.m.

Chalk Walk Award Presentation

 

You can see updates and full information on the TBBCA website by clicking here.

And here's Christina Campbell talking about Chalk Walk at Creative Tampa Bay.

 

AND THE REST OF THE STORY….It was a great event! Good weather, great crowds and plenty of room to let my imagination roam. You can see my contribution to Chalk Walk by clicking here.

Mic Knight’s Visual Arts Exhibit At Weedon Island Cultural Arts Center

Below is the poster for my upcoming exhibit at Weedon Island Preserve Cultural And Natural History Center, May 1 through July 31, 2010.

Poster for Mic Knight exhibit at Weedon Island Cultural Center

 

The exhibit is made up of pastel studies I've done over the past couple of years. They're a departure from my academic work, as these drawings focus on personal, innner environments: clouds, moons and mandalas. I worked intuitively, quickly, trying to figure out the unknown by focusing all my attention on the paper, colors and designs.

I'm an outdoors person, a native Floridian of many generations of Southern consciousness understanding the Florida environment and how we live and respond to it. We live in the waters gulf waters,bays, on the beaches, as well as driving in traffic and through parking lots, as we try to have our personal "spiritual" understanding of everything. Sometimes this is possible. Usually, we are left responding to our cultural unConsciousness of what we are taught.

My drawings are not teaching.   But they are a "look" into a spiritual self, or being, and the mental activity defining my space.   Some people will identify by looking into the drawings for their own "spirituality" and if there is a particular "understanding" anyone can "attach" their own spirituality.

I invite you to join me  at this talk and opening reception.

Text from the poster announcement:

"Unexpected Visions:   Clouds, Moons, & Mandalas:   Places You Visit By Seeing"
Opening reception: Saturday, May 1, 2010 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

This exhibition of pastel studies demonstrates unexpected Realities contained in micro and macro spaces:  from introspective dimensions to exterior landscapes.

An accomplished sculptor, Knight utilizes techniques from his academic, intuitive, and visual arts background to capture fleeting pastel images of clouds, moons, & mandalas on archival paper. This exhibition is on display during regular open hours from May 1 through July 31, 2010 at the Weedon Island Preserve Cultural and Natural History Center, 1800 Weedon Drive NE, St. Petersburg, Fl  33702.

Video:Diorama at Wave Gotik Treffen 2007

Wave Gotik Treffen video by Mic Knight

Diorama at Wave Gotik Treffen 2007

Filmed and Produced by Mic Knight

Tribute To The Twin Towers: Point In Time 010911 by Mic Knight

My tribute to the Twin Towers, created after the attack on New York and the Pentagon. It's title is:
Point In Time 010911, 2002
 

Tribute to the Twin Towers 9/11 by Mic Knight

 

This work was displayed at the acclaimed Leepa Rattner Museum, located in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Hundreds of people viewed this work at the museum, where it was used as the centerpiece of a memorial tribute on 9-11-2002. After the service, I was gratified by the number of people that sought me out and thanked me for creating this sculpture, which stands as a tribute to the spirit of the original building.  

I'm indebted to Leepa Rattner volunteer Sally Salke, who wrote and distributed the following:
 
On September 11, 2001, The United States experienced an unprovoked terrorist attack on its people and principles. The wanton destruction and loss of life was documented by countless television cameras as the nation watched it happen. Every television station replayed it again and again. September 11 generated disbelief, fear, outrage and anger. In the wake of the chaos, it also generated creativity.

In frustration and the need to help, many artists were driven to do something to memorialize the day. This creativity is a healing process.

Point In Time 010911 was Mic Knight's response to September 11th. The sculpture was finished by October 2001. It is a tribute to the World Trade Center, the massive aluminum faced, steel framed towers that stood 1,368 feet in the air, in Manhattan, gracing New York City's skyline. The Towers were completed in early 1973 and were known as a world financial center and a marvelous tourist attraction. From the observation deck, 1,320 feet above the sidewalk, you could see for 45 miles in every direction. Each of its 110 floors had one acre of rentable space. In 1976, the chief architect, Minoru Yamasaki, wrote "…the world Trade Center is a living symbol of man's dedication to world peace."

Mic Knight is an artist who uses various commercial materials and turns them into abstract sculptures. Point In Time 010911 was not intended to replicate the World Trade Center buildings. It was designed to capture its spirit as well as depict it as unscarred, undefeated and gleaming in the light, reflecting clouds and the surrounding world.

Made of fabricated industrial aluminum, Mic ground and burnished the entire surface. Limited by the material, the mat-like finish reflects a texture of planned and random designs. Although he researched the World Trade Center's actual dimensions, he chose to make his sculpture taller than scale. (The sculpture stands 78 inches tall) For him, by looking up, the sculpture represents a tribute not only to the complex but also to our nation's liberty.

We must never forget that intolerance is the enemy of the principals upon which our country was founded. Artists like Mic Knight have helped us remember."

Part of a presentation by Sally Salke of Mic Knight's artwork Point In Time 010911 at the  Leepa Rattner Museum, Tarpon Springs, Florida, on the first anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attack on America.
 

Woman In The Moon–Aluminum Scupture by Mic Knight

This image of a woman seated on the moon and looking at herself in a mirror was an experiment in transposing an old design found on a mirror from the 1920's.

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