Well… here it is. The last blog post of the year. Well at least I am starting it before the year is over. I hope to get it posted before next year starts. If you are joining the blog for the first time this will be a good post to catch you up on everything that has happened this year. If you have been following the blog for a while then you will hear some new stuff seeing as how I haven’t posted in a few months now. Now… I am pleased to share with you
Daniel Borup’s Magnificent Year in Review Blog Post 2015!
Let me start by saying, this is the first post of this kind I have written seeing as how I only really started blogging at the beginning of this year. In fact getting this blog up and going was my new years resolution. I will talk more about that next week.
Although there is tons to write about this post is to give you a quick overview of the highlights of 2015, so hear it goes.
The year started off good with this sculpture of a lion I did…
Then I finished my Good Samaritan Sculpture. I entered it into the International LDS Art Competition and didn’t get in. That’s okay though because it has turned out to be one of my better selling sculptures. In fact you can purchase a casting of this sculpture here: http://www.danielborup.com/product/the-good-samaritan-2/
Then I did my second artist residency at the Idaho Art Lab. This was a fantastically productive and inspiring time. During that residency I sculpted this…
And This…
Which is a small maquette of this…
I cleaned and organized my studio
Man I wish is looked this clean now!
I also had a booth at the Jackson Hole Art Fair which was pretty sweet.
I won best of show at the Eastern Idaho State Fair
I sculpted a bust of John F. Shelley for the City of Shelley Idaho.
I sculpted some giant busts of Adam and Eve…
I made some sweet videos like this one:
You can see other videos right here: www.danielborup.com/videos/
Then to end the year off I had a solo exhibition open in the Carr Gallery in Idaho Falls. The show features 32 of my works and is still open until January 10th. So if you haven’t seen it yet please go. http://www.idahofallsarts.org/daniel-borup
Last but not least is my gift to you. I am holding a sculpture giveaway contest which is ending tomorrow. If you haven’t entered yet please do so now. It’s free to enter and you could start off your year winning a sculpture from me! Here is a link to the contest: http://www.danielborup.com/contest/
It has been a crazy amazing year. I just scratched the surface of all the great things that happened this year. I made tons of sculpture and worked to inspire lives. Thank you for being a part of it and I hope you will continue to be a part of my life next year. Stick around and I will do everything I can to inspire you with art in 2016, making it the best year ever!
Comments are welcome.
This post has been long in coming. When I started this blog I said I would be posting once a week, and I did for a while. Once summer hit, I kind of dropped the ball. Well now that the school year has started again and I have more structure in my life I am resolving once again to post every week.
Because you haven’t heard from me in a while this post will basically be catching you up on what I did all summer long, so hear it goes,
Since my last post on June 22nd I…
Went and stayed in a cabin in Island Park and toured Yellowstone with my family. While we were there I got to do some sculpting. It was fun to have the whole family sculpting with me…
Finished this sculpture…
Spent a lot of time with my family. Here is one of my little girls when we were playing with color mixing…
Finished a set of relief versions of my sculptures Shelter and Lotus. These will be available on my website soon.
It got a little hot in my studio and my sculpture With no thought of failure started to melt. I still need to fix it. I will be molding and casting this sculpture shortly.
Made many molds for my sculptures…
Sold my work at the Jackson Hole Art Fair. Here is a picture of me just after setting up my booth.
I went on a backpacking trip in the Sawtooth Mountains with a bunch of boy scouts. This is a picture of me with a friend from high school who I just happened to run into on the trail. What a small world.
I made some Awesome Pizza. It not only looks amazing but it also tastes amazing!
I started teaching school again. Here is a picture of me and my 1st grader on our first day back, walking to school in the morning.
I started sculpting a sculpture of a little girl praying. I am using my 8 year old daughter as the model. It is currently life size but will shrink a little as the clay dries.
And finally I began work on a larger than life size bust of John F. Shelley, the founder of Shelley Idaho.
There is many more things that I did but way to much to share in one blog post. This will have to do for now.
There are some people who have been asking whatever happened to the commission in Meridian Idaho which I was a finalist for. Well… I didn’t get it. Yes it hurt but such is the life of an artist. If I couldn’t handle rejection I wouldn’t still be doing this and I would have never gotten as far as I have. This rejection hurt a little more than usual because it was in my home town and I really felt like this project was made for me, but there will be other opportunities.
Busy here as an artist. Between trying to finish my Good Samaritan sculpture and entered into a contest, apply for some summer art festivals who’s deadlines are coming up really soon, getting ready for next weeks artist residency, holding a sculpture giveaway, all while working a full time job as an art teacher, I have had plenty to keep me busy.
Here is a picture of me with my brand new J-Mac clay I got from American Fine Arts Supplies. 150 pounds of clay for my artist residency. I gotta tell you AFA supplies has been so awesome to work with. When I told them what I was ordering the clay for, they decided to send the clay with a little surprise for everyone who visits me next week at the art lab. So if you live in Eastern Idaho here is what you do. You go to this link: www.afasupplies.com, look through all the awesome sculpting supplies they have, pick stuff out you wish you had, and then come visit me at the art lab to get your surprise. I will be at the art lab starting Saturday the 28th during the Big Art Expo and I will stay until Saturday March 7th. On that day I will be doing a public presentation on sculpting Facial Expression from 10:00-2:00.
Working as an Art teacher isn’t all work. I do get to do some awesome artwork while I teacher. Here is a kiln full of pottery I unloaded this week. Most of the work is my students work but the 2 bowls you see are mine. It’s always exciting to pop open that kiln lid and see what treasures 2000 degrees has turned you work into.
I was also in the news reciently in an article about the Idaho Art Labs Big Art Expo. Feel free to read that article HERE. This is a picture of me sculpting my good Samaritan Sculpture and was featured in the article.
Tomorrow is the deadline for the International LDS Art Competition. I will be entering this sculpture into the show. But first I need to finish making the mold and cast it in bonded sand. I will also be making this sculpture available to purchase on my website.
Here is a picture of my sculpture under the first layer of silicone. It is a very nervous process. no matter how many molds I make I am always afraid that for some reason it might not work.
Among all of this fun I have also been runing a sculpture giveaway. You have until Tuesday March 2nd to enter. If you haven’t entered already please do. You can enter at this link: http://woobox.com/huu97t
If you have already entered remember that you can share the contest and get 2 more entries every time a friend enters. To share simply go to the link above and use the share buttons at the bottom of the contest. You can share on facebook, Twitter, or email. Shares usually work a little better if you make sure to include a personal note with the link. If all you do is post the link people will look on past. But if you include a personal message like “Hey guess what? my favorite artist in the whole world is giving away one of his sculptures. You should enter” you will probably get a much better response.
Lastly, I just want to say thank you for your support. I have been getting so many comments and messages lately. I really do appreciate it. I will be actively posting updates of my progress all next week during my artist residency. I hope you will follow along and comment on my posts. I will probably also be asking for help naming sculpture and doing other things of that sort.
The start of this week was filled again with being a stay at home Dad while my wife was one a trip to Florida. Although much of my days were taken up with entertaining my children, on some nights I was able to get them in bed early enough for me to do some of my own artwork.
The first thing I started was a relief sculpture of The Good Samaritan. This sculpture is not at all complete by any means but it is far enough along that you should get a good idea of what it will look like. I still have yet to sculpt eyes, hands, toes, the background, and many other details. I will show the progress as it comes
Good Samaritan Sculpture By Daniel Borup Progress Picture
This is one of my favorite bible stories, I think it is a message that can apply to everyone, Christian or not. It teaches that we should treat everyone as our neighbor no matter what differences we might have. I hope that in the end that it will inspire people to be more like the Good Samaritan and treat each other as our neighbors.
The title of this post is The Good Samaritan VS. The Cyborg Yeti. I don’t mean to pin these two in some sort of cage match or anything but some other artwork I did this week was of a Cyborg Yeti. A skateboard company in Boise Idaho called Board Pusher does a monthly design contest. Although I don’t usually enter these contests I thought this one would be fun. I am a fan of the 1950’s Monster Movie Posters, and this was inspired by them. They usually feature a cool monster taking off with a beautiful damsel in a nightgown or something of the sort. Sometimes I do projects like this to change things up a little. One night this week in particular, I needed a break from the more serious Good Samaritan and so I did a Cyborg Yeti.
Cyborg Yeti By Daniel Borup
This was fun and there is a chance I might win a longboard with this printed on it and little money.
I started back at school and my week has been pretty full of getting my classes up and going after having a Sub.
Until next week may you all be inspired and creative.
