St. Sparky 2010

Learn more here.

Something about ladders

I've developed a "thing" for ladders...step ladders, folding ladders, etc. I reallly like folding ladders because they are one of the simplest, most basic standing objects.

When I see someone throwing away a ladder now, I stop and pick it up (unless it's totally broken). Last year I was using ladders to make robots.

This summer it's starting out as some sort of free-form series of ladders connected by boards with other stuff hanging off it. We'll see how this all goes, won't we?

How to grow tomatoes like the Fluxus Indians

1.  Buy tomato plants and soil at Costco.
2.  Bring out last year's terracotta pots.
3.  Create tomato spirit stakes by tying bricks to sticks using wire.
4.  Combine ingredients.
5.  Tend.  Water.  Watch.  Wait.

Christmas Tree 2009

Finally got around to trimming the Christmas tree.

Click photo to view gigantic image.

Arting Up Valentine's Day 2010

Janice gave me a stunning Valentine bouquet made of dried grasses, flowers, and plants she picked from our snowy yard. I made her a wooden valentine heart wrapped in a wire ball.

Valentine Yard Bouquet 2010

Valentine Wood and Wire Object

click on images above to view larger photos

"The Art Guys"

I'm calling this set of objects, "The Art Guys." If you're not familiar with The Art Guys, then click here.
"Rolling Rock"Round, rollable wire sphere containing a suspended rock. Approximately 18-inches in diameter. Steel bailing wire and rock.
"Rolling Rolling Rock"Rollable wire sphere containing a suspended, full bottle of beer. Approximately 18-inches in diameter. Steel bailing wire and bottle of beer.

To view larger photos of these objects click here.

Hole Hammer (#1)

Present for Randi Bushman for her 25th birthday. Scrap wood, nails, steel wire, broken pottery, paint, small plastic figures, and small bells.

"ARTCITE--The Angry Sullen Years"

Now on display at Artcite's annual Christmas art show/sale, “DOIN' THE LOUVRE," in Windsor, Canada.

Yard Tools

Leaf Rake (Aug 09)                   Garden Rake (Nov 09)Old wooden handled yard tools. Leaf Rake: vine and steel wire. Garden rake: steel wire and sticks.

Ladders and Rocks

ladder with 2 rocks

ladder with 3 rocks

Spurlungar

Papar

Old wooden ladders, rocks, and steel wire.
click here for larger view

Something #3

Salvaged wood, nails, screws, and bolts; 55 inches tall on rocking chair feet. November 15, 2009.

Something #2

Salvaged wood & garden hose. Nails, screws, and bolts. November 7, 2009.

12 Halloween Masks

click here for big picture

Tags for Evil Art objects

Created a special tag for each of the five new Evil Art objects. A 2x3 inch photo sewn onto a piece of rubber cut from a Halloween monster mask. View all 5 tags here.

Ensemble of new Evil Art

Now on sale HERE

EVIL ART #5

Body Parts Rack more here

EVIL ART #4

Revenge of the Tar Pit more here

Creativity Workshop

Led a two day workshop with the incredibly smart and talented folks of Olson Zaltman Associates in Pittsburgh this week. This was as good as it gets for me. This is the "goofy" picture we took at the end of the workshop.

Something

Scrap wood, garden hose, bolts, nuts, wing nuts and washers.

Jasper Johns on creativity: "It's simple, you just take something and do something to it. Then you do something else to it. Pretty soon, you've got something."

Accumulated Materials

Long wooden handled tools salvaged over recent months from neighborhood trash. Awaiting creative uses.

Tomato Tomahawks Go On Sale

Sale here

"Toboggan Mystery"

A new story from Fluxus Midwest.
And a birthday present for my sister Marilyn.

Fluxus Indian Cruciform

I recently stumbled upon the discovery that two paddle balls with presses can be used to make a near perfect Fluxus Indian Cruciform. Not much is known about the Fluxus Indian Cruciform even though this symbol appears frequently in Fluxus Indian graphics.

Monument to the Coon RapidsGolf Swing

Fluxus Indian Twirling Stick

Fluxus Indian Twirling Stick
now on display
as part of the Windsor, Ontario,
International Fringe Festival,
July 17 - 31, 2009.

Tomato plants

Nightmare Before Christmas figures

Hats

Hats I've made and collected.

Tools with long wooden handles

Tools recently retrieved from curbside trash. Now candidates for The Stick Garden.

World Leadership

in Science Blocks

Check out the Science Blocks website

Musical Chair

Wooden folding chair, steel wire and jingle bells.

Online art market for buying and selling my work

I have begun what I hope will be a sustained and systematic effort to sell some of my current artwork online: allenbukoff.com/artmarket. I am trying to create a public market place that will allow me to sell my art objects, track who buys them, and monitor any changes in the monetary value of this work. Someone might, for example, buy one of my art objects and then turn around and sell it to someone else using my online market. The first public sale on my new market place--5 cigar boxes of Christmas tree pieces--was held on June 9th. I announced the sale simultaneously via email, on Fluxlist Blog, and through my Facebook and Twitter accounts. All five boxes sold in less than 30 minutes!

Helmet for a sport that remains to be invented

Hat or helmet made from ten discarded plastic plant pots fastened together with wire loops.

click here for enlarged image

Janice's title for this is Pothead

Update: backyard robots

Radar and Napoleon
- made with discarded junk -
earlier versions

Caprese salad with garden lettuce

Recent creative work from Janice. With fresh basil and lettuce from our garden.

Buckets, pots, and baskets

Things purchased by an English major.

Dissecting Christmas

Christmas Tree 2008Five New Boxes From Fluxus MidwestVisit the Dissecting Christmas website

Trophy for my sister the social worker

My sister Cheryl had a birthday recently. I asked her about retirement (maybe in a couple of years) and it got me thinking about her life and career as a social worker in Detroit (since 1972). I really admire her for devoting her life to making the world a better place and got the idea to honor her in some way now instead of just waiting until she retires. I was fooling around with some metal scraps left over from some other recent projects and wound up making the object you see above. It's sort of a cross between a trophy, a crown, and a globe. [Some people would not consider a junky object like this to be a prize, but Cheryl has always prized the stuff I make.] So thanks, Cheryl, and here's to celebrating your spirit, dedication, and career.
Click here for more object photos.

Jumping the social media gun

I think most people in business who are launching social media efforts are starting in the wrong place.Read all about it.

How to Play Croquet: Game No. 1 (2009)

Mallets, posts, and other pieces from old croquet sets. Click on photo above to view enlarged image. Click here to visit website displaying some of our previous games.

Twitter "business" card I created and handed out at a "Tweet-Up" (dumb name for a meeting organized via Twitter). The hallmark of Twitter is that it allows you to send only very short messages (140 characters or less). I used a small return-address label to represent a twitter-like message window and added my Twitter name (@bukoff) and my public bio on Twitter. General consensus was that this was a clever format. Also liked peel-and-stick feature as it mimics the light "stickiness" of the Twitter medium. A few people--including me--stuck these on their shirts or folders. Making these is an easy trick using mailing label paper and an ink-jet printer.

Numbers in the snow

finger, snow, slate table