tentacle Archives | David Franklin

New Installation “Sculpture in the Garden”

July 19, 2018 by David

The Crouching Figure Post — The Crouching Figure

The Back Story

This installation was made for the garden of a neighbor who travels the world collecting and teaching about exotic plants. He has thereby created an amazing garden at his home in Indianola WA. We have worked together on several projects over the years. He was interested in a series of posts for installation in his garden. He was interested in evoking some of the spirit of the Janseung (a type of totem-like carving from Korea) that he has encountered in his travels. Starting at this point I began to research and draw.

This project is intended to have some of the whimsical aspects of Janseung merged with some southern Salish Sea and coastal Alaskan influence. I chose second-growth Red Cedar for the project. The Cedar is readily available and locally sourced, though often dismissed as a low grade material for carving. The cedar was the perfect choice for this project consisting of relatively simple, but large scale, sculptures.

Each post is set back into the garden with the bases mostly hidden by the lower story of growth. The posts are mostly only able to be seen individually or with glimpses of another post in the background. Each post reveals itself in unexpected ways as you move around this hidden paradise.

I enlisted the help of Spencer West to help carve and with the sourcing, milling prepping, install and some of the carving. He is an accomplished timber framer and equipped with the tools to work with large logs. Spencer was a great asset to the project.

The Tracks of the Bear Post — The Tracks of the Bear

Faces of Day and Night — The Night and the Day

Spencer West and The Circles and Squares — Spencer West and the Circles and Squares Post

Images of the Carving Process

Below are some progression pictures of the carving of the Tentacle. The pictures depict Spencer’s rough out, secondly, refining the curves, and adding the details in my studio.

Dave Meyers of Myorian Studios in Indianola also helped on the project. Dave manufactured all the structural elements that hold up the posts. The parts of this project were all made by Indianola artists.

Thanks to: Camas West Spencer West, Dave Meyers, Sammy Hughes, and the best wife a guy could have, Joanne.

David

The Plant Show

September 25, 2016 by David

I think every artist dreams of being in a gallery show in New York City. It’s a total stereotype, and one that I am not ashamed to say that I too have carried around for years. One I have carried around without much hope of realization or much action on my part to make it happen. I just kept working, following my imagination and thinking maybe someday. One day, late last Spring it happened, and I got invited to be in The Plant Show at the 99¢ Plus Gallery in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Simran Johnston curated the show and did a spectacular job. The 99¢ Plus Gallery, in a repurposed discount store, seemed like the perfect place in New York for my work. I started following them on Instagram and was thrilled to see that their previous opening had been shut down by the police. This opportunity was looking better all the time, and I had the perfect piece for the show. It was one of my favorites and was sitting in storage, waiting for just such a chance to be given a new life and purpose. Little did I know what would happen…

With gallery walls all painted green, and an intriguing cast of characters assembled, what Simran designed in the 99¢ Plus Gallery grew beyond what could have been imagined, and became a media sensation.

Congratulations Simi, and thank you for including me in such an awesome group and making dreams come true.

Tentacle Planter 2013
Medium: Vitreous China and Glass
Dimensions: 18” x 22” x 20”
Made from a Kohler sink, known by the workers there as a “Dog Dish,” with tentacle legs joined and fired into one piece. The table has a glass top with a glazed white canoe bowl on top.
Made at the Kohler Factory in Wisconsin as part of an Arts/Industry Residency.

Please go on Instagram and check out #theplantshow to see all the great work, and for the entire surreal experience.

Press for the Plant Show:

David

The Old and the New

July 16, 2015 by David

This Tentacle installation has an interesting setting. It sits on a mantle I carved from fir in 2004 along with the panels on either side. The theme of the carvings were wind and water, with creatures from the water and the Moon on the right panel and creatures of the air and the Sun on the left panel. The mantle has wind and waves flowing out to their respective sides.

The Tentacles are a new contrasting sculptural element. They relate as a theme around the home and also to the carved Octopus on the top of the panel on the right. It is really amazing to work with such kind people who continue to appreciate your art as it evolves, and to see it all working together for a new effect.