Building the circuit for The Wedding Tree (work-in-progress). Analog electronic components are pegged through heavy watercolor paper and soldered together to drive LEDs and pager motors. Photo credit: Sarah Loy
open studio
open studio: brass skep /
Finishing the brass skep with an oxy-acetylene torch and bronze brazing rods. Surface color was controlled with torch work and a lemon-salt solution; detail was re-introduced with a die grinder. The last image shows a system for hanging the 100 pound sculpture, which will premier at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts in September 2015
open studio: ramayana, 2012 /
Detail of Kelly Heaton's, "Ramayana," 2012. Conductive ink, electronics and gauche on paper. 15" x 15.5" unframed
In Fall 2012, while The Parallel Series was on exhibit in New York, I finished reading the great Hindu epic, "Ramayana." I highly recommend the translation by Ramesh Menon. Menon's two-volume version of the Mahabharata is also excellent.
Conductive ink was used to draw this illustration of Rama in meditation; and also defines resistors for the circuit which illuminates his chakras. Nine volts of electricity flows throughout his figure: 6 volts from the alkaline battery at his base, plus 3 volts from the coin cell at his crown.
The width and length of a line drawn with conductive ink determines resistance: wider and shorter lines give less resistance than do longer and skinnier. Electronic parts, such as transistors and LEDs, are connected to these "ink resistors" with a pressure contact (made possible with tiny bolts).
This work is available for sale through Ronald Feldman Fine Arts in New York, NY
open studio: welding brass skep /
Top row, left to right: making of the traditional bee skep (from Wikipedia); a stack of welded brass rings; brass rings with a ground surface to create straw-like texture; shaping the segments of the brass rings with a peening hammer and wooden cradle
Bottom row, left to right: welding the brass rings together with an oxyacetylene torch and brazing rods; two welded rings with clamps to attach a third; measuring the uppermost ring, which has been hammered to reduce its diameter, in order to create a tapered top for the skep; a bee skep from a french fairytale
open studio: brazing steel torus /
Brazing a custom connector to the center of a steel torus. Kelly Heaton, work-in-progress, September 2014
pollinators: (wo)manmade habitat /
Kelly Heaton, images from work in progress, 2014. Fabric, wire, paint & other sculptural media
open studio: perfume /
My perfumer's organ within my studio. Kelly Heaton, July 2014
Breathe in, the wonderful world of smell, and see with your inner eye
open studio: fake food for pollinators /
Media: fabric, cloth, wire and paint. Work in progress, Kelly Heaton, 2014