Capturing memories

I intended to finish the garden assemblages over the weekend and blog on them today. In fact I did most of the design and preparation work for four pieces but did not finish them. I needed to do quite a bit of grinding to know back some of the flakey rust and take off sharp edges - I did not want to disturb the neighbourhood on Sunday - they will be finished during the week.

©2016 Barry Smith - Piano hammer and copper bound steel string

A quieter task was to make a 3D artwork out of some of the pieces I salvaged many months ago when I dismantled Steph's piano. The piece is for her son - a piece to capture the memories of the days when he and his mates had their band.

I was quite drawn to the keys and wires. I wanted to mount the bits on a piece of timber panelling from the piano case; and I wanted the piece to be uncluttered.

©2016 Barry Smith - Hammers used to attach the wooden extension of keys to the backboard

©2016 Barry Smith - Some of the piano stash to select from

I masked off the raised section of the back of the panel and painted it white to provide a 'canvas' for the assemblage. The photo below shows a bit of a design test run.

©2016 Barry Smith - Test the design

The final piece came together well - I have used quite a few elements of the piano including: timber paneling; black and white keys (with annotations for the music students on the white); felted timber brackets; a large screw; timber hammers off the keys; and a section of copper bound steel strings.

©2016 Barry Smith - Finished piece  with oiled edges - horizontal

©2016 Barry Smith - Finished piece  - vertical

And as you can see from the photos about it could be hung vertically or horizontally. The reverse side of the panel still has the original dark stain on the timber.

©2016 Barry Smith - Felted wooden bracket and large screw - love the bit of tatty red felt