Cynthia Herron awards "Notes in Neon" 'Best Use of Unconventional Materials' in Something Red Show
Watch what she has to say about the piece in the below YouTube video
(17:41) Transcript
"The award for Best Use of Unconventional Materials hands down goes to Anne Pinkowski for "Notes in Neon" which is this work on top here. She has two other works that are equally intriguing and created with found objects as this one is. It's found
objects with neon but this one again blew me away because of the compositional structure intersects with her concept,  intersects with the handling of the materials and the strength of the the message just comes out - and that would be open to anybody's own personal interpretation.  I love the use the combination of the the line and the neon and the piano keys and wondering where it all came from and just having it be so intriguing. So congratulations to Anne for her unconventional use of materials."

SOMETHING RED
Celebrate the 22nd Annual “Something Red” Exhibit during December
Something Red is Artists in Action’s crown jewel event, now in its 22nd year! Artists have been
invited to create compelling art that center around the color Red as a focal point or primary color in
the composition. This event is a perennial favorite of our local art community. The call for art is
open to all Oregon artists and is presented by Artists in Action and Elsinore Framing & Fine Art Gallery.

Awards are given in these categories and the judge this year is Salem artist Cynthia Herron.
Best of Show; Best Use of Color Red; Best Original Concept; Best Use of Unconventional Materials; Best
Botanical; Therese Misner Sponsor Award; Elsinore Gallery Award; Honorable Mention; People's
Choice. When you visit the show, be sure you vote for your favorite piece!
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Elsinore  Fine Art Gallery, 444 Ferry St SE, Salem, OR
Opening Art Reception on Friday, December 6th from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Awards ceremony at 6:00 p.m.
Exhibit runs Dec. 6 - 31, 2024

Started in California and completed in Oregon, this sculpture was a study in full coverage mosaic.  I am absolutely thrilled with how this has turned out.  I will be looking to update my website with a landing page for both my gallery work and my public art.  Watch for that and more sculptures to complete and make it to the web soon!

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I'm already in the studio and continuing my work on the large mosaic sculpture that I started on before my move.  What's hysterical was the look on the movers face moving this big ol' half covered, half armature concrete THING.  I've been working in my studio and had the lovely company of some of my new friends. One of them is my neighbor Marg who was inspired to create her own concrete mosaic sculpture - which is very ambitious! It's almost 4 feet tall!  I love to see her dig in and master this craft and it's been fantastic sharing my passion with her.  And... on a cold and rainy day it's great to have a studio to go to to make your own little sunshine happen. 

Guess who is now the Programming Director for the local arts association.  Yup. I'm jumping right in and trying to help make something happen in Silverton.  The Arts Association is centrally located in the Coolidge McClaine Park​. COVID disrupted a good thing and it's time to squash COVID and make things happen again. 

I'd love to be teaching sculpture but the space is not really have industrial arts space but we will try and find space for that all in due time.   In the meantime... I'm busy trying to get a Spring quarter up off the ground. We have artists/teachers to meet, schedules to make, a communications plan to firm up, and classes to get posted for enrollment.  So much to do and so little time. 

We've picked it all up - our entire lives - and moved it to Silverton, Oregon! That's right and we found a perfect property to afford us the space to TIG, MIG, Plasma Cut, and all that good stuff! Anne now has a studio comparable to the space she shared with artist, Anita Wiglesworth. Dave has a nice 1500 square foot shop where he can work on motorcycles to his hearts content. The community is amazing and we are thrilled to have found our little slice of heaven. 

I've always had tremendous respect for the individuals who have grown my mind and shaped my Fine Art career: Henry Hopkins first and foremost. I will never forget that man, his friendship, and his immense belief in me and my capacity as an artist. We could talk for hours about art, the world, the community, ourselves. I miss you Henry!

George Herms really excited my mind and introduced me to found objects. He forever changed the way I look at dumpsters. He taught me how to work at scale and to not fear scale. It was because of him I learned how to weld and work with metal. 

25 years ago I started to study neon with Christian Schiess at The Crucible in Berkeley, CA.  I was thinking about using neon to illuminate my metal sculptures with it's vibrant ambient light. However, I went on to couple the neon with found objects - a practice I continue in my work today.
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When a teacher of yours invites you to exhibit your work alongside his, you jump at the opportunity. I am thrilled to be  participating in this exhibition with Christian, and many of the amazing artists working with light that I've had the pleasure of collaborating with at The Crucible: Robert Graf, Norman Moore, Dan Cavin, and Kua Patten. 

RADIANCE
Rhythmix Cultural Works
2513 Blanding Ave Alameda, CA 94501
Opening Reception: November 13th 4:30-6:30pm
​Please come to the show!

I built an armature using stucco lath (also called stucco mesh, or stucco netting) and I filled it with cardboard because I knew that I wanted this to be hollow to help with the overall weight of the piece. 
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I then did some research on sculptable concrete. There wasn't a lot of information out on the internet about this but I did find a YouTube video posted by dperry428 that worked great! This mixture actually works a lot like clay.  I fist applied a skim coat onto the piece as pictured. 
Ingredients: 
portland cement - 10 cups
fine sand - 5 cups
metakaolin - 2 cups
PVA fiber - 3/4 cup
Mix all the dry ingredients. 
Mix in the liquid (3 parts water, 1 part acrylic admix) 5 cups
​Add more liquid by hand to reach the texture and viscosity you desire for your sculpture

After the skim coat had dried, I came back and applied another layer of concrete. I intentionally left a recessed area that I intended to fill with glass mosaic. 

Once dry, I used an orbital hand sander to sand the piece. The PVA fiber threads were then burned off using a propane torch. 

I then applied an assortment of acid stains from Direct Colors. The colors I ordered in my test kit were: Azure Blue, Avocado ,Sea Grass, Desert Amber, and Coffee Brown. 

Next I created a template for the mosaic area and composed the glass pieces. 

I used white thinset so that there was the ultimate reflection of light through the glass. I worked in sections and adhered all the glass to the recessed area in the sculpture. 

Finally, I applied colorant to the non-sanded grout and grouted the whole piece.