Birdseye on Pedestal, Please Critique

[Steve Schlumpf]

During the month of June there will be a Juried Art Exhibition at the Northern Michigan University DeVos Art Museum. The contest is open to all artists in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota that live North of the 45th Parallel. You are allowed to enter up to 6 pieces and the deadline for entries is March 1st. I thought I would enter this along with a few hollow forms and bowls.

Wanted to get this out in front of everyone first and get their opinions. Also, with a typical art piece you get to name it – I am open to your suggestions.

The hollow form is curly birdseye maple (endgrain) and is 5” diameter x 2 ¾” high. The pedestal and finial are out of cherry and have been stained with Watco light walnut to enhance the grain. Everything has been sanded to 400 grit and has multiple coats of wipe on/wipe off gloss poly. The height with finial in place is close to 12 ¾".

81644 81645 81646

I appreciate your input!

Thanks for looking!

[Frank Kobilsek]

Steve

This is the best piece I have ever seen you post! The pedestal flows nicely into the hollowform and the finial flows well too. If I was to tweak it the finial might be thinner in the middle (the thick part of the middle). Good finish and good contrast of color in your wood selection.

Good luck with your entry.

Frank

[TYLER WOOD]

Agree with Frank except the thickness. i love it the way it is. No changes.
No clue on the name. nothing is coming to mind except beautiful craftsmanship. So instead seeing it dosn't have a name, ship it to me!!!

[Ben Gastfriend]

Wow, Steve! Impressive! Your work is awsome, and I see no room for improvment in this piece! Incredible!

All I can think of is "Birdseye Maple Form on a Cherry Pedestal". Shows you how creative I am! (I named my fantasy football team "Ben's Team")

Best of luck to you, although your impressive skill shows that you won't need the luck! Let us know what they think.

[John Fricke]

How bout...drumroll please......"Birdseye View"

[Chris Padilla]

Beautiful and delicate piece, Steve, and very nice photography!

Ornament, Orbament, Orb on Cherry, Orb Display...I'm stuck on Orb :o

[robert hainstock]

No name neighbor, but i'm sure ive seen that form in an old Scifi movie. You get gooder and gooder.:D:D:D:D:D
Bob

[Bill Wyko]

STEVE there you go again making us all look like rookies. I made one similar to that a while back only mine didn't look that good. Nice job once again. Keep it up.:D

[Glenn Clabo]

WOW! No words besides...freaky good. I can almost feel it....delicate...

[Alex Cam]

Wow Steve -- that is really incredible. You're skills are improving by leaps and bounds. As for a name, how about "Future Winner of the DeVos Art Museum Juried Art Show"?

:)

[Mike Vickery]

Just a beautiful piece Steve. Maybe you can name it somekind of synonym for delicate or maybe a translation of something like that in French or Italian or something.
Maybe
For example eleganza which should be italian for elegance.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Steve the piece is beautiful. Everything just flows and the color contrast is great.

[George Morris]

Now that is really beautiful!! Very,very nice! G

[Bill Bolen]

Thats just plain beautiful Steve. I see no room for improvement. Looks like a blue ribbon piece to me. Sorry, no name from me, my wife had to think of names for the kids sooo.....Bill...

[Brian McInturff]

Steve,
Gotta hand it to you. To make one that high with such a narrow pedestal and it be balanced took a lot of skill. You pushing your skills to new levels is helping the rest of us to push ours.

Now for a name. I've got a couple - Eyes in the Sky or Eyes of Heaven
:D

[Duff Bement]

Some guys just have way to much talent!!!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Steve....simply stunning! Very well done Sir!

[Ron Hipp]

Steve, beautiful Piece!!!

[Bob Hallowell]

Wow! Steve you have come along way in a short period of time. That is outstanding.

Bob

[Toney Robertson]

Steve that is just amazing.

I should just sell me lathe now.

As far as a name, you need something artsy. Something like The eyes of Oden or Eyes in the sky.

JMO

Toney

[Barry Elder]

Steve, this piece is definitely a "Blue Ribbon". Although, I would like to see it with a black finial just for contrast if you have the time.

[Tom Sherman]

Steve this is a very beautiful piece, the birdseye is great and your work getting the base and finial so delicate is awesome. I'm not great at naming pieces but I think I might call this one 'Birdseye Needle'. What ever you decide I'm sure this one is a winner. Good luck with the show.

[John Gornall]

Great design and very nice wood.

If you're being judged by the artsie crowd you'll need a name that's off track - how about "Cube no.9" or "Three Corners" - seems every art show winner I see has name that makes you think they got the ID tags crossed up.

[Curt Fuller]

Man Steve, that is beautiful! As for a name, my first thought was "Fragile!" I think the pedastal is nice but it looks almost too delicate to display anywhere outside of an enclosed case. But the entire piece is very nice, well proportioned, and the woods compliment each other well. Nice photos too! You've really been doing some beautiful work!

[Bill Stevener]

Every one else have already said it all.

How about-- "Birds of a feather Or "Birds in a cherry tree. Here's looking at you.

I like the first one????

Good luck with the show.

[mike fuson]

This is an awesome piece Steve and to critique it one would have to just nit pic. The only thing I think might have looked better is for the finial to have a little more detail especially toward the top. Again nit picking. The hollow form is perfect.
As far as names...:confused: how about eyes in the sky or birds eye view? Hope no one else suggested that, not trying to steal anyones name.

Also I think the colors match great.

[Ron McKinley]

You nailed that one. That puts you in the Cindy Drozda class! ........Ron

[Dick Strauss]

Steve,
I really like the proportions and the HF portion (nice work). If you want to improve it slightly, I'd work on putting more sweeping curves on the finial and base (JMHO). The base and finial look a little too angular for such a nice flowing curve on your HF. The curve for the finial looks almost flat once you get above the largest diameter. The wood is just spectacular the way you turned it.

Titles.... "The Eyes Have It!" or "You Are Being Watched" ???????????

Very nice work! Thanks for sharing!:):cool:

[Kurt Bird]

Steve,
How about...Birdseye Spire? Very nice piece, well balanced all around. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Kurt Bird

[Glenn Hodges]

I am impressed with your ability to produce this beauty.

Suggested Title: "Maple In Flight"

[Steve Schlumpf]

Thanks everyone for all the kind words! I do appreciate it!

Haven't decided on a name yet but like a couple of the ones suggested so far. If this gets accepted to the show I will let you know what name I settled on.

I also paid attention to all your suggestions and will try some variations on the next one I turn; such as, less sharp angles and more curves on the pedestal and finial and I'll try a darker stain as well.

Again, I appreciate everyone's input! It has helped me a lot! Thank you!