website online

[JAZ]

Finally, as of tonight, the website my daughter designed for me is up. It is just a sampling, but it's something. I hope to add pictures as I find the time (or if). We are also going to try to put a clip of video. A designer friend made a digital video about one of my installations a couple of years ago and when time permits we'll see if we can copy a minute or so of that for the fun of it. We'll see.
I have loved being able to see everyone else's sites and I used all of yours as "research" to help clarify my thinking and as inspiration. So now I will stick my neck out.

[JAZ]

I guess I should have included the URL, shouldn't I?
www.joyceaudyzarins.com

[novabelgica]

Congratulations JAZ. The website looks great, and you make some gorgeous stuff. I love that 'Strobus' piece.

[Araich]

You little beauty!

[rderr.com]

Joyce, oh Joyce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Robert

[RuBert]

Hi Jaz, I loved your website and work, your daughter has done an excellent job, she obviously has an artistic eye also.

You have a wide range of interests and knowledge, and that has always been reflected in your comments on this forum and is most evident in your work. We look forward to seeing your work continue and I want to thank you for being an outstanding contributer to our community.

[ALH]

looks great works great. Such a wide variety of skills and interests, somthing to aspire to.

[Saint B]

JAZ,
The web page is beautiful, as well as your work. I especially love the 2-d tree foot prints. Being from Mendocino I really appreciate your attention to the amazing trees there. Thanks. I do want to say though that I wish that when you clicked on the thumbnail of the image that the whole page did not go blank and then reload. Is there any way to make it so that the thumbnails and borders stay put while the new image is loading? a minor detail but I think that it will make a smoother transition to your next image. Your daughter did a very nice job on lay out and design. Looks great!

[JAZ]

Thank you for all of your nice comments. This forum is occupied by really good people. It's always such a pleasure to read and I've learned so much from you all. What a good community! There are times when I feel overwhelmed by the trivia of life or disconnected from the art world and I just sit and read your stuff for awhile.
The negatives about my site I've heard so far from other people in my life are that "CV" wasn't known to them, nor 3,2,1... (as in three, two, one, contact when a space vehicle is launched) and one sculptor friend thought the pictures are too small and the navigation too complex, but I'm taking those with a grain of salt. I thought it would be good to keep the navigation buttons as simple as possible, therefore the short names and since you can actually just scan the larger versions of the images in sequence, without the text even, I think the size issue is taken care of pretty well.
The thing I think is missing from the site is more images. It just takes so long to find or fix good images, format them, get the sizes and all into a digital form. I have lots of slides I haven't scanned yet and etc. I need to adopt the discipline I see in other members of this forum. For instance, Araich starts a piece, has it painted, photographed and on his site in the wink of an eye (and has been doing that long enough that he's got more than sixty sculptures pictured there!). I guess now that I have a place to put them, if I did that each time I had something new, about thirty years from now I might have a site that looks as comprehensive as that. Of course how full would his site be by then! Argh. And Sculptor Sam too, who has a good full site, and the rest of you too.
But at least it's a start. One funny thing was that my son was surprised to see the drawings because he hadn't seen them before. Maybe he thinks he knows everything there is to know about his mother? I explained that I have quite a lot of stuff that's never been seen by anyone but me. But I don't think there's anyone on this site who could really do a compendium of everything they've done. People don't realize the depth or complexity of any artist's life work.

[jwebb]

super site and superb comments, Joyce. Thanks for both.

[Araich]

Oh the images! They drive me nuts. I started with the idea of an archive, as much for myself as anyone else, and I do refer to it all the time for paint colours, dimensions and ideas... but the work involved is staggering. I have images of 130 different sculptures available on my site (only available through 'details') and over 200 pages.
Now that you've pointed it out JAZ, I think I must be obsessive. I developed a discipline early, and if I don't keep to it I fall behind pretty quick.

One thing, which also points to my mental health, I did check to see that was a house for 'home' To me, it could have been something else entirely!

[fritchie]

JAZ - This is a wonderful site, both technically and, more importantly, aesthetically and professionally. It went up just after I left last night, it seems, and as a result I’m about the tenth person to comment. The large images now come up in separate windows, a technique I had planned to suggest after reading an earlier comment, so I guess this is a change you already have made.

I especially like your series on the making of Strobus, and your discussion of the tree. I called it a pine cone in all my earlier posts, but I honestly wasn’t sure if it was a pine, fir, or something else. Its quite different from the various southern pines, about 5 or 6 types which grow locally. All of these are much more compact, or “bushy”.

Congratulations!, and I’ll keep watching to see the site grow. (Also, let me repeat the congratulations on the diversity of your work. You have ranged quite a bit, and so far I have looked at only the 3D work.)

[JAZ]

Originally Posted by Araich

Oh the images! They drive me nuts. ..... I think I must be obsessive.....

I'd say you're the best kind of obsessive, if that's what you are. What you have there is a fantastic archive, which I am totally jealous of. I'd be much better off to do the same. For instance, when you asked in the other link about the snow load, I wanted to attach a funny image of one of my sculptures - a semi abstracted figure thing - with snow on it, just to liven up the response, but do you think I could just quickly find it? I'm sure that some time next week, when I don't need it I'll stumble on it when looking for something else. Whereas, if I were Robert Hague not only would I be able to find it, I have its whole provenance to boot. It's a fabulous resource for your clients and I'm sure it's a factor in your sales record.

[JAZ]

Originally Posted by Saint B

JAZ,
The web page is beautiful, as well as your work. I especially love the 2-d tree foot prints. Being from Mendocino I really appreciate your attention to the amazing trees there. Thanks. I do want to say though that I wish that when you clicked on the thumbnail of the image that the whole page did not go blank and then reload. Is there any way to make it so that the thumbnails and borders stay put while the new image is loading? a minor detail but I think that it will make a smoother transition to your next image. Your daughter did a very nice job on lay out and design. Looks great!

Saint B,
I'll pass on your thoughts about the loading to my daughter. I personally have no clue. (It's hard to believe that I've actually taught Graphic Design at the college level.) One factor may be the hookup you have? Are you using a modem, DSL or cable? IF it's a modem, what speed? It would be good for us to know what works and what doesn't, so it's really good that you pointed that out becasue it doesn't happen when I look at it.

[JAZ]

Originally Posted by rderr.com

Joyce, oh Joyce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Robert

What???????????????

[JAZ]

Originally Posted by novabelgica

Congratulations JAZ. The website looks great, and you make some gorgeous stuff. I love that 'Strobus' piece.

Thanks. I learned a lot from it, that's for sure.

[JAZ]

Fritchie,
Thanks for all of the good comments. I'm fortunate in being the mother of Melody, who has a degree in computer graphics from Syracuse University. How handy. So instead of paying someone I don't know, I paid her and got more than my money's worth, really. And it was just as helpful to her becasue she went from being an Art Director in a big Ad agency to having to scramble for work after the graphics industry crashed in California - she lives in Oakland. So, when she started the site she was borrowing her boyfriend's computer, but then she used the money to go online and bid on a computer at auction and got a fantastic setup for under $500. She's amazing.
About the pinecones...they are amazing too. I have a random collection of different ones, some of which are quite big. We have a Norway Spruce in the yard and so I have as many of those cones as I want and intend to do an installation with them one of these days. But I chose the white pine because of its size and value but mostly because it had a moderate number of scales and was long and slender (have to fit things through my 37" door). That's also why Strobus is built so it comes apart. The base has five short lengths of pipe sticking up about 6", which the "needles" fit onto. The cone itself is separate. I'd love to weld the whole thing together, which would make it much easier to install. But it's in Illinois for awhile, so I'm not going to worry about it.
One thing about pinecones is that they've been used as examples of the Fibanacci series of numbers. There are actually websites. Also, in an entomology class I took once I found out that each cone is a microcosm of insect species. It's its own little world. And our many squirrels love them too.

[sculptorsam]

Nice little meditation on pinecones there, JAZ! I'm sorry too that I'm so late with my praise for your beautiful site. By now it feels a little redundant. But it's a good repetition, and you should direct your daughter to this thread so she can bask in the good vibes as well. I wish I had somebody in the family to work on my site. As it is, I'm in the process of rebuilding it yet again. Will it never end?!

Sam

[Saint B]

JAZ,
Oh, you are correct I bet it is my funky dial up modem connection that makes those white flashes happen. sorry!
B

[Gdog]

Wow! Jaz what a great job your daughter has done for you, A hundred people could say that a piece I did was nice, however the feeling is not the same as when my son or wife makes comment. What your daughter has done for you is like one of those ultimate compliments! I really enjoyed the process of making "Strobus" your studio is cool, I love studio shots they are so revealing. You have done so much for the art community based upon your CV, which I must say I don't know what that stands for

I espescially liked the picture in the process labeled ready, where the pieces were about to be attached, if that doesn't cast an idea of the actual work that was about to be done! [ I could only imagine, you probably got better at attaching them right towards the end] just as you get the hang of things,the rides over [this obviously is speculation on my part]

your further down the road than I am, and I too am grateful for your contributions as I'm sure most are.

"cause and effect,means and end,seed and fruit cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end preexists in the means,the fruit in the seed."

Gdog.

[JAZ]

Saint B,
I passed on your comment about the way the pages load and this was Melody's response:
"I think that would be beyond my scripting abilities. I think you'd need a fully coded (programmed) site that would take someone like Carl to make. It's a good idea. But I have no idea how to do it. I think most sites reload their pages."
Carl is the older of my two sons. He is a self-taught senior software developer. A few years ago he and I were trying to develop a site for me, by his teaching me the html coding. I found that because my time is all chopped up in tiny bits, by the time I'd sit down to work on it, I couldn't remember how I did what I'd done before, so after a while we gave up on that idea. Anyway, my point is that you're suggestion is a good one, and it can be done, but not with Dreamweaver. Melody entered Syracuse with a traditional art portfolio, not a computer geek one. She learned a lot of coding and at least one computer language. When she graduated, someone flew her from Syracuse, NY to Silicon Valley and hired her as an art director in an ad agency right off the bat. So, I think I got a really, really good deal. She did a great job designing the site to look okay on just about any set-up that people have, with the exception of what you commented on.

[JAZ]

Originally Posted by Gdog

Wow! Jaz what a great job your daughter has done for you, A hundred people could say that a piece I did was nice, however the feeling is not the same as when my son or wife makes comment. What your daughter has done for you is like one of those ultimate compliments! .......
Gdog.

If everything my kids say about my work were true, I'd be rich and famous by now! They have been really great.
Eric, my middle son, didn't know what CV was either, so I sent him an e-mail saying it's short for curriculum vitae and in some fields preferred over the term resume (accent over the final e). One's Latin, the other French, but they both mean pretty much the same thing. I used it only because it's shorter. Anyway, he is in the process of applying for a job at a research facility in Iceland and one of their requirements was that they wanted a "CV". So, now he really knows what it is.

[JAZ]

Sam,
There's no such thing as redundancy where compliments are concerned! Your comments about Melody's design made me realize that I should add her contact info to my site. After all, she now has some experience with what sculptors need in a site. By the way, when we started this process I sent her links to your site, Bob Emser's, Araich's and about three or four others. Yesterday I looked at Wendy Klemperer's new site, which is still under construction. It's good, clean and simple, too. The ones that keep the focus on the work, not on some spiffy design with distracting flashy things are best in my opinion.

[sculptor]

Joyce Audy Zarins now, "JAZ" makes sense (somedays, I'm a tad dense)

Nice site, clean, loads quickly, easy layout, and depth of information in easy to follow and well phrased links.

¿as/re your: "The average white pine cone has seventy-five scales arranged in spirals. Mathematicians use the arrangement of the scales to illustrate the Fibanacci series of numbers. I took a cone and using small pieces of masking tape, I numbered the scales in each spiral, discovering that there are five sets of fifteen. "

If I understand this, the Fibanacci is roughly equal to the "golden mean"
1 : 1 5/8 or approx 5:8:13:21:34........(so, when I built the studio, i connected the clay studio to the office/drafting-drawing tables/etc., with a doorway 55"w. X 89" high---to see if anyone would have a noticable reaction--I ain't seen nuthin yet--(maybe, I'm not perceiving something rather subtle)

If I understand you, you arranged the 75 scales in 5 spirals of 15 scales each. True?-------what I'm not grasping, is the fibanacci input part. Does the space between the spiral lines increase as the spiral climbs or descends? Do the spirals start out almost perpendicular to the length of the pipe and elongate as they twist round the center? (I'm hoping this is an intelligible question)

confusedly yours
rod

[fritchie]

Originally Posted by sculptor

... If I understand this, the Fibanacci is roughly equal to the "golden mean" ...what I'm not grasping, is the fibanacci input part. Does the space between the spiral lines increase as the spiral climbs or descends? Do the spirals start out almost perpendicular to the length of the pipe and elongate as they twist round the center? (I'm hoping this is an intelligible question) ...
rod

I was going to avoid this, but I’m a bit vague on this also. The Fibonacci series is a sequence of integers (generally the only one, taken to start with an implied zero) in which each number is the sum of the preceding two. Thus, the series starts (0), 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, etc.

I’ve heard about the series in relation to pine cones, some other seed pods, and so on, and I suspect it derives not from the arrangement into spirals, but from sequential circles moving up from the base. Just how to start may be a problem, but there might be 3 arms in the first circle, 5 in the next one, and so on. Clearly, near the upper end, things change. It’s just a general relationship.