Boise Weekly: win tickets to Carnevale

Work from industrial metal artist Amber Conger, who works under the name Refinerii, appears all over southern Idaho—including in Meridian City Hall. Conger has become one of the city's most well known artists, particularly for her large-scale pieces.

Idaho Botanical Garden is the most recent recipient of Conger's large-scale work and on Friday, June 3, there's not only an unveiling of the new work but a large-scale party to boot.

Carnevale is a celebration of Conger's art at the garden, with a performance by burlesque troupe Red Light Variety Show, Rose Red Flames and the Fire Kittens. There will also be glass blowing, fortune telling, face painting and fire, belly and arial dancing.

Conger isn't the only local artist whose work will be showing at Carnevale. Also showing will be: Filip Vogelpohl from Boise Art Glass, Bruce Maurey and Wren Van Bockel from Maurey Design, Cody Rutty, Erin Lunstrum Pietsch from Pietsch Pottery, Amber Shing, Reham Aarti Jacobsen of Mosaic Essential and Joe Lopez of mymindsphotographer.com.

Friday, June 3, gates open at 6 p.m., $7 for members and in advance, $10 at the door. Children under 12 are free. Tickets are available at tixxfixx.com, The Record Exchange or at Boise Co-op. Idaho Botanical Garden, 2355 N. Old Penitentiary Road, 208-343-8649

 208-343-8649 idahobotanicalgarden.org.

Win Tix through the Boise Weekly

The Costume Shop: masks, glitter, gloves, & more!

OMG: I stopped in at the Costume Shop today for the 1st time ever (I know, huh?) Wow: they have a lot of cool stuff! 

Was looking for top-hats & masks for Carnevale, & ended up leaving with 3 hats, some fairy wings, this amazing glitter make-up stuff, some cool striped knee-high socks, & some feathers!  And, I think another trip is going to be necessary too, lol :)  

Wow: if you are in need of any costume-ish accessory or costume to rent, this is the place to go--I must have spent over an hour wandering about & chatting with the staff; who were soooooo friendly & fun!

If you are in need of a beautiful Venetian style mask for Friday, or makeup, or accessories, definitely stop in next week....

The Costume Shop

3777 Chinden Blvd.

Boise, ID 83714

208.343.9399
 208.343.9399
Toll Free: 1.877.992.67881.877.992.6788
Email: fun@thecostumeshopboise.com

Directions: The Costume Shop is located on Chinden Blvd. between Orchard and Curtis Road/Veteran's Parkway.

Amber

Win Free Tickets to Carnevale-

The Boise Weekly is giving away tickets to Carnevale :)

Enter to win by clicking below to visit BoiseWeekly.com

Thanks so much to the Weekly for sponsoring this event!

Look for the Carnevale add in the next weeks paper... 

I'm getting super excited about the event; can't wait to see everyone there...omg, I don't even know what I'm going to wear yet!  Yikes, where can I get a cute top-hat next week?  Shopping tomorrow after the Sat Market...lol

Amber



Kleiner Park Fabrication-Bolts

All three sculptures are put together now, & the bolts are going in!  So excited; they add so much to the look of the structure; very happy with the choice to use tension control bolts; they really do have the look of old-school rivets (on one side anyway)

Amazing how such a seemingly small detail can make such a difference!  Luv how they have the look of an old bridge....

s'more cool welding shots....

Next week will be the details; lighting brackets, wiring, wind turbine mounts, & white curvy things; more updates to come....

Thanks so much to everyone at Blake Trailers for all your hard work; it's coming together even better than I expected!  I'm excited for the next phase :)

Looks like we will be installing the sculptures sometime in June; I can't wait to see them in place...

The install should be interesting, lol: big trucks & trailers & big cranes: can't wait!

more to come...

Amber

Carnevale

Tickets available now at : TixxFixx

Hope to see you there; it's going to be a fun evening!!

Amber

Kleiner Park---Fabrication pics

Fabrication on the three sculptures for Kleiner Park is coming along; things are progressing quickly now out at Blake Trailers.  All the pieces are cut & ready, 2 of the 3 sculptures are almost completely assembled....

They take up a good portion of the shop: & this is just the top half of the sculpture; it will be bolted to the big beam to the right.  When completely assembled on site, each piece will stand 45' tall.

Each section of I-beam is held together with gusset-plates that are welded on & then bolted together with tension control bolts: both structural & aesthetic; tension control bolts have the look of rivets on the outside face of the sculpture; I chose them because they match the look of the old rivets on the recycled beams that came off the old farm property.

Each gusset plate must be placed, clamped, welded, & then the beam below is drilled out with the mag-drill for the bolts.

It takes a lot of clamps, measuring, & precision...

Welding the end-mounting plate in place.

cool, huh?

Tomorrow will be another day of welding & assembly, hopefully all three sculptures will be together (sort of).  They will remain in 3 pieces for delivery & then will be assembled on-site with the help of a big crane....

Installation is planned for mid-June; foundations will be poured next week : )

Next, we will be working on the white curves; that should be fun : ) Then, the lighting will be added, wiring, wind turbine mounts, & they will be ready to go! 

Thanks so much to all the guys out at Blake Trailers in Star for your work; it is looking amazing!

Amber

Kleiner Park---Heavy Fabrication

Work is moving right along on the Kleiner Park project.  Beams are cut, parts have been assembled, heavy fabrication has begun...

punching bolt holes in one of the gusset plates....

Welding up the support beams for the base of the sculptures: the base alone is 18 feet tall & made of 1/2 inch steel plate :)

More bolt holes; each piece will have over 200 structural tension-control bolts....

Moving pieces into place for welding....

measure twice, cut once; making sure everything is going to line up...

welding....

more welding....

cutting the upper beams; these will be attached to the larger support-structure....

Looks like my foundations will be poured ahead of schedule; within the next few weeks; hopefully the installation will take place in about a month; wow!   Still lots of work to do, but it's moving fast...

I cant wait to see them  out there with the wind turbines spinning; today was soooo windy, & I was wishing they were done already!  Each sculpture will be 45 feet tall, and will be very visible above the trees for a long time... Look for them next month!

amber

June 3rd: Mark your Calendar!

More details to come....

Amber

I'm in the Paper! lol

Yep; in the Idaho Statesman today :) 

Me & Rod, lol: love the look on my face... : )

Amber

Idaho Botanical Garden: Art Install today...

This morning, we met out at the Botanical Garden for the sculpture install.  I had to call in a bigger crane to lift the pieces into their spots; my little crane wouldn't reach....  Thanks so much to Steve at ISE Cranes for the help!

hmmm, my little crane truck looks scrawny next to his, lol

Rigging the first piece for the move; this one is made all from 1/2 inch steel plate; very heavy!

No problem for the big crane, though: it was lifted up & over the water & in between the trees to the left

Me, talking to Steve in the crane: even though I know he can't hear me, I kept talking to him, along with hand signals, lol :)

Almost.... 

 btw; that's Rod from the Botanical Garden helping :)

"hmmmm, what do you think?"

In about 20 minutes we were done & on to the big one...

Me & Dad getting the lifting straps ready to attach to the crane hook

up it goes : )

& down into place

We had to do a bit of adjusting to make it sit level...lots of up, down, up, down, try again, up, down...

In the end, we got it to set right.  I think it looks sooo nice in it's new home...

Me & Steve--crane operator extraordinaire : )

The whole install took less than 2 hours, & went really smoothly.  I'm so happy with the way the pieces look in their new setting & can't wait to see the garden come to life around them : )

Thanks to everyone who helped out today!

Amber

Botanical Garden: Install #2

Today, I spent a lovely spring afternoon preparing sculptures for installation at the Idaho Botanical Garden: tomorrow I will be delivering the pieces...  I had to do a bit of welding & cleaning to prepare them for their permanent home.

This one; the Machine was out by the road in front of the house, & I had to move it back behind to shop to work on it: I'm sure the neighbors were wondering what was going on with the girl & the crane, lol

It's rather tall; over 15 feet; so I have to climb up on a ladder to hook lifting straps to the crane hook...

 The view from the top :) 

Looking back down....

The best self-portrait I could get while hanging onto the ladder with the camera, lol

After a couple hours of work, both pieces were ready to go; I just had to lift them onto the back of the truck with the crane.

And here we are: all strapped down for the ride downtown; kinda an odd looking load...

I'll be meeting out at the Gardens at 10; anyone who wants to come along & watch the install is more than welcome : ) 

ISE Cranes will be lifting the sculptures into place (my little crane doesn't have the reach to place them in the spots we have picked out)  It should be quick & easy; will probably take about an hour...

Plans are coming along for the big event on June 3rd, when the 3 sculptures will be officially unveiled.  We will be celebrating with food, drinks, music, art, entertainment & more; so mark your calendars: it's going to be an amazing evening!  Look for invites soon...

Amber