AGC wall--s'more teasers....

AGC Project-Teaser Pics

A sneek-peek at some of the details.... The project is coming along nicely, I'm really liking the mix of materials & finishes so far.... I'm planning on being finished up by this weekend, to install on Tuesday (Wedsday at the latest)

Breakfast with Scott-Behind the Menu

Kevin & I joined Scott Nickleson of Behind the Menu for a lovely breakfast & chat at Le Baron's in Nampa. Scott sent me a Tweet the other day asking if I would be interested in joining him for a quick bite & interview, so we settled on a locally owned place in Nampa. It's always interesting meeting someone who you have only talked to online: we had chatted a bit through Twitter & Facebook, but never met in person...

It was fun to chit chat about online networking, Twitter, local businesses, & Behind the Menu; a new website/project Scott is involved with that promotes locally owned restaurants, eateries, & markets in the Treasure Valley: check it out at BehindtheMenu.org. All the twitter talk makes me want to go buy a new phone!!

Anyway, thanks for breakfast Scott: hope to see you at the next TweepUp!



Here is what he had to say....

Amber Conger, artist & sculptor, Refinerii (http://www.Refinerii.com) along with
her business partner and husband, Kevin, met us at Le Baron's Honker
Cafe this morning to discuss their artistic endeavors and to also talk
about one of their favor...ite Nampa restaurants.

Refinery was selected to create "Origin" (http://industrialrevelations.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html)
which is the centerpeice in the new City of Meridian City Hall. It's a
wonderful piece of art and you are encouraged to go see it. Amber told
of her utilization of her blog to keep the stakeholders updated on the
progress, a very creative use of blogging.

We first became aware
of Refinerii's work through Twitter, another social networking tool, as
she discussed both her art works and her creative jewelry (which we
admit to having acquired a few pieces of). You can find Refinerii on
Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Refinerii. You can see her etsy shop at http://bit.ly/3Te6W9
where you can see she uses salvaged metals & found
industrial objects and transforms them into one of a kind works of art.

Amber selected Le Baron's Honker Cafe because she enjoys the homey feel and
home cooking available there. We all had great farm style breakfasts.
After we finished our meal, we were able to meet with Ronald Le Baron,
who, along with his son, Ryan, own and operate the cafe. It was
apparent Ronald was very busy finishing up with the breakfast rush and
preparing for the lunch rush, but he was kind enough to spend a little
time with us to discuss his cafe. Ronald covers the morning - noon
shift and Ryan takes it from there - a great father / son team, preparing
affordable home-style fare.

You can find Le Baron's Honker Cafe at 1210 2nd Street South, Nampa, Idaho. The are open from 6:30 am to 8:00 pm.

AGC Project Update

Well, it's coming along...not as much progress yesterday as I was hoping for, but moving along. This one takes a lot of digging for stuff, placing stuff with the plaques, rearraging stuff, adding s'more, rearranging again, & then either permanently attaching said stuff or gathering it all back up to try again.
Added some cool copper things to this one, along with copper rivets & brass washers. Not quite done; will be adding some smaller saw blades & a few other tidbits....
Stainless steel mesh peeks through the letters; love this look :)

Will be putting in some hours today; check back for more updates. Hoping to install later this week (we'll see how it goes)

Amber

AGC Entry Wall

The beginnings of a new project....This is going to be a large, multi-layered wall installation for the Idaho AGC Headquarters in Boise. As you enter the building, there is this big concrete wall in the atrium area where the work will go; it will highlight all the businesses who donated to the new AGC building. The main installation will be about 12 feet wide & 6 feet tall, & there will be a smaller piece next to it too; only about 1/4 the size.
I'm going to be using all kinds of metal, lots of cable, and lots of construction related accents: concrete, re-bar, wood, some tools, etc. I'm excited to really get into the mixing of materials; this one is going to be fun!

I'll be posting updates as it goes together; check back to see :)

Amber

Sculpture Move....

Sculpture collection moved...whew! Everything looks great in the new location; we spent the last couple days installing pieces at Galerie Belle Ame in Eagle: I'm excited to have things closer to home :) The gallery is right on Eagle road; so everyone driving into Eagle can see my stuffs---just before Rembrants: next to the arch that says welcome to Eagle.
We showed up in the morning with the truck & trailer loaded: they had to stop traffic on Eagle road while I backed in next to the building...there were cars lined up for blocks! Fortunately, I got it backed in on the first try without taking out the mailbox...
And then we started the unloading & installing process. It took me & Kevin all day to install the 3 larger pieces & we had to go get the crane for the big one, but in the end I think it looks great :) That many big pieces together really transforms the patio area.
Stop in sometime to see everything; grab a coffee at Rembrants & walk down... There are a few of my things displayed inside the gallery as well, including a jewelry collection.

Tonight is First Friday in Eagle; stop in if you're out & about: I'll be there from about 6-8 to answer questions & talk about the new pieces. See you there :)

September in the Garden...

Fall is on the way; I love this time of year.... It's still getting hotter during the day than I would like, but I love the cool crisp mornings :) The garden is still going strong; looking great--check out the pics

The front yard; one of my sculptures by the pond :)

Another one on the other side of the pond: check out the pomps on the pompass grass!

Kitty on the fence; on the only bare spot; the rest has been taken over by cucumber vines & tiny melon vines :)

The back veggie patch; only a few sunflowers left; I've been cutting the spent plants down to get more sunlight in: next year I wont let them get quite so carried away...

Over on the wild side...

Purple morning glories have taken over the little sculpture :) And the roses that I thought I killed are finally coming back (not sure I'm happy about that)

Beans---I swear this is a magic beanstock :)

Beanstock flowers; sooo pretty :)

And the front garden patch: so much better than the lawn that used to be there....



My favorite sunflowers; I wish all of them were this color.....

Thats all for now; got more projects to work on :)

Amber