Anne Kelly (00:00:19):
Art and the raw, I’m your host Anne Kelly. We have two guests with us today, Greg Robertson, who is a stone sculptor. And hello, it is Greg’s first time on the show. And for anybody who saw our first show, we’ve got Michael Kirchoff back. He’s gonna participate in the conversation. I’m in my back. I happened to have one of Greg’s pieces right behind me, uh, say, hi, Greg. Hello.
Greg Robertson (00:00:48):
How are you people?
Anne Kelly (00:00:49):
So where are you today, Greg? Uh,
Greg Robertson (00:00:51):
I am at my studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Anne Kelly (00:00:57):
And Michael
Michael (00:00:58):
I’m in my office in Los Angeles, California.
Anne Kelly (00:01:02):
So for anybody who missed the first episode and didn’t get to meet Michael yet, he’s a fine art photographer, commercial photographer, and is also involved in multiple photography related magazines. Uh, some that involve interviews and, um, we had so much fun on the first show. We thought let’s bring him back.
Michael (00:01:26):
<laugh> without glitches this time.
Anne Kelly (00:01:29):
Well, we’ll, we’ll say that when that’s over. <laugh> and then Greg, I’ve known Greg since I’ve known Greg about 20
Greg Robertson (00:01:40):
Since before the Hills were
Anne Kelly (00:01:41):
formed, I’ve known Greg forever. <laugh> so, um, long time, what have you been up to recently, Greg?
Greg Robertson (00:01:49):
Uh, I’ve been, I’ve been carving rocks, uh, uh, myself and my team that work here, uh, at the studio in the, in the we’re in the, um, in the silo arts district now. So we’re just like up the street from Yow Wolf. Right. But there’s been tons of artists in this neighborhood forever. So it wasn’t an art district before, but now, but now it’s cool. So, and I’ve been here for about 14 years in this space. There’s Rufina state buildings for those of you that live in, in Santa Fe. And it’s a, it’s a nice big space, lot of garage space and, uh, piles of rock, as you can see, we’ve been, uh, working on a really big project, uh, over the last, uh, couple weeks or at over the last several months, actually. Uh, that’s here in Santa Fe, which is a big, uh, commissioned, uh, fountain project, uh, with, uh, 10 foot basins that we built and, uh, and three large stones per basin.
Greg Robertson (00:02:57):
And, um, and UK, if you wanna show the those Instagram stories, this is, uh, this is what we’ve been finishing off. And so I guess it, it should be said, I’m a, I’m a sculptor, I’m a stone sculptor. I primarily make water features and fountains. So fountains have, have been the main jam for, for 20 years. So you can see there that’s a 10 foot basin in that we built, and those are three, uh, Arizona Onyx, uh, stones. Uh, the tallest one is five feet, five feet, four feet, three feet. And, uh, this is really, this is in the, the, the tail end of the build where the stones are in place already. They’ll be covered with, uh, pebbles. There’s beautiful Santa Fe mountains there and there we’re starting to cover ’em with pebbles. So, um, yeah. Nice and nice projects. And so these are, uh, these pieces.
Greg Robertson (00:04:00):
These are, these are all right. Race cars. <laugh>. Is that at your studio or in the story? <laugh>? Uh, no, no. It’s at the studio. Yeah. All kind, all kinds of excitement around here in the Siler arts district. Um <laugh> um, yeah, so the, so those pieces are more polished, uh, uh, just, uh, basic polished stones. I mean, everything’s hand, hand carved and hand polished and, and attention to detail everywhere. Um, but those aren’t those aren’t art necessarily. We get into a big conversation about what is art and if a sculpted form is, um, change somehow, does that make it sculpture? Some people would say, yes, I personally don’t look at those as sculpture cause we make a lot of ’em at my, my crew. And I, uh, you know, we make a lot of those travel, uh, and sell ’em at farm shows, but we also make much intricate work, which I think, uh, has much more intent as far as design, uh, with the, with the standing ons pieces. It’s, uh, it’s kinda like nature is the design nature is the best thing about those. It’s like, oh, I’m taking a piece of nature and making a functional and putting some really nice, uh, uh, attention to detail into it, but it really kind of stands on its own. No pun intended. I mixed standing stones.
Michael (00:05:28):
<laugh> I have a question though. Sure. So what’s, what is then the difference between what you’re considering your art and what you consider your, I guess then as a commercial work,
Greg Robertson (00:05:40):
In a sense? Yeah. Yeah.
Michael (00:05:42):
Is it less, is it because that there’s less of like the artist’s hand involved with the, uh, with each piece? Is it there’s less,
Greg Robertson (00:05:50):
Um, it’s, it’s more, it’s more of a, just kind of, uh, what I mentioned about an, an intentional design. So for example, um, these here let’s show you the let’s show you the, the Onyx ones, like you just saw in that basin, right? So these are all really dusty, but those are all just, you know, basic Onyx fountains and they’re all one of a, like every single soon is different, right? Not one has ever been exactly the same. So they’re all unique and well, like that one has a hole in it. So, you know, that whole was intentional to, to get some sort of thing. Now that’s really simple, you know, here’s another piece that, that I started working on that on the Instagram and the Facebook there’s, there’s finished product of, of, of those designs. But to answer your question, Michael, I think it’s, I, I think it’s real, you’re trying to, you’re trying to tell some sort of story with it, or, you know, you’re just trying to get some sort of visual reaction out of it. That’s um, that’s, uh, I don’t know, more intellectual or more emotional than just, uh, getting a reaction out of a pretty stone. Oh, I was gonna
Anne Kelly (00:07:20):
Say when I first yeah, if you, you were just doing sculptures and the water element didn’t really come until after we met.
Greg Robertson (00:07:30):
Yeah. That’s, that’s true. Like for the first 10 years of my career, which was, you know, basically around 1999, 2000, when I really started making work and not being successful at it commercially, but really, uh, paying attention to series of work and design and, and just form, um, that was all granite. That was, uh, 10 years of, uh, taking recycled countertops and making sculpt are out of those for examples of that, this is all, you know, this, this is all hand carved granite, but they’re laminations. They used to be countertop. So actually like glued them together. Cuz I wasn’t making, I didn’t have blocks of stone. I had slabs of stone. So I had to create thickness and, and do Polish and rough work. And so yeah, you’re right. Anne, these were always sort of meant to be sculptures, but they’re also fountains, but the, but the, the visual of it was the most important part for sure. So, but now it’s, you know, I don’t know, we could get into a big conversation about commercial art and is it art and
Anne Kelly (00:08:48):
Well, sometimes they kinda, they kind of intersect
Greg Robertson (00:08:52):
Like, well, if you, if I think if you’re a professional artist, they have to mm-hmm <affirmative> there, there has to be, unless you’re, unless you’re able to sell $250,000 pieces and make five pieces a year <laugh>, you know, and Hey, there’s plenty of artists that can do that. But if, if you’re making a serious living at it, you, you have to, you, there has to be some mode of production and you know, like, so I do not in COVID land now, but, uh, you know, I was I’ve been making my living doing shows mostly in Texas, Colorado air owner travel. And it was basically like being in a band, but I had all these rocks <laugh> and a crane truck and, um, you know, and so we would, we would set up all these shows and sell a lot of work and do all our own installs and, and do all that.
Greg Robertson (00:09:51):
And, and I mean, it was definitely a hustle and, but it was, it was very successful. And so I, and that’s kind of where the, the more standard onyx pieces come from cause not everybody can afford a, you know, $15,000 stone sculpture that I make. Um, but they can, you know, afford like a $5,000 sculpture, which, you know, four foot tall rock, you know, installed for them, for people with expendable income. That’s, you know, that’s pretty fair. And so, you know, if I was gonna sell the more expensive work I had to make the less expensive work to basically finance the whole operation, what artists don’t think about when you, if you have a production studio or something like that is payroll liability insurance, blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, it’s just like a lot of money. It’s overhead, it’s running a business. And so it reminds me of a story that one time I at a show, and this was kind of early on, um, you know, 10 years ago, uh that’s uh, 2010. That’s when I really started doing shows full time. And, um, uh, and this guy was in Arizona and this guy walks and he likes looking at the work and he looks at me and he is like nice product. And like, and I thought in my head, I was like, product like, this are you, this isn’t product, man. This is art man. You know, and, and, but it, but it is a product really at the end of the day and the talent of art is a to it. And so, uh, you know, a
Anne Kelly (00:11:43):
Lot of those lines are just kind of blurry knowing you as long as I have, I’ve, I’ve kind of watched your style and your career develop. And, and I don’t know that it is necessarily that it’s it’s commercial work, but you’ve actually found a way to make a living and support yourself off of your art.
Greg Robertson (00:12:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I try and, and I think the, the important thing with any artist is if you’re go, gonna be constantly producing work well, the first, the first thing is, is you have to constantly produce work. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, you can’t, you can’t make some work. And then just be like, Hey, check it out. Everybody, you have to like be constantly producing work and producing different work and trying to really push your own boundaries and making stuff that people might not necessarily like, but also paying close attention to just good design and, and, and, and always just, you know, just trying to do new stuff. I, I I’ll take designs and I’ll replicate designs in different pieces, but, but I’ll tweak ’em and change ’em and combine ’em with other designs and, you know, and every, and so every piece in that sense is totally unique.
Greg Robertson (00:13:04):
Um, and I look at those works. I mean, if you look at the, the sculpture page of the website, the, you know, you’ll see, you know, a bunch of different series of works, um, and you know, a, a, a certain series of work will, will be fairly similar. Um, and then another series of work will, will be completely different. So anyway, the point of all that Rabel is, uh, you know, I, I, I think it’s okay to, yeah. To be a production studio, but as an artist, you do always have to keep doing new stuff and just try,
Anne Kelly (00:13:42):
And you even have, uh, fountains that match dogs.
Greg Robertson (00:13:46):
Yeah. Yeah. That isn’t, that isn’t that absolutely a <laugh>. Yeah. If you go, if you go up, Anne, is that my, is that my Instagram or Instagram? Yes. See, so they, so these have been a lot of the recent designs over the past year and a half, probably really experimenting with all with all these holes in the stone. And I don’t know if you can tell for in the video, but the face of the stone is actually sculpted and carved and shaped. And that, that plane is that flat plane is taken away. Yeah.
Michael (00:14:26):
That’s stunning. How long does something like that take?
Greg Robertson (00:14:30):
Uh, my <laugh> my official answer. Let’s see, I’ve been an artist for 20 years. So the official answer is 20 years and a day <laugh>.
Anne Kelly (00:14:39):
That
Greg Robertson (00:14:39):
Is a good answer. That’s how you gotta look at it. Um, but well, it, I mean, it definitely takes a minute. We’re, you know, we’re, we’re cutting, we’re cutting pieces outta slabs. I’m going to the quarry and getting all this stone in, in ginormous Boulder form. And
Anne Kelly (00:14:56):
Can we see the crane truck?
Greg Robertson (00:14:59):
Yeah, totally. Is,
Michael (00:15:01):
Is all of your work or I’m sorry, is all of the, uh, is all of the stone sourced nearby?
Greg Robertson (00:15:07):
Uh, yeah, the, most of it is outta Arizona, uh, quarry in Arizona and onyx quarry. And then, um, and then this pet, these are big old pieces of petrified wood. That’s my foot long boot. You can kind of get a scope of those tree stumps. So I’m getting those in Arizona. And then there’s more like beigy travertine that I get out of a New Mexico Corey. So New Mexico, Arizona. Okay. Is, is where it’s all coming. There’s the, there’s the crane truck Anne.
Anne Kelly (00:15:39):
Yes. So have
Greg Robertson (00:15:40):
You seen that, have you seen the new crane truck
Anne Kelly (00:15:43):
Anne? Only on Instagram,
Greg Robertson (00:15:45):
So yeah, it’s handy. It’s handy
Anne Kelly (00:15:47):
Soon. And, but you’ve had a few crane trucks, like as you’ve been,
Greg Robertson (00:15:52):
I had, I had, I had one the crane trucks. Yeah. I had one other one that, that, um, that got us through a long way, but, but it, it died, it died, so yeah. So we’re, we’re, we’re getting all that stone and then we’re having it wire cut into slabs, uh, um, you know, and then we’re cutting the slabs down. So, and even all these pieces, I mean, you know, you can kind of see how big that is compared to my foot. These are very small pieces compared to, uh, compared to what the slabs are. So because of that, we can make, you know, six foot, eight foot, eight foot sculptures. So
Michael (00:16:37):
I imagine you’re working on more than one at any given time then probably several, right?
Greg Robertson (00:16:41):
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. We’re yeah. We’re always working on, on multiple projects, this project, um, uh, that we’re working on right now. We’re onsite up there and we’ve been onsite, um, all this week and last week. So that’s been kind of like taken out of the studio time cuz we’re me and the whole crew are there. Um, but once we, we’re almost done with that, we’ll come back and jump back in and we have some installations to do around Santa Fe. Just some like for little single pieces. Um, we’re busy
Anne Kelly (00:17:23):
And how sweet to have that project. I mean, all three of us are used to traveling pretty regularly. So this is definitely,
Greg Robertson (00:17:31):
Yeah.
Anne Kelly (00:17:31):
And I’m just being weird, just not traveling is weird for all three of us.
Greg Robertson (00:17:35):
Right. And then, and this is the thing with art too. I mean, like, you know, that was a client that I, that I talked to three years ago, mm-hmm <affirmative> and three years ago, he, you know, he wanted the work, but he just wasn’t ready for it. And you know, and obviously it’s six pieces in these 10 foot basins. I mean, it’s, you know, the, the, everything was custom about that project and, but he came along three years later and was like, okay, I’m ready. <laugh>. And um, and that’s, that’s really an important part of, I think being a long term artist as well is it’s not about just like, you know, producing sales just that are in front of you, you know, you have to, you have to sew a lot of seeds. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so
Michael (00:18:19):
Is a relationship, right?
Greg Robertson (00:18:21):
Absolutely. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You, you have relationships with every client you have, you know, and 99.9 of them are awesome. <laugh>
Michael (00:18:31):
Yeah. So I’m wondering then also, um, with, with the work that you consider to be more art, uh, I mean, and then honestly it’s really in your general practice as well, but inspiration has to come in to play at some point. Where is that coming from?
Greg Robertson (00:18:51):
Um, well for, if you, if you look at the scope of my work, uh, a lot of it is definitely naturally inspired forms. Um, I, I think, uh, just the, the, the general look of softness, uh, is, is a constant through my work. Um, you know, I like all my soft edges. Um, however, oh, look, let’s see, go back down, Anne. Um, or I’m sorry up, there was one that I just did for the hospital. And so okay. So that one on the right. Yeah. That one, this piece was, well, this one’s soft on the, on the outer edges, but the actual design is, is, is very intentional. Oh wow. And, um, based on their logo and very intricate on the carving. So all those lines are all hand carved and, and the, and the negative space is chiseled out. So there’s dimension to it.
Greg Robertson (00:19:59):
And it’s hard to see on here, but that is sort of an, uh, a whole interwoven design. Their logo design was a basket. Um, like you see it at the very beginning of the, of the video. And so they wanted something that reflected their logo, but they didn’t, you know, they wanted something totally original. And so, so in that, um, instance, the, the, I, the inspiration was the logo. They’re like, okay, we want you to tie this in. And so just as a design, you’re like, okay, um, you know, and then what am I, what kind of art am I gonna add to that? So what the, what that company is, is they basically own the hospital, um, and quorum, and they’re like a community outreach portion of the hospital. So, so that design was very much influenced on Southwest art, you know, native American art, of course, and, and, um, and just the, the Southwest in general, um, and, and going for the, I, you have a basket and the interwoven of the community. So I mean, that, that design had a very sort of literal meaning for me, but other designs, really, a lot of it, a lot of it, uh, depends on the, on the stone. Um, and you know, what, what the Stone’s doing and the dimensions of the stone. Now, these pieces are fun, Anne. So the, the inspiration for these pieces, these bronzes on top are, are made by are, are wonderful friend Yi CA here in Santa Fe.
Greg Robertson (00:21:48):
So I’ve made a bunch of these pieces with her bronze sitting, people sitting on top that design that there’s a whole like path carved around that column. So, and that’s, that’s ending up at their feet. So that, that, one’s very, that’s, that’s pretty literal, right? It’s their, it’s their passage way through life or their beautiful journey. Um, and they have arrived at this vantage point where they are sitting together in love, you know, it’s, it is. So, you know, that again, that’s a very literal, uh, sort of artistic endeavor, but a lot of, but a lot of the other pieces, like the ones with the holes, I’m, I’m not sure that I know what they mean. I’m not sure what I know what the, the exact inspiration is. Uh, like a lot of it is just like playing with it and seeing, uh, just experimenting with form, you know, and you think
Anne Kelly (00:22:50):
With art making is just being curious and experimenting and, oh, what happens if I do this thing? And, and, oh, of course, yeah. Five years. I you’re, like I figured out what this hole means and <laugh>, and
Greg Robertson (00:23:02):
There’s yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah. Sometimes, but I think sometimes also you have to, you have to be, uh, you, you, you, you do, you’d have to have intent, you know, again, like I was talking about before you have to, there has to be some sort of intent, I think, in a direction. And I think that’s, I think that’s what sets a lot of art apart from other art is the, the, the, or the perceived intent, maybe. Yeah.
Anne Kelly (00:23:33):
Well, we’re a mixture of things. Like there are pieces that are commission pieces that you’ve done, like the one for the hospital, and then there’s other pieces that you make because you wanna make, and you believe you can make them and take them on the road. And that hopefully someone will take one home with them. Um, right. So it’s like the, I, I’m just gonna look at the stone and see, and just feel out what I feel like it should look like.
Greg Robertson (00:23:59):
Yeah. Yeah. The, the, the piece with the columns and the balls and the, in the center heaven, this is what that piece is called. That that was a whole collaboration with the client, because I had made, I don’t know, 15 years ago, or something had made a, sort of a small version of that two pieces of stone with a ball in the center, stone ball and hand card ball. And so she saw that and she said, I that’s my favorite one. Yeah. That one, I, I don’t know if you can, can you see it now? Yeah. The Instagram, the Instagram video is, is, um, October, uh, 14th. Um,
Anne Kelly (00:24:37):
Well, there’s the still on Greg’s Facebook page. So you can follow Greg on, uh, Facebook and Instagram. And you’re saying the page is here. That’s,
Greg Robertson (00:24:48):
That’s correct. That’s correct. So that, so that piece was, she gave me a direction to go. She was like, I want this sort of direction. And then, and then basically I came up with a design and ran it by her. Um, okay. So right there, it’s right there to the left. Ah,
Anne Kelly (00:25:08):
There we go.
Greg Robertson (00:25:10):
And now, and that one, just the water, the water is, is flowing out of both stone sculpture.
Anne Kelly (00:25:18):
Sorry. I clock clicked on hashtag stone sculpture. <laugh>
Greg Robertson (00:25:24):
The, water’s coming out of both columns. So, but we
Anne Kelly (00:25:30):
Feeling that those balls are just gonna fall at a given point, but knowing you yeah. And your artistry, I know they’re not,
Greg Robertson (00:25:38):
Oh, no, that is, that is, there’s some real architecture in that, in that piece. And, uh, and infrastructure, and we, uh, you know, had to take the forklift to the client’s house to install that. So, yeah. So, so that, that inspiration, that was a really nice combination of, of the client and me, um, love
Michael (00:26:03):
That aspect of what you do too, because, um, like you say, its not necessarily inspiration, but you’re col there’s a collaborative element to it. Um, and like, like there’s a relationship with your client. You’re not just, it’s not just a relationship you’re collaborating with them. And, and honestly, and also with like the pieces that we saw earlier with the seated figures at the top of the fountain, you’re collaborating also with other artists, which I think is a, is a really great, uh, aspect to what it is that you’re doing.
Greg Robertson (00:26:35):
Yes, indeed. Yeah. It’s and that’s really fun that to do that, you know, because you, you know, every artist gets in this mode of where they’re, you know, they’re, they’re kind of stuck or they’re like, oh, I’ve done that so much. I’m just, I’m sick of doing that. And like, you know, and all kinds of different things and, and uh, it, it’s nice to have someone give you a direction.
Anne Kelly (00:27:02):
Like we’re all collaborating now. It’s fun. The history of sculpting stone goes back so far, so much further than, than photography. And, uh, I, I was easing out last night on the history of stone fountains and they date back to, or earlier, some people believe so I mean’s so much history behind this medium. It it’s pretty just mind blowing to think about and
Greg Robertson (00:27:36):
Oh, it totally is. It didn’t have any electric, it didn’t have electricity, man. I mean, that’s, <affirmative> exactly, uh, you know, the, the Romans would, the Romans would cut, cut giant slabs with basically a big wire. And they, you know, they basically rigged up this wire where the wire would be moving across the slab and they would have a guy sit there and put sand in the little groove that the wire was, was cutting in the stone, you know, big Ole, uh, big Ole pieces of marble and marble is like a semi soft stone. It’s not granite. It’s not super, super hard, but you know, but just the time, the time that that took and the dude just sitting there all day,
Anne Kelly (00:28:28):
You know, you’ve got it easy with your power tools, your fancy power
Greg Robertson (00:28:31):
Tools. Oh, it’s, it’s, it’s so easy breezy. It’s a piece of cake <laugh>.
Anne Kelly (00:28:37):
So that makes me think of something that I think the three of us can all appreciate is, is there’s this whole thing ongoing in any art form analog versus digital. But what I was thinking about the other is in the case of your work, it’s kind of somewhere in between because you’re not using AutoCAD or anything like that, so it’s not digital, but you’re also not carving with a piece sand or, or a butter knife or something like that. So you’re like kind of somewhere in between you oh right. More advanced tools, but
Michael (00:29:16):
Right. It’s still a manual, a manual operation in order to make it work. Mm-hmm
Greg Robertson (00:29:21):
<affirmative> oh yeah. Oh, for sure. For sure. Uh, however, you know, I, I don’t, uh, do you remember that show and many years ago, ATY Santa Fe, uh, with Barry X ball that made all those, uh, Onyx heads. I dunno if I caught that one, do you remember that? It was, it was years and years ago. And so this dude wasn’t even a Stu and I think about this story a lot. He, he, he wasn’t even really stone, Carver. He was an artist, but he took all these, these, these pieces of onyx that were very, very delicate. They, they couldn’t be, he worked with hand tools because they would just, they would break. But what he did is he took these, he took, uh, photographs of famous people cuz he was also a photographer and then he put ’em in the, in the computer and he, he elongated their faces and he tweaked them out.
Greg Robertson (00:30:19):
Right. And then he took the, the, those images to a CNC machine, which is a three dimensional, uh, uh, machine that can, that can cut, uh, three dimensional forms. Right. And the, and the really advanced ones can carve out anything. And so then he had these images carved out of this, this very delicate ons with, uh, uh, and, and, and he added all kinds of little details, little icons all over their heads. And it was like trippy trippy work, but it was, it was brilliant. It was amazing. And you know, that right there he created did these stone sculptures, is he a stone sculptor? Well now technically he is, I guess he didn’t, he didn’t touch it. Mm-hmm <affirmative> but he, he created it with this, you know, $500,000 machine and some really good ideas. So, you know, I don’t know that that always, that always, that always threw me for a loop as far as making art, because I think a lot of people, they, I, they get into this construct that like art needs to be like really, really pure.
Greg Robertson (00:31:38):
And it has to be, you know, if you’re gonna be a master in some sort medium, you, you dedicate your whole life to that medium. And, and, and, and that’s all you do. And I’ve, and I’ve actually never been that kind of artist. I mean, I, I play music and sing and write songs and, and, uh, and always messed with photography and just made sculpture outta whatever. And, and, and, and it kind of just so happened that stone and my degree is in tech theater and design. So I was a old theater guy. I didn’t even plan all this mess, you know, but <laugh>, but you know, this is how it ended up. So now I’m a stone artist as well. So what’s a theater degree. Yeah. I say if you’re, if you’re an artist you can, as long as you’re, as long as you’re always going forward in design and, and producing work and, and, and just doing stuff, I think that makes you, uh, more of an artist than anything. Well, it
Anne Kelly (00:32:39):
Was, it was your theater path that led you to go to school. Um, where did you go to school?
Greg Robertson (00:32:48):
I went to school in, in Portis, New Mexico, Eastern, New Mexico, new
Anne Kelly (00:32:53):
Went overseas or not overseas.
Greg Robertson (00:32:55):
Oh, when I, when I, I, yeah, I went on exchange, uh, in England on exchange. Yeah. Yeah. I turned 21 in England. That was a huge, that was a huge, um, he, um, and I was in ex Smith on the Southern coast, little tiny, tiny town, and I had a pub on the, on the campus and I was like, this is sweet. <laugh> I like the Brits.
Anne Kelly (00:33:17):
And then you talked about going to Italy and seeing, um, architecture and sculptures there. And, and that kinda,
Greg Robertson (00:33:24):
I, I did, yeah, I did a trip. We did a, we did a whole, we did a whole trip, uh, through Rome and Florence and, and Venice for a very, uh, short time. And, uh, but yeah, the, just all the, the sculpture and architecture in general, uh, in Italy really blew me away. And I wasn’t, I wasn’t really in, you know, looking back, I wasn’t really in a mindset to truly appreciate all of that, but it, but it had such a profound impact on, well, the, on me,
Anne Kelly (00:33:53):
The pubs were there <laugh>
Greg Robertson (00:33:56):
Well, I mean, I, I, I, I, I did appreciate it all, but I mean, I’m what I’m saying is if, if I went there now and just really, uh, you know, pondered the amount of time and, and, you know, just all of it, all the design, uh, in all of those sculptures in architecture, I mean, it’s mind bending. And so, uh, but I mean, as a, as a 21 year old, it was mind bidding as well. And, and it definitely changed me. It, it inspired me.
Michael (00:34:26):
Yeah. I would think that, um, all of those years, all of the years between then and now in some way, kind of inform your art and how you go about it. And like you, you mentioned, uh, creating with intention. Sometimes we don’t always know where that intention is sourced from. Um, it’s somewhere, probably from our past. Um, and like you, you’ve already mentioned that, um, uh, everything from international travel to theater, to music, they’re, they’re all, they all intersect at a certain point. And it seems to me that they’re intersecting in, in the work that you’re doing right now.
Greg Robertson (00:35:07):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Uh, for sure. And, and, and what’s funny is that that’s, that’s kind of like automatic in a lot of ways <laugh>, you know, because, you know, I’m, I’m, I’m on a schedule all the time, you know, it’s like, it’s so unromantic as far as like being an artist, you know, but yeah. But all, but, but my thought process, as far as like what I’m wanting to do next, yeah. That’s always being pulled from past, um, past designs and past experiences and, and hanging out with Anne at the cowgirl on random Thursdays <laugh> and crazy conversations we’d have about whatever. And, and, uh, and, uh, and, and snow, I think both Anne and I are very influenced mm-hmm <affirmative> by sliding on snow.
Anne Kelly (00:36:02):
We’ll do it again soon with
Greg Robertson (00:36:04):
Various shaped devices.
Anne Kelly (00:36:07):
Yes. So that one time we were at the cowgirl and you were talking to that woman and she said, oh, you’re an artist. Oh, that’s, that’s so romantic. And cause there’s a really romanticized notion of being an artist. And, and you, I mean, and it’s really how blessed for, you know, how blessed for any of us to work in the arts, but you, you were also kinda laughing and, and, and idea how heavy the stone is or what it’s like to go to the shows or what it’s like woman stone on covered in stone dust, all of those things.
Greg Robertson (00:36:40):
Um, yeah. Yeah. I’m like, Stone’s dumb. Why, why would smart people don’t do that?
Anne Kelly (00:36:45):
<laugh> in your next life you’ll work with, uh, styrofoam it’s
Greg Robertson (00:36:49):
I will, I will. No, I, I, some stone Carver. I know God, they’re, they’re such brilliant, uh, amazing people. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so, uh, but yeah, but I, I, I always question my, my own sanity that’s for sure. Well, don’t we all, but, um, but yeah, yeah, I do. I do remember that. And so, um, but you know, I think, but I think any, any artist that really has some sort of thing going, they, they know that, you know, it’s, you know, it work it’s good work. It’s busy work. It’s it’s dedicated work.
Anne Kelly (00:37:25):
Doesn’t always feel like work
Greg Robertson (00:37:27):
Sometimes. Yeah. Michael, Michael, do you still, are you, so you’ve done a lot of amazing, uh, photography that I was looking at a lot of architecture and awesome stuff. Are you do, uh, still pursue photography full time or do you even have time to,
Michael (00:37:50):
Yeah. Right now I kind of juggle a lot of different things, um, which is easier now because of the, uh, the pandemic situation we’re in. So some of the things that I’ve would normally be doing, I’m doing either a much less of, or not at all. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, but because I do so many things, whatever I’m not doing will be made up with the other things that I am doing. I’m always able to kind of, you know, I don’t sit around, you know, I, I, I can procrastinate, but I don’t just sit around all day.
Greg Robertson (00:38:22):
That’s right. Totally.
Michael (00:38:24):
It’s not even, it’s not possible. Plus I love coffee and that’s always gotta keeping me jumpy. <laugh> uh,
Anne Kelly (00:38:30):
I love that. And you photographed in Italy yeah. Multiple times. So it’s very likely that you and Greg have visited a lot of the same monuments and sculptures and probably so. Yeah. Maybe even at the same time who knows.
Michael (00:38:44):
Could have been. Yeah. I mean, I do, I I’ve distinct memories of walking the streets of Rome, taking photographs and, and, and, you know, when you’re in a place, especially a place that’s as impressive and immense is Rome. Um, I don’t think that you can help, but be inspired in some way by, you know, and those, those memories are things that will you’ll hold onto for the rest of your life. So the fine artwork allows me the time to kind of think through and, and develop, develop like you, like you mentioned, Greg again, the attention, like you have to develop that. So, um, slowing down and doing things, film based will allow that. Um, and I think that there’s a lot of value in that. And when I actively am photographing, uh, if I shoot a lot and I have a lot to process, I won’t look at it right away. In fact, I’ll usually set it aside for days, weeks, sometimes months before I even look at it again. Um, and then I kind of see it with fresh eyes. Um, cuz I think it’s important to look at it objectively and um, kind of if I can take myself away from the moment of when I took those images, um, I think that that in the long run, it helps me, especially when it comes time to edit the images because you know,
Greg Robertson (00:40:10):
Well, you see it, you see it more of how another viewer’s gonna see it. You, you take your own, uh, uh, your own, so story that you created in your head when you took the photograph away. Yeah, exactly a little bit. And then you see, and then you’re able to see what story it’s actually telling, you know, with someone else looking at it.
Michael (00:40:31):
Right? Yeah. Their, their ideas behind the image are far different than mine. I mean, I have everything I have so sounds and smells that occurred when I took that photograph that are very difficult to let go of. Um, so sometimes there will be an image that I hold very, very dearly and nobody else could give a about
Greg Robertson (00:40:53):
<laugh>. Right. Right.
Michael (00:40:54):
So, and, and I think that there could be similar, there’s probably a similar idea there in terms of what you do too. Like you’re working on several projects at a time. You can’t do them all simultaneously, so you kind of have to go from place to place. And sometimes you kind of, you know, you’ll circle back to where you started on a project and you’ll think, oh, maybe,
Greg Robertson (00:41:17):
Oh, that’s, that’s such a, that’s such a great thing to do sometimes is, is, um, especially if you’re trying to flesh out some sort of idea and you know, and I’m not exactly, I, I, I maybe have a general sense of direction that I want to go with it, but you know, a lot of times I’ll, you know, a lot of my designs, I, I draw ’em out on the stone, right. So they’re, they’re drawn out in, in pencil and you know, so a lot of times I’ll have to draw it out. And then, and I put that aside and, and just like you said, I’ll come back to it in a couple days or a week or whatever, and really look at it and, and, um, and, and try to see that, try to see if that’s, you know, proportionally, if it’s correct. And if it’s really kind of coming across with what I, with what I want. And, and sometimes it won’t, I’m like, eh, you don’t just erase the whole thing and, and then, and then come back to it. So yeah, that that’s, um, and it’s nice to, it’s nice to be busy with enough projects that you, that you can allow yourself to do that. Yeah. Cause I, you know, you get stuck sometimes you’re like, eh, I, you know, I don’t know, you know, I’m trying too hard or <laugh>, you know, whatever,
Michael (00:42:41):
Mm-hmm, <affirmative> sure. I think that that’s a fascinating aspect about artists and the creative process. Um,
Greg Robertson (00:42:48):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I don’t like, I, you know, I don’t know how it works. Necess Sara, <laugh>, there’s, there’s a lot of artists that are far more organized than me with their creative process, I suppose. But, you know, I don’t know. I can’t, my problem is, is I, I have a hard time figuring out which direction I wanna go, cuz I want to, I wanna go in a bunch of different directions I wanna produce. So a whole bunch of different sort of designs. And I, and, and I try not to do that. I try to stay somewhat consistent so I can flesh out work and then go to another idea. But you know, sometimes it’ll, uh, you know, I, and, and I don’t have enough time to produce all that work way of all these ideas. And I’m like, oh, well, I, okay, well, yeah, I really wanna make that, but oh, I should, you know, I should probably do one like this, you know, that’s always interesting. So
Anne Kelly (00:43:51):
Relatively organized, you’ve got,
Greg Robertson (00:43:55):
Yeah, that’s the sta that’s the theater stage managing part mm-hmm <affirmative> mm-hmm <affirmative>. So, you know, uh, I was a performer and then my degree ended up being a tech theater and design. So I could be a director really was, was the whole point of that. Cuz when I went to England the, the first time, uh, on exchange, I went after I graduate it and, and worked in theater in London, uh, before I moved to Santa Fe. But um, I, I went to England, uh that’s when I turned 21 and, and produced a show that I had written and directed it, a light designed it, um, had original music composed for it. Um, had a dancer like choreograph, a whole dance piece for it. Um, it was, it was called a circle of friends. It had, it was one central character and it had all these people that had influenced him through his life.
Greg Robertson (00:44:49):
But none of them SP Oak. He was the only one that had lines. So that was a really cool show. And so when I come, came back to the states, I wanted to be a director and, and went into the tech theater, uh, side of it. And uh, you know, and stage managing is, is just like running house. <laugh> you keep, you keep schedules. You keep a bunch of wacky actors like on top of their. And, and uh, and that, that whole life is running this business. That’s what this business is. There was the shows, which was the performance. And then you get to show off the work that you’ve created and it’s like, TA da. And, but then, you know, you gotta make it work. You gotta run a business, you know, you can’t just be like half organized. <laugh> that doesn’t fly. You know, you gotta, you gotta be, you gotta be. But I like what you said, Michael, about how you, you pro you procrastinate, but you don’t, you don’t, you procrastinate, but you don’t sit around. Right. That’s so true because I procrastinate on all kinds of stuff. Like I’m like, uh, no, I, no, I’m, I’m not gonna do that right now. I’m there’s there’s so, but, but
Anne Kelly (00:46:03):
You get it done when it needs to be done eventually
Greg Robertson (00:46:07):
<laugh> yeah. Eventually deadlines are good, you know, deadlines are I, I hit, I hit, I hit, uh, deadlines, uh, pretty much all the time, but, um, uh, yeah, but if, if there’s so deadline <laugh>, it might not get done.
Anne Kelly (00:46:26):
These digital fountains I’ve been, I was reading about last night kinda digital
Greg Robertson (00:46:31):
Fountains. They’re
Anne Kelly (00:46:32):
Like, no, it’s crazy. So they’re, they’re kind of related to theater in a sense like, oh, it, it would all be, um, whoa, where are you going? Whoa, <laugh> so, so basically you, you could have fountains that are all controlled by a computer and there’s light and there’s music and you know, like the type of thing they’d have at, at Disneyland or something like that. So,
Greg Robertson (00:47:00):
Oh yeah. Like more performance based. Yeah.
Anne Kelly (00:47:03):
So that’s like your full on
Greg Robertson (00:47:05):
Disney that’s that’s yeah. That’s probably what I need to need to be doing.
Anne Kelly (00:47:09):
Which thought about, I mean, maybe that’s, you know, where your degree eventually, um, comes full swing. I don’t, I don’t know. It’s uh,
Greg Robertson (00:47:20):
It, it, it might, it, it might, you
Anne Kelly (00:47:23):
Know, to the extent I had really thought about, um, digital sculpture is I, I had the honor of getting to go to the Sorato LA Amelia and Barcelona a number of years ago, and it’s not finished. They’ve been building it for, I don’t know my backs down. They’ve been building it forever. But one of the coolest things about the tour is if, as you walk around it, one side of it is, and don’t quote me on this, but one side it looks like it’s literally hand carved. And as they, as you round the building, the, the technology changes and they’re still not done, but the most recent work is all AutoCAD. So it’s all this one structure, one design, and it’s a combination of all things and just have, ah, cool. That, so cool. Yeah. It’s kind of mind blowing. I, I was, I was saying, um, I had my buddy Zach on the last show and we were talking about he’s a DJ and Greg knows Zach. We all used to work together actually. And, um, we were just looking at some kind of the crazy histories of, of, of DJing and, and it’s, I was saying not that I’m old, but the older I get, the more fascinating history is
Greg Robertson (00:48:40):
It’s <laugh>
Anne Kelly (00:48:41):
Yeah. Who was interested in that when we were in, in high school. I mean, maybe it was the way it was thought. Um, but I’m looking at the history of last night and I was like, oh yes. Sumaria, you know, that’s, that’s where these early fountains were. <laugh>
Greg Robertson (00:48:55):
So, uh, Sumeria
Anne Kelly (00:48:57):
That’s, history’s actually pretty interesting. Maybe just when you’re looking at, at the right things.
Greg Robertson (00:49:03):
Sure. And just the idea of manipulating water is, you know, that’s from the first time that human forms found water, I’m sure they started trying to figure out how to make it travel and make it, you know, work for them. And apparently
Anne Kelly (00:49:27):
Yeah, what they did, like all the, um, first fountains were connected to Aqua ducts and they were, they were functional. They just, they were water fountains. They wanted, needed to get to the water. And it wasn’t until later that they became, you know, maybe dedicated to Kings or gods or, but, you know, they were all over the place and, and stone has just always been this really.
Greg Robertson (00:49:51):
And what, and what’s amazing about water too. And, and gravity, it’s really gravity. Yeah. Like water, water, water. Doesn’t like, do, uh, what you want it to do necessarily. You know, I mean, that’s just a natural component of it. And, and, and you’re, and so you’re trying to make this liquid do things and gravity is making it do things. And, um, you know, humans have found all kinds of amazing ways to control it. But when you’re, when you’re just creating designs, as it’s simply falling, it’s just falling.
Anne Kelly (00:50:32):
You gotta talk that into your design don’t you?
Greg Robertson (00:50:34):
Of course. Oh yeah. Of course. Into every single piece that’s ever been made in this studio, that idea was applied in some sort of way. The, the flow is always been the important part, the, the rate of the flow, the, the splash, the non splash, the, the sound, all, all of it. And, and so, and, and really what I’m referring to is like a lot of the like geometric designs and stuff that I’ve done with lines and stuff like that. You know, if a stone is a really like weird shape and you want the water to go a certain way, it doesn’t necessarily go that way, you know, unless you actually carve an AUC into a, the stone and make it go over here, but it can, it can be really difficult to, to, to, to make it go certain direction because it wants to go straight down. That’s what it’s gonna do. So, you know, that’s a lot of the design is let it, let it go straight down, you know, how is it gonna go straight down? What what’s it gonna do when it goes, you know, straight, straight down and hit the bottom, like, you know, all those, all those aspects,
Anne Kelly (00:51:47):
But from the engineering standpoint, most of all of your pieces are in basin. So the water recycles itself. So yeah, exactly. Yeah. Water flying halfway across the patio and
Greg Robertson (00:52:01):
No. Oh no, of course not. That’s no, that’s bad design. Yeah. You gotta like, yeah, you, you have to exactly. You have to, you have to make it so that it’s going to fit in the space that you’re putting it in, you know, mm-hmm <affirmative> so,
Michael (00:52:16):
And if you think of, if you think about it, you are essentially still directing,
Greg Robertson (00:52:21):
Uh, yes. Uh, AB yeah, like theater directing that’s yeah.
Michael (00:52:25):
You’re directing water through the forces of gravity.
Greg Robertson (00:52:27):
That’s that’s right. That’s right.
Anne Kelly (00:52:30):
Some things we can’t help, but do <laugh> or not do well.
Greg Robertson (00:52:34):
It’s some things we can’t help, but do <laugh> very profound. Ms. Kelly
Anne Kelly (00:52:41):
<laugh> so, um, a little off the subject, but I, I just, I mentioned this earlier, the story of you getting fired from the restaurant that we worked at actually really inspired your artistic career.
Greg Robertson (00:53:01):
It, um, it, it did what happened that’s that was, uh, that was, yeah, that was, uh, that’s at the blue corn. Are we allowed to say that? And our, I think
Anne Kelly (00:53:12):
The, sorry, JP <laugh>,
Greg Robertson (00:53:13):
That’s the, that’s the only job I’ve ever been fired from in my life, since I’m the boss, I fire myself all the time, but then I have to come back. That’s fine. And, and so that was the only job I was ever fired from. And, and management had changed and they didn’t, they didn’t like us old school. People knew how to run the show and oh, and I chased it. I chased a, I chased a kid out the door cuz he didn’t tip me. Mm-hmm <affirmative>
Greg Robertson (00:53:42):
I didn’t chase him. I just went out there was like, Hey, you know, you didn’t tip me. Right. And he was like, yeah. And I was like, BA you know, and, and, and then his mom called <laugh> and his mom was in the service industry. Right. And she was like, yeah, the mom was in the service. And she was like, I can’t believe, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so, so we were like, well, if you’re in the service industry and your kid doesn’t leave a tip, like, would you not be totally off about that? Like, would you not be schooling your kid? But anyway, like, so I, I think it was a big conspiracy.
Anne Kelly (00:54:19):
Yes, I think so. But
Greg Robertson (00:54:22):
I, I, I, so, so I got fired and that’s job sucked anyway. So I, and I was doing an installation, uh, uh, for our friend Kat’s massage studio. Um, and I, and I had made this big, like seven foot tall water wall, granite water wall. This is the old work. Right. Uh, the countertops and stuff and made this really cool, like, and it had like sculpted trees at a green granite on this brown granite. It was all three dimensional. It was awesome. I don’t, I never even got a picture of it. And it was on my trailer and the guy in the like office next door to her massage studio, he was this builder guy. And he was like, that’s badass. And I’m like, thanks. And then he is like, how much you want for it? And I was like, I, I don’t know. You know, I told him pricing, he’s like, cool. Well, will you bring it to my house then tomorrow? And I was like, yeah. <laugh>. And so that kinda like kicked off, you
Anne Kelly (00:55:21):
Wouldn’t have been there. You would’ve been at work. None of that
Greg Robertson (00:55:24):
Would’ve been, I would’ve been at work. I would’ve been at work. That’s a right. So that’s, that’s exactly right. And instead I wanted to go finish this installation and, and that was, you know, at the time that was a, like a significant amount of money and, and, um, and, and so that was cool. Yeah. That kind of kicked off a good, that kicked me off to like, sort of invest in some stuff and, and really try to get it going, um, you know, for real. And it, it, and it, I mean, and it definitely took, definitely took a minute after that, but, but it did eventually, but it was
Anne Kelly (00:56:01):
Inspiring.
Greg Robertson (00:56:02):
Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was that’s funny story.
Anne Kelly (00:56:06):
So sometimes you’re just supposed to get fired.
Greg Robertson (00:56:10):
I sometimes you just really need to get fired because you’re too, cuz you’re too dumb to quit and you’re like, oh no, I better be, see I was, I, I always had really good work ethics. So like,
Anne Kelly (00:56:22):
Well, and there were really cool people that worked
Greg Robertson (00:56:24):
There. There were amazing people. Yeah. So we could, we could put up with a fair amount of and not, and still like, be, be happy.
Anne Kelly (00:56:33):
Exactly. And, and where we are now started there. And one thing led to another thing and
Greg Robertson (00:56:40):
That’s right. That’s right. <affirmative>
Anne Kelly (00:56:44):
So I asked Michael this in the first show, I asked him if there’s anything interesting that he collects and I know you have a small art collection and you’ve got some musical instruments. Is there anything you collect? Um,
Greg Robertson (00:57:02):
That I don’t those two. Yeah. Those two things are probably, I definitely have a lot of art. I have more art than I could hang in because I have spent the last decade doing art shows and have met just phenomenal artists, people, just people that blow me away. And I, and I’ve known them for years and I just watch their work get better and better and better at so, and inspiring and amazing to, to witness. And so I ha so I’ve, you know, purchased a lot of and traded, uh, been lucky enough to trade sometimes. Um, uh, some nice big canvases and, and, uh, so, so I have a lot of art and like, you know, they all have stories, I think like they should, when you’re collect art mm-hmm <affirmative> and, uh, and, and a lot of musical instruments. Um, but let’s see, what do I collect? I, my house isn’t very big. So I actually have gotten really good at like downsizing and not collecting things. Cause I don’t, you know, cause I don’t want the clutter. Right. Like I want a big house to hang all my art, but I want a little house, so I don’t fill it with stuff. So, um, huh. I don’t know. I don’t know, Anne, you stumped me on that one. Yeah. You’ve got
Anne Kelly (00:58:27):
An nice little collection of musical instruments.
Greg Robertson (00:58:30):
I do all kinds of guitars and yeah. Noise makers and, and uh, drums and drums from around the world and uh, and uh, and uh, stuff like that and, and well, and, and stories we collect.
Anne Kelly (00:58:49):
Yeah. We do collect stories. I love collecting. Yes.
Greg Robertson (00:58:51):
I have a 10 year old, so, so I collect, I collect all kinds of stories. <laugh>
Anne Kelly (00:58:59):
And you’ve got some cool tools in your shop, which you use to make your art. I
Greg Robertson (00:59:06):
Do. I do. It’s fun. I have a diamond chainsaw. That’s really cool.
Anne Kelly (00:59:10):
Yeah. That is cool. <laugh>
Greg Robertson (00:59:13):
You know, they made a chainsaw with diamond diamond blades on it. It’s cool. That’s gotta be yeah. Yeah. It’s stupid.
Anne Kelly (00:59:24):
Probably more effective than a chainsaw with sand that
Greg Robertson (00:59:27):
Cuts. Yes, yes. And a and a guy and a helper like sprinkling sand on it while you’re like sawing. Yeah. Perhaps, maybe I’ll like for, so, you know, my, my crew is, is really amazing. And my, my, my head guide to code of miles has been working with me for years and, and, uh, knows this, knows this business, uh, very well and, and my designs and I, and I rely on him, uh, very much. And, uh, uh <laugh> so I can, I, I’m gonna tell ’em tomorrow that we’re, that we’re gonna have a workshop with, you know, the other guys. And so one of ’em just has to sit there with like a, a wire and then the other one has to like sprinkle sand and they just have to do that for eight hours all day can be
Anne Kelly (01:00:22):
Collection. What’s that your analog collection?
Greg Robertson (01:00:26):
That’s the analog. Yeah. Yeah. And then, and so see this, the, and then this will be for my like, installation that will put over at site Santa Fe, which I’ll take a video of that mm-hmm <affirmative> and you know, and, and then, okay, here’s an idea. This is my idea. Okay. So nobody else can steal it cuz I said it on end’s show. So the, the one video, the one video will be, will be those guys just doing that for eight hours, just like nonstop. Right. And, and then the other video will be like a total sped up video of us, fabricating stuff with grinders and just like busting out like peace after piece after piece. I love
Anne Kelly (01:01:15):
It. You know,
Greg Robertson (01:01:17):
And, and like fast motion. And then these guys in real time will be like, eh, and with the, see art.
Michael (01:01:27):
That’s great. I think your Instagram stories are gonna go through the roof.
Anne Kelly (01:01:30):
Yeah. See, this is art in the rock, creating art on the show or ideas.
Greg Robertson (01:01:37):
We’re creating it. We, and we should, yeah, we should. We should, we should create art on your mm-hmm <affirmative> art on your, in your show. That’s for sure.
Anne Kelly (01:01:46):
What fun. Yes. So much fun. And look, we’ve got some, what fun light on the, uh, maybe I should take us over to look at it closer. What do you guys think? Oh
Greg Robertson (01:02:01):
Yes. Let’s see. Let’s see some, some reflection. Cause
Anne Kelly (01:02:04):
It’s kind, it’s kind of blown out a little bit with the,
Michael (01:02:08):
I like the idea that we gotta see it during the day and as we’ve talked, everything’s changed and now it’s lit up. We
Greg Robertson (01:02:19):
Piece.
Anne Kelly (01:02:22):
Can you see it?
Greg Robertson (01:02:25):
Yeah. But it’s, you’re kind. Yeah. I get outta your own shadow. Yeah. So yeah. For those of you that can’t, it’s hard to see, but there’s waves like carved into the face of that.
Anne Kelly (01:02:36):
Can you see it now? Now you can. Oh, that’s better.
Greg Robertson (01:02:40):
Yeah. Yeah. But we’re like we’re yeah. Kind of we’re seeing your shadow is what we’re seeing
Anne Kelly (01:02:47):
In the bushes now. How’s that?
Greg Robertson (01:02:53):
Yeah. You can kind of see it. Yeah. It gets really washed out by the light. Yeah. It’s
Anne Kelly (01:02:58):
A little too much, but well, anyways, I’ll I’ll post a picture. Um, <laugh> I have to say when I was working from home, I got, I, I became a bird watcher because of this fountain. There’s so many cool birds for sure. Fountain every day. It’s amazing. There’s like Raven.
Greg Robertson (01:03:20):
Yes. The birds love
Anne Kelly (01:03:21):
’em there’s giant Ravens. There’s like little FIY things. I think we both said in one we both had birds leave pizza crusts on our fountains. <laugh>
Greg Robertson (01:03:33):
Yeah. That was, yeah. Yeah. They bring them, like, they bring them to, to soften ’em out, like get ’em outta the Garbage and they soften up so they can eat ’em. Yeah, that was trippy.
Anne Kelly (01:03:43):
Yeah. Or I thought maybe they stopped. Yeah. And then water. And then they were like, eh, I don’t want this anymore. It’s <laugh> yeah.
Greg Robertson (01:03:49):
Maybe, maybe. So they’re
Michael (01:03:50):
Really functional art as
Anne Kelly (01:03:51):
Well. Yeah, they are. And that’s, that’s kind of part birds.
Greg Robertson (01:03:55):
Oh yeah. Yeah. The, the birds are fun and the, and then they’ll yeah. And the sparrows all fight over it. And, and then the, and then the like little finches will come and run the sparrows off. And then the, and then the big, like collared doves will come and hang out on ’em. Yeah. It’s good. That birds don’t have COVID because they’ve just, they would be spreading it all to each other, putting
Anne Kelly (01:04:18):
It on my fountain and everything. Yeah.
Greg Robertson (01:04:21):
Putting it on my fountain putting bird COVID on my fountain <laugh>
Anne Kelly (01:04:25):
And have that <laugh>
Greg Robertson (01:04:28):
Oh, Siri, no Siri. That’s ridiculous.
Anne Kelly (01:04:33):
<laugh> well, this has been super fun. I appreciate both of you for joining me. Does anybody have, have any totally anything they wanna say any last, uh, it’s getting dark here and, and my lights blowing out the fountain.
Greg Robertson (01:04:53):
Good talking to you, Michael. And it was a pleasure, sir.
Michael (01:04:57):
And you as well. It was nice to be, it was nice to discuss art and about your process as a sculpt because it’s, you know, while there are similarities, that’s the differences I think that we learned from. So, um, it’s been very
Greg Robertson (01:05:13):
Valuable. Yeah. I hope I hope anyone, uh, listening, uh, to all this was, uh, was, uh, inspired and entertained.
Anne Kelly (01:05:23):
That’s what we want inspired and entertained.
Greg Robertson (01:05:26):
We didn’t do a, we didn’t do any dance numbers, but you know, it is the end of the day. Maybe
Michael (01:05:32):
Part two.
Anne Kelly (01:05:34):
Yes.
Greg Robertson (01:05:35):
Part two. That’ll involve more alcohol. I’m sure. <laugh>
Michael (01:05:38):
Yeah. Well
Anne Kelly (01:05:39):
It can be arranged <laugh> we can do that. <laugh> I did promise on the first show that my dogs might learn to dance. Um, which <laugh> they did, I think run through tonight. They did barking at a bird, which might, I don’t know. That’s what they do. They’re dogs. So
Greg Robertson (01:05:59):
Is gonna be on the next, uh, on the next, uh, show.
Anne Kelly (01:06:02):
Well, I’ve got, I’ve got a list of people, so I don’t have a specific order. Um, but one of our other mutual friends in Santa Fe, whose initials are TK, you know who she is, I’m gonna tomorrow. Cause I think great. She would be, she she’s diverse. She’s interesting. I think it would be, it would be fun. She’s a gen, she’s a genius. She is a genius. So that’s what I’m realizing. I know, I know a lot of just really cool people and um, there’s the people that I don’t know, person that I’m planning to reach out to for this show, but I’m kind of starting close to home right now. Like are so many cool people. How lucky am I? So we’ll start. And I think we might do more mix ups like this, bring people who wanna come back and participate and just keep the conversation going for
Michael (01:07:05):
Sure. I think it’s interesting and fun doing it this way, mixing up, like you said.
Anne Kelly (01:07:10):
Yeah. And, um, my buddy, Zach, that was on last week, uh, DJ Veda out of LA. If you watch that show, I totally butcher his last name in the intro was we laughed about it. So it’s okay. But I know his DJ name beta, so it’s okay. Um, he was interested in coming back as well. So I think we’ll, we’ll bring in new guests. We’ll mash it up a little bit. We’ll just do whatever feels right. So fun. And you
Greg Robertson (01:07:44):
Feels right. Well, thank you, Ann Kelly. That was a blast.
Anne Kelly (01:07:48):
Yeah. No, thank you. Thank you so much. And good luck with the rest of the, the project. Thank you. The commission, not really a project commission project.
Greg Robertson (01:07:58):
It’s both of those things. Yeah.
Anne Kelly (01:08:00):
Yes. All of those things. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, thank you both. And if you enjoyed this conversation, please remember to like comment, subscribe so that you, um, are in the loop for future conversations and have a good night. Everybody, both of you. Thanks. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:08:51):
Now I.