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See the full gallery on posterous

I bunch of of pictures from the past few days.

Bryan ventured into a certain abandoned building and discovered the B Hom being put to use by a homeless individual.  The protoype B Home is being real world tested!

We also got another large stock of wire rope for the many products and sculptures being created at the Atelier.

Bryan and Erik gutted an "urban carcass" - a damaged inflatable air mattress, which they converted into a large garbage bag to clean up the mess next door.

Bryan dragged in some old couches which were then stripped down.  The metal springs and pieces will be saved for sculpture components, and the frames will be converted into mini-greenhouses which will be used in the early spring.

The Atelier also donated several works of art to the TirNaNog - Trenton's Real Irish Pub, for a raffle fundraiser to keep the Trenton St. Patrick's Day Parade here in Trenton.  Works included several original paintings and wire rope sculptures and products from Modern Metal Work.

"Dog and Pony Show ft. Teddy" - an abstract installation is also on display in "Barb's Office" upstairs at the Atelier.  It features several hundred business cards and an irregular arrangement of items in a room upstairs.

Some Princetonians also ventured into the shop to make a doghouse - Melissa and Andy applied some word-working and crafting skills to create a foundation frame from some found wood - the project should be completed in a few weeks.

Finally, Lia delivered another box of less-than-consumer-grade organic produce to the shop.  Thanks Whole Earth for your support and donations!

Tom Sawyer at the shop

peter picked a peno' pepper

doesn't say much for our safety requirements
(should be wearing gloves)
aka this was a staged shot,
just love the nails ..
Jerry Warren cutting the end off of his sickle bird sculpture

braving the frost
these jalapeño peppers
in their mylar homes.

Monday's Bounty from Dunkin D's!

Yet another Monday night retrieval from our trusty local bagel and donut depot.



- TA Out

Modern Metal Works Featured in Trentonian

Many thanks to Jeff Edelstein for spending the afternoon at the 220 shop to interview us and increase the awareness about the positive impact we are having in the hyper-local community around us.

Check out the full article here.

New Member Safir Monroe Welds First Sculpture!

The setting of the sun doesn't stop new Trenton Atelier member Safir Monroe from welding his first creative wire-rope sculpture.  The 14 year old has exhibited great skill in using the welding gun for his first time ever to fabricate a piece of work.  His brother, Kamau aka SPX, a long-time member of the Atelier introduced Safir to the Allen Street landmark to see where he could fit in.  We welcome both brothers, who are actively taking initiative to further their artistic passions.

Final piece to be finished by the end of the night...

Register

Our friends from Princeton Art Attack reminded us about the Jeff Show video posted back in May of 2010.

http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2010/05/03/jeff/doc4bdee6c64af64759533930.txt

Jeff Edelstein interviewed and filmed Pete playing in the workshop. The video was posted on the Trentonian website.

Shop Slop

The brothers prepare the slop for today's meeting. Come and get it y'all!

Another Productive Day

The shop is really shaping up. With the COMAtose crew enjoying their unconscousess elsewhere, we've finally been able to get things together.



We're now experimenting with some Mylar for a potential vertical farming operation. Each pouch is holding several gallons of water.



Jeremy's dog returned thanks to the hospitality of the Troy and his family. They found Brando napping in the park across the street and took him in.




Also been hard at work making wire rope products for the Princeton Terracycle store, which will be featuring an all new lineup of unique upstairs products.

Troy applied a new coat of paint to his ride while Kasso finished his 7th City of Angels mural on the workshop wall.

And we sat down for another extraordinary freegan lunch with the crew.

Graham was strumming away on the guitar, recording some interesting tunes in the evolving upstairs recording studio.

The Other 1/2 : taking a bite out of America's food waste problem

According to numerous srouces (google search: America food waste), nearly half of the food produced in the United States is wasted. At all steps along the industrial agriculture process, there are losses, which add up to anywhere from 25-50%. (stat varies by source)

Freegan cooking makes up about 95% of the diet of Trenton Atelier residents. This includes raw organic produce from local markets, leftovers from catering events, foraged and grown foods, as well as salvaged goods from college moveouts and other general waste from the consumer capitalist system.

Most of the produce comes from local Whole Earth - who have been incredibly supportive of our cause and deserve a really really big hug. This produce is unfit for the grocery store shelf - bruises, dents, blemishes, minor mold and damage. A consumer wouldn't dare buy this stuff - it doesn't look nice, and when there is another item next to it of better quality, why bother? But, instead of letting it all go to straight to the compost bin (Whole Foods composts left over organic matter that doesn't make it our way - which is still better than transporting to a landfill), we are able to salvage the edible portions and then compost the remainder.


Another rather notoriously unsustainable franchise has also been so negligent as to wipe the entire contents of that days goods into a fresh, clean bag without any other waste, and put it into a conveniently accessible storage container. (the white is not mold - its powered sugar from some of the other shelf-to-bag goods)


Turned into some deliciously seasoned, home-made crutons! (seasoned, of course, with exotic spices from the unconscious college moveout pantry-to-bag process)


Here we see two very satisfied artists enjoying a delectable freegan brunch, complete with salad and our signature "220 Shop Slop" - a proprietary blend of herbs, organics, and spices.

What a bountiful supply we have!

So much, in fact, that its a challenge to eat it all - so we invite anyone to come by for free, freegan meals lunch and dinner each and every day.

Anything that isn't suitible for human consumption is fed to our shop dog, the composting worms, or put into the compost bin to be turned into next years soil, and eventually another round of food.

Kasso and Jerry doin there thanggg!

Local artist Jerry Warren continue work on his whimsical animal sculptures. He is a folk artist sculpture who has been creating his works since 1995 as a welder and metal fab artist.




He enjoys the creative process and has been a lovely presence in the TA studio atmosphere bringing his light hearted persona and warmth to the winter lull.





Kasso of S.A.G.E Collective continues his beautiful sweeping cascade of color on the TA facade. For all you that don't know, Will 'Kasso' is an amazingly talented and dedicated graffiti muralist native to Trenton who has been pioneering creative change in Trenton for many years. His inspirational, boldly colorful, and uniquely passionate graff-murals can be experienced all across the Trenton landscape; flowering creative expression in the Capitol City.




We are truly blessed and humbled to be providing a creative outlet in this little pocket of art experience called the Trenton Atelier.

Many thanks to Lia for stocking our fridge full of healthy produce courtesy of The Whole Earth Center in Princeton.

Urban Exploration 2.0, Emergent Iron Oxide, and Mr. Altheria Greene

Bryan and Graham decided to conduct another Urban Exploration Expidition on Sunday afternoon.

Climbing and crawling on steep edifices is a major part of the experience.



Graham takes some time to check out the awesome abandoned water tower.


The duo also stopped to check out some urban agriculture at the local elementary school - hopefully these swiss chard will be harvested before the first frost destroys em!


The table top from Crazy J's rampage developed an incredible iron oxide pattern on the bottom while it sat for a few months under the 63 Chevy in the shop. Gotta take some high-rez photos


Altheria got his hustle on again at the shop - shredded wheat, canned yams, breaded fish, pear juice. Never fails to entertain us. At least he's doing something.

Pete sparking up a bowl.  Coated with silicone from Stuart of Performance Industries. We also attended a Jazz night at the Conservatory (NJ) on Thursday.  The Conservatory featured an incredible lineup of musicians an poets, including twin brothers - and - .  Sixteen year old jazz musicians who have been seen at Capitol City Market and a number of other venues in the Trenton area. ( link to their website ) Pete checks out his work on the Rebar Truss legs of the Crazy Jay table... The large metal top was from the table that James destroyed during a drunken rage a few months ago.

Fussy Pete

Our Patron taint has been spending waaaaaay too much time at the shop recently

rallying the troops and causing general mayhem

All in the name of cleanliness and organization.

We joke,because we love him,

but his reactive state caused some good people to head for the hills.

Lets see what the weekend brings...

Of Hip Hop, College, and Randomness.

Snakes...why did it have to be snakes?

International Balls by Willie Cole

One of Erik's guerrilla art pieces.

Hi there, readers! This past couple of days has been exciting to say the least. We've had famous people, a field trip. a new piece of art exhibited for us, and experiments with food! Awesome, right?

Last night, we had an amalgamation of welding, wandering, and hip hop as Double Life Click (http://www.youtube.com/user/doublelifeclick) represented Jersey. Leto and LB decided to say hello, along with internationally acclaimed artist JMC (http://www.jmc-music.com) coming all the way from London to show us love. They shot a video here with us, and gave me (Tucker) an assignment. Once I figure out how to edit the videos properly, I'll post them up.

Today, Erik and I went to TCNJ, with Erik going to his usual classes and me exploring the campus. After some attempted video editing and failing, I decided to go see what was what. In the Art building there was an exhibition by Willie Cole, a local artist that has gained fame in his field. His unique perspective on life, the universe, and everything made for some interesting art that I personally am going to be looking into.

Also, those readers who may attend the college, be on the lookout for strange figures appearing all over the campus.

Halloween Weekend at the Atelier

One of Grahm's gifts to the Atelier, properly dressed for the holiday.

Some headway being made with the room upstairs.

Bryan attempting to resurrect a dead computer.

Hello, readers! Welcome to this weekend in review. This past weekend consisted of some really interesting stuff, including a march on Washington, a big party at Lia's place, and some interesting improvised music.

As you may have read before, a huge chunk of the Atelier attended Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity. The boys brought a bunch of friends over and left early Saturday morning, trekking all the way to Washington D.C. to see what was in store for them there.

While the guys were gallivanting down there, Grahm and I were holding down the fort up here, making all sorts of improvised musical instruments and playing with them.

After that little gem, we had Lia come pick us up and bring her to her cool shindig at her place. Much drinking was done, and a lot of good times were had. Thanks to Lia and Robin (her housemate) for having us.

Well, on to the workweek again. Wish us well.