John Hiemstra Creative » San Diego

Level One Art Installation

John — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 05:32:04 +0000

New project in development www.leveloneartinstallation.com .

WordPress portfolio site for San Diego based art installation specialist. With information organized and labelled for search and new integration into the social web, this development project focussed on helping Level One capitalize on 20 years of real-world success to digitally expand brand awareness and client base while reinforcing its local leadership position.

Polished plaster ceiling

John — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 21:27:17 +0000

The piano room was the last of several components I did for this stunning and historic San Diego home by famed local architect Frank Hope between 2005 and 2008.

The vertical wall panels behind are done in a water based faux finish glaze over a soft yellow base that matches the walls of the room I’m standing in as I take the picture. (Those walls were the first component I did for the house.)

The main feature of this room is the grand piano, and the polished plaster ceiling treatment is designed to resemble the faux-on-yellow but add a jewel box type of glow and resonance to the room commensurate with the grand piano itself.

A lot of this impact has to do with the glassy sheen of venetian plaster when burnished and how it echoes the high polish of the piano. Not only did I burnish this whole room myself, I also created the patina with a tinted, hand applied wax and polished a second time to get the final effect. Everything in the house is edged in varnished woodwork except this room with its painted white trim, so the polished plaster supplies a missing material authenticity to the piano’s environment as well, connecting it to the rest of the house without diminishing the intended special emphasis.

Scenic painting: San Diego, Los Angeles

John — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 03:04:08 +0000

I worked as a scenic artist in San Diego and Los Angeles both the first few years after moving to San Diego in 1999.

I worked on several San Diego projects for an LA company, Scenery West, as well as spending some fun time in their shop in North Hollywood working on crazy scenic stuff that went all over the world for rock concerts, commercial shoots, theme parks, retail stores and trade show booths. This picture in another view of the Cirque de la Mer tower at SeaWorld that was part of my onsite paint charge duties during the installation of the show in 2001.

I had a lot of fun painting for SceneryWest from 2001-2003 and getting to live in Los Angeles part-time for awhile (Los Feliz).

ART NOW SAN DIEGO

John — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 04:13:40 +0000

This is my first significant Twitter project, and where I’ve tried out a lot of tools, strategies, met a lot of people, and learned a lot about social engagement.

At the beginning this project was an amplifier for a blog I kept on all things art in San Diego: gallery openings, receptions, museum shows and the like. I also kept a pretty good tab on what was happening in Los Angeles, too while promoting my friends and clients in the art world whenever possible.

After I left San Diego, it became harder and harder to find the time for this as essentially a non-paying project, until I finally shut down the blog an set this up on auto pilot for awhile, re-tweeting two of the more significant social media movers in the San Diego art world: the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and Dana Springs of the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, both of whom I’m proud to say I influenced to some degree in their initial adoption of social media.

I’m just getting back into direct communication with this project now that I’ve got the new company forming to manage it and that I’ve set-up a sister account in my new town, ArtNow PGH.

Sky Paintings 2005-2009

John — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 15:04:27 +0000

The body of fine art work I was developing independently of commissioned artwork in San Diego before moving to Pittsburgh in the fall of 2009. Most of the skies and architecture are inspired from my travels in Tuscany and especiallly Florence with Heather

Old School Chargers and Padres Logos at Lucky D’s

John — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 04:43:45 +0000

I started to write about this project back in 2008 shortly after it was completed, with trompe l’oeil brick and wallpaper paint treatments on new drywall to complement exposed, sandblasted brick of original building.

Because Lucky D’s closed for business just a few months later, I didn’t go on, but today I had an inquiry about doing weathered signage on original brick, so I’m posting up a few pictures of the rest of this commercial/hospitality painting project.

Once Dave had decided to go with the local sports theme, we thought up doing the original San Diego team logos on the brick wall behind the pool table. In addition to being the original logos from the 60′s (part of Dave’s theme at the time), I painted them in an aged or weathered fashion to look as if Dave had uncovered them from 30 years ago in the remodel.

The trompe l’oeil/faux aspects of this paint treatment worked out well in context of the “age” of the bar. I will put up more contextual photos later, here’s a couple of details for now.

Archive: Franco Colavecchia SoHo Memory Paintings installation at The Frame Maker

John — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:42:08 +0000

In honor of Franco’s retirement this month, I made this the next in a series of reprints from the design blog I kept for The Frame Maker between 2007 and 2009. These posts are primarily about the art and artists we worked with as well as custom and green picture frame design by your truly while contracted as the general manager of The Frame Maker in San Diego, CA.

Original post date: June 2009

Here are a few pictures of Franco Colavecchia’s installation of original painting and stage design renderings now in The Frame Maker showroom through August 28, 2009

SoHo Memory Paintings at The Frame Maker

…

Link to my original post: SoHo Memory Paintings installation at The Frame Maker

My interview on ArtRocks! Radio from summer 2009

John — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 14:30:34 +0000

The next in a series of reprints from my San Diego Finishing School project.

Original post date: July 2009

Here’s the link to the recording of my interview with San Diego art sage Philly Joe Swendoza on last week’s ArtRocks! internet radio show, where we’re talking about marketing art and art events online, and my marketing training for artists here at the San Diego Finishing School.

Listen here now: segment3072209.mp3

San Diego Mural Video Trailer #1

John — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 22:58:16 +0000

So just in time for tonight’s “premiere” of full time lapse film of my architectural mural painting at Orchids and Onions back in San Diego, I finally finished editing up the first of three trailers I’m doing to assemble material for final “director’s cut” that incorporates photographer Mike Brown‘s time-lapse document along with my own pictures and process video.

I’m trying to set up an understandable context for the explosion of imagery that happens in Mike’s eight minute film that covers four weeks of me working large in a temporary commercial studio space in San Diego last September and October. Check it out!

San Diego Cityscape Mural on Vertical Blinds from John Hiemstra on Vimeo.