Bob Burdette and some of his wonderful tools

Bob Burdette outside by the shed



A warning to all that enter



Today I thought I would talk about a Artist that I was lucky to meet last year. This is Bob Burdette and boy does he love tools. Last year I was accepted to a professional development program for artist that was in the spring of 2011. The program was put on by Artist inc. and sponsored by the Kansas Art Commission and the Ford Foundation. Artist Inc. is a very helpful program for artists that helps them market their art and run things like a business would. In the class I met many artists and one of the best was Bob Burdette. Bob is a wonderful artist that works with whatever he's in the mood for which means he works with all kinds of materials and tools everyday. Now there aren't very many Artist's that have more tools then me, but Bob has so many wonderful tools and he really knows how to use them. I have put up just a handful of his tools today and hopefully Bob will start posting on this blog about some more of his tools and what he does with them. I also put up some pics of the Pandas he carves out of wood and when I say wood I actually mean logs. Bob went to the Memphis College Of Art and has shown his work at some wonderful galleries all across the country. Now I am really not a wonderful writer so I am sure I am missing info and not really doing Bob justice. I was lucky to meet him and I'm also lucky to have become friends with him over the last year and if we are lucky he will start write on the blog about his tools. Just over the last few months Bob and I have been doing art fairs together and I think that the booth that we share is a good mix of the both of us and I have really enjoyed working these fairs with him. The fact is nobody knows bobs tools like he does so maybe he will tell us in his own words about them. Below are some pics of his tools and some of the work he has made with them. Bob does work in many different mediums so there is no telling what he will be working on on any given day.   



Holiday Art Bazaar



Woodcraft tools all in their proper place



Back ground for a new piece Bob has been working on.





Rasp that was given to Bob while going to Memphis College of  Art



Panda in panties

Knifes that fit just right

This Axe has probably been owned by more then one dead man. 

Dead Mans Axe

http://bobburdetteart.com

Safety First

 A lot of people forget that you have one set of eyes. I was one of those people until the day I had to have a piece of metal pulled out of my eye. I didn't know that something was in my eye until the I woke up and felt sometnig drag across the under side of my eye lid. I went to a mirror and saw a ring of rust around the metal shard. $700.00 dollars later the Dr. pulled it out and let me tell you I never leave home without my safety glasses now. These goggles I found on a old welding rig in the mountains of New Mexico on my friend Treys ranch. They looked like the hadn't been touched in 40 yrs. he told me to take them so I did. I have a rule if you tell me to take it twice it's gone. but for these he only had to say it once. They are my best cutting goggles. Now I don't wear goggles all the time most of the time I wear a pair of Smith sunglasses. My smiths are put on right after I put my pants on and most days they are the last thing I take off. One of the big things now are Steampunks below are a few shots of my first Steampunk mask I made this year. I made the mask from salvaged leather a old pair of welding goggles and a old respirator from my grandfathers garage the ears were made from the old stage phone the last parts of the mask were the metal plates that I riveted on they were from the food warmers that the theater threw out.  It was for a art show called Behind The Goggles so I made this mask that i call the Crown Punk sense it was made from pieces I salvaged from a theater called The Crown Uptown that was doing a remodel. The last pic was another piece in the show there were quite a few pairs of goggles at the show too.

A true work of art

This is the Brother H.O. Studley tool chest. Three hundred finely placed tools in one chest. Some men have such a passion for there tools its unbelievable what they can do with them. this is the finest chest I have found. Everything has its place and every tool was cherished for the job that it did. There is a lack of passion http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/tool_chest_made_by_studley.htm