Problems

Using wood and metal we were asked to solve a problem, either real or imagined.  I solved four with this sculpture.  I was out of money, feeling like I didn’t get enough wood shop, and uninterested in welding.  To solve the money problem I acquired almost all of my materials from the scrap bin at school.  To fill in some gaps in my educational experience I decided to try my hand at dove-tailing and laminate joinery.  To express my disdain for welding I decided to embrace the sputter and ploppiness of my welds and turn them into birds.  For my fourth “problem” I decided to give the birds on the bottom wire a welcome shelter from the poop of the birds above.

I had a lot of fun doing this sculpture.

Cage

In metal shop our assignment was to build a cage.  This was my first time welding so for some reason I decided to build a 36 inch cube.  Let’s just say I spent a lot of time grinding bad welds.

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Cage, 2015, Steel Aluminum Paint, 36 x 36 x 36

Blown Sketches

After a super frustrating time welding on my first project I decided to try and a have a little fun with the next one.  The assignment was to achieve a sense of actual balance or implied balance.  I spent so long welding and polishing the 25 pound base that I didn’t get to spend as much time making the paper look as papery as I wanted to, but the results are descent.  Credit to my son for the awesome sketches.

This process included welding, sandblasting, heat bending, and image transfer.

Sculpting with Shadow

With the shadow sculpture I wanted to play around with the limits of getting something as small as possible to be as big as possible, which lead me to thoughts of how we often make our problems seem a lot bigger than they really are.  If I had a bigger wall, a bigger distance, and a brighter light I think the ratio of smallest to biggest would have been even more exciting.