Follow the drinking gourd

Last quarter my Sculpture class helped Professor Andrew F. Scott assemble his commission installation piece for the Jepson Center, Telfair Museum, particularly for the Pulse Festival. Which is a festival that focuses on art created with technology. 
He designs his work digitally on a 3D modeling program such as rhino or Maya then uses a laser cutter to cut the pieces out of cardboard, it is just a big puzzle from there. Just a little super glue and man power and bam, there you go. Prof. Scott is awesome. More pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/afsart/sets/72157629456690321/with/6932784959/

This digitally-produced sculpture makes reference to the American folk song “Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd.” Legend has it the song may have been used by conductors of the Underground Railroad to guide runaway slaves to freedom in the North. Scott’s work is composed of two elements suspended from the ceiling in the Jepson Center atrium. A large gourd form represents Ursula Major, the Big Dipper. The dipper points to the North Star, Polaris, shown as part of a series of globe forms representing the Little Dipper.

This set documents the assembly of the Gourd Sculpture at the Jepson Center on February 20, 2012. The Gourd sculpture was transported to the Jepson Center in five parts. The components were then assembled by students collaborators:

Kieara Crisp
Dennis Curry
Ty Derousseau
Leslie Laburda
Brandon Luepkes
Emily Nelms (photographer)
Samantha Woolhiser
Daniella Zeman
James Scott (photographer)

Memja

Hey guys,
Logo design for Memeja.com, a meme creation site. Still in beta mode but there you go.

Bronze in Atlanta

Here are some photos from the bronze workshop in Atlanta. I didn't get to cast anything but it was an awesome process to learn about!

Larger than Life

Here is my strawberry sculpture in progress!
Medium: Pink foam, epoxy, acrylic paint

This piece speaks about the personal interpretation and abstract definition of perfection. Each slice can be interpreted in many ways when seen alone, they look like land masses, slabs of meat or can clearly be seen as a slices of strawberries. Society has its own view of perfection and force the overall public to believe in this ideal. Humanity has this obsession with bringing perfection to everything in which we interact down to the last detail of how a box of strawberries is organized. The ones that are the closest to society's idea of what a strawberry should look like are on top and underneath are the strawberries that have natural deformations and "flaws." However I am trying to redefine the general definition of perfection by showing the beauty in what was seen as flaws, there is beauty in the unique and natural characteristics of the individual. 

Birdies Can Fly

Here are my final projects for sculpture:

Chocolate birds and Catherine Murphy

Bird Sculpture in progress: 

(final photos coming soon!)

Chocolate casts in fridge. :D

Plaster casts

In progress life painting inspired by Catherine Murphy's work:

30x40 inches

Catherine Murphy has an interesting approach to figures, it is far different from her still lives. There is still a sense of naturalness of the scene as if you walked into a room and that is how it was meant to be. Her compositions are natural and abnormal at the same time, it has a sense of daily expected events and every day objects but the way she presents these objects makes you look twice and harder the second time to appreciate the extreme detail in her paint application as well as the overall atmosphere of the painting which creates an environment.

 

30x40 inches, Oil

Hair clippings.

2 week Still life inspired by Catherine Murphy's work

On display.