Solid State Change

This project for Middlebury College started looking like a sculpture for the first time today... so I went ahead and took pictures. This is the beginning of the process. All that expanded metal is going to be cement. And probably three-dimensional and not so much like a plank (although I am digging the way it is lifting off the ground right now...). And it's going to be much taller--right now it's only about three feet off the ground. Eventually it's going to be about 9 feet tall...

...I think.





One of the funniest things about this project is the fact that it's a process piece that I made a model and concept drawings for. The difference between the drawings and the thing itself will be very interesting to watch unfold.

The Strategy:

1. Let the tires and whatnot accumulate and deform the expanded metal shape
2. See what shapes result and "lock in" those shapes with a bunch of armature steel.
3. Build a fake curved wall and figure out the best possible relationship between the sculpture and the wall
4. "Lock in" that relationship with more steel.
5. Add cement, cut and cover naked screwheads, and generally finesse it into something that someone would want to keep around for twenty years.



The proposal and concept drawings for Solid State Change can be found here.