Two cubes I welded this summer when I decided it was time to teach my mom how to weld.
The cubes were chosen to be displayed in the Hospital for Special Surgery Employee Art Show 2017.
In Spring 2016, I was taking a Film Theory course in the VES department, a requirement for my secondary field. This was my first semester in a year and a half not taking a sculpture course!
While I wasn't creating any new sculptures, I was experimenting with a piece I made in the fall. My sculpture was exhibited in the Harvard Student Art Show as well as the Arts First Festival 2016. In these two different settings, I explored how my sculpture could change depending on the location and the space around it.
In the Student Art Show, I encouraged people to take it apart and remake it. Each time a group of students rebuilt the sculpture, it took on a different form.
In the Arts First Festival, the sculpture was displayed in Lowell House Courtyard. I used this space to play with the design, and instead of grouping all eight disks together, I had them in different arrangements that grew the sculpture in size.
This was a really exciting opportunity for me to play with my work outside of the constraints of the classroom.
In Fall 2015, I took a VES class entitled "Directed Research" with Professor Stephen Prina.
The course description is as follows:
"This course is intended for students who have developed the beginnings of a practice they are prepared to pursue. The motive is to assemble a group of disparate artists who come together to exchange thoughts across disciplines: painting next to photography next to writing next to filmmaking, and so on"
In this course, I focused on two longer-term projects. I wanted to experiment with welding, and push the limits of steel sculptures. Does a steel sculpture have to be fixed? How can I create motion through this material? Can I create something that is flexible?
For my first project, I created a set of eight different "bursts" that can be displayed in various ways. They can all be hung up on a wall. They can stack up on top of each other on the ground. Or they can be interlocked in infinite ways, creating a constantly shifting shape that will change each time someone rebuilds it. This piece has been very exciting to play with, to disrupt, and to change.
For my second project, I continued with the theme of movement, but I explored it in a different way. The movement of this piece is symbolic. As I was talking this course, I was also taking Organic Chemistry, and many of the molecular forms I learned about influenced how I began to think about the fluidity of materials. This piece is a molecular model of cyclohexane. I was interested in the way that cyclohexane can invert itself. Although I did not literally make a piece that could invert, one can imagine this change through this piece.
I created this sculpture for the Harvard Arts First Festival. The description of the festival is as follows:
"ARTS FIRST is Harvard's annual showcase of student and faculty creativity. Produced by the Office for the Arts, with support from the Board of Overseers of Harvard College, the festival is a public event with many free performances and activities for Harvard and community members of all ages."
I submitted a project proposal for this project in December 2014, and learned that I had won the competition to create a public artwork that would be displayed in Harvard Yard in January. This was an incredibly exciting opportunity for me. It was the first time I had my work showcased in public. I worked on this sculpture concurrently with my other projects for the course I was taking at the time. I entitled it "Spring Relief." The name serves two purposes, one being that it is a figure relief, and the other being a sentiment about winter ending!
The sculpture was displayed in the Yard for about a week, during which time many visitors and students were able to interact with it. What I did not expect is the amount of people that went up to it to pose and take pictures with it. This is part of what drew me to the idea of creating sculptures that actively invited viewer interaction, which is something I worked on in my next large project.
In Spring 2015, I took a VES course entitled "Prismatic Sculpture" with Professor Halsey Rodman.
The course description is as follows:
"An introductory course focused on color as a primary attribute of sculptural form. In parallel to working with a variety of sculptural materials and processes, we will consider the definitions and limits of chromatic experience ranging from virtual to ambient to autonomous. Particular emphasis will be placed on the development of sculpture "in-the-round". The course will include readings, slide lectures, and screenings in addition to technical demonstrations and workshops."
The cardboard clock was our first quickfire assignment. The goal was to make a sculpture using only cardboard and glue.
The first metal sculpture was our second project. In this sculpture, I experimented with different methods of securing metals together. This is made of aluminum, which could not be welded using the MIG welder. Instead, I learned to rivet sheets of metal together.
The next piece was an experiment in creating a plaster mold. I used a wooden mallet for my mold. This was a challenge!
This large pyramid was my foray into larger scale metal sculptures. The assignment was to create a sculpture that had three distinct viewpoints. At this point, I was more experienced with the MIG welder and so I embarked on a bigger project. My size constraint for this piece was the width of the door to the welding room.
This final piece was not for my class. This is a sculpture that was featured in the 2015 Arts First Festival. I applied for a grant and won a competition at Harvard to be featured in the Yard. It was a hugely rewarding experience for me. My inspiration for this project was a much smaller sculpture that I created in Fall 2014. For this piece, I again tried to create a sense of movement, joy, and whimsy. The juxtaposition of the stances of the figures with the materials with which they are built is something I was very interested in.
I made these sculptures in a VES class called "Lost and Found" with Professor Virginia Overton.
The course description is as follows:
"An introductory sculpture course, Lost and Found will focus on sculptures made with found materials. Additionally, students will learn techniques related to the use of wood, plaster, and other "new" materials. In addition to studio work, the class will incorporate discussions about work and readings, watch films, listen to music, and explore other forms of expression to aid in- and out-of-the classroom art making."
The wood is a piece of an Elm tree in Lowell House Courtyard that was chopped down after it was discovered to be suffering from Dutch Elm Disease. I salvaged this slice and smoothed its surface in the wood shop.
The cube is made from aluminum tubing, plastic joints, and a tree branch.
The pumpkin is from the farmers market. For this assignment, we were each given $10 and sent off into Harvard Square. It was a Tuesday, when the Harvard Science Center Farmers Market was open. We purchased pumpkins and then applied various tools to them.
The plaster garden was my next project. I used various fruit and vegetable shaped platters, purchased at a thrift shop, as molds for plaster. I then welded stands for each of these molds, at different lengths and balanced the fruits and vegetables on top of the stands. This was my first time using a MIG welder.
My final project in Lost and Found was a figure relief using steel rods. In this project, I continued to use the MIG welder. My goal was to create a sense of movement and whimsy using a tough, dense material. This sculpture served as my inspiration for a larger piece I completed a few months later.
In this class, we were encouraged to only use found materials.
I made these works while in a VES class called "Loitering" with Professor Stephen Prina.
The course description is as follows:
"You will hang out in the vicinity of culture and make things in response to it. This class is not thematic or linked to any particular discipline."
In this class, I learned to weld. I used a spot welder and melted old silver cutlery, utensils, and bronze into new forms. I made small sculptural pieces that can be worn as jewelry on a chain.
