As I start a new semester at OU, I have been pushing my boundaries in my exploration of Sculpture, installations, and how to bring together my artistic technology knowledge and my love of sculpture. In pursuit of this, I have applied to two cities for a public art display. One in Springfield, MO, who will have an answer on February 5th. The other city is Olathe, KS, which will have an answer by March 6th. As I prepare my proposal from ideas to a physical piece, I have practiced with smaller versions of the final piece. As I make these other versions, I also prepare the machine. I will use the CNC Plasma to cut all my pieces out of sheet metal to exact measurements. I have to create it digitally and then pull it into a program that makes the code for this machine to understand what I need to cut. This is a large part of the technical side of my creation. I am preparing this machine by cleaning all 36 slats holding up the metal the laser cuts. The last part of my preparation is making one more test by cutting my handpicks to help me figure out the exact depth I want to insert the rebar into with the plasma tool my disc shapes.
Throughout this exploration, I also look into other sculptures or multi-disciplinary artists. So far, I am researching Barbara Hepworth, Alicia Dietz, Shannon Finnigan, and Sarah Sze. Some of what these artists create is a form of activism. For example, Shannon Finnigan is disabled. She creates pieces to bring attention that create a connection between disabled people and how accommodations, at times, get ignored. Her installations call attention to this. Another I am excited to dive further into is Alicia Dietz; She was a helicopter pilot. A quote from Alicia Dietz that speaks to me is, "As a woman, a soldier, and a dreamer, I have many experiences to draw from, and I use those experiences to fuel my pieces." This is precisely how I feel as a sculpture artist.
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