©2011
Triune Progress - Week One
Welcome to all interested in following the progress of the making of this sculpture, tentatively titled Triune.
My intention is to document the making of Triune in a way that you will find informative to my process, and to give a window into the world of a working artist.
I don't pretend to represent a definitive way of making sculpture, only my way of making this one.
Last fall, I was contacted by Ed Tranin, an architect in Kansas City, Missouri, the opening conversation in a process that led to the commissioning of this piece for the University of Kansas hospital. Ultimately I built the maquette, or model, shown on the preceding page. Now my task is to translate that maquette into a full scale sculpture to fit the setting the builders in Kansas are working to finish this summer. Above you see the literal first cut into the steel, and below the site as I last saw the construction progress.
My job is to create a sculpture that will situate into this space.
So let the adventure begin.
I've got the first leg of the base shaped and already I've found the first of the refinements I will want to make to my original design. In the effort to find that elegant curve, and subvert the strict geometry of the recycled structural steel that I'm using to fashion the sculpture's base, I'm going to cut a shallow curve along the soapstone line you can see sketched onto the steel to my right and then flip the cut out to create a subtly more interesting shape. This will be the first of many decisions that will occur during the making of this sculpture.
Okay, one leg roughed out, two more to go. Then a base to create that will hold it all together, and then the kinetic dance begins. Although I've labeled this page week one, you're actually seeing only the first two days of fabrication. I will update once a week, and hope both those who have taken an interest in my work in the past, and those eagerly anticipating this piece's installation out in Kansas will take some pleasure in seeing Triune take shape. Making sculpture is how I go on a grand adventure, and I'm going to do my best to share the highlights. The deck is cleared; let the voyage begin.