Dave Poole Project Overview Page - October 2008
I’m currently trying to explore as many ideas as possible as regards making 3d sculptural and installation pieces.
CLAY
For some reason, I woke up one day last week and said to myself, “I need to try some traditional clay sculpting”. I never had this proclivity before but went with it nonetheless and ended up making a couple of quick test pieces. I think it’s a good way to understand form better, and it certainly was an introduction to the materials and trying to work with my hands instead of a computer mouse.
Here are some awful photos of my first sculpture attempts with clay
This first piece had me at the mercy of the medium. I didn’t have a specific test in mind, and when I found out how hard and unmalleable this clay was (a non-drying oild based clay) it was all I could do to try and build on the form of the basic cube shape of the clay. (fine with me, as I like the notion of mixing organic and mechanical or cubic forms) Anyway, I ended up making a face that is basically wrapping itself around the cube.
This piece used a different clay that harden when it dries, but it’s initially far more malleable and easier to work with. Again, with no particular project in mind, but rather just a test of the media, I ended up slapping a big glob of the stuff on a board and it had a protruding smaller glob, so I let that basic shape give me the cues to try and make this form, which doesn’t seem too bad as an initial test.
I could see using clay on armatures as part of my work and have a few more experiments in mind as I go forward, so there may be a place in my work for this kind of media.
I’m hoping to meet with a clay person this weekend, and will try to fill in the gaps on how I might use this for parts of my work. (i.e. – firing, painting, etc…)
Machining or milling 3d CAD files
Unfortunately, this is still a pretty vague industry, unless you have $50,000 to spend on a custom shop. While there seem to be lots of solutions for milling 3d cad files to fairly large forms, I’m having trouble getting any straight answers about this stuff, as it’s still a pretty young field. Depending on who I find to work with it may involve milling my files to foam and then making a mold, and then making a plastic or fiberglass cast of the mold, but there may be ways to shorten the steps, which I’m still researching.
Here's one of the new robotic arms from Kuka that can machine a large form from a 3d cad file, and it can mill just about any material, so it's one of my better options that i'm pursuing.
There is also the notion of painting these forms, which is not something I’d be good at, so I’m trying to find artists I could potentially hire… model painters? Still need to research this.
Armatures, doll parts, etc…
I think there might be ways to make small figures as part of installations, and since character and narrative is part of my work I think the best way to represent human figures is through armatures, doll parts and possibly some custom computer milled parts. I’ve been ordering small chairs, doll parts, etc… and will try to build a couple of workable figures to include in one or two of my project ideas.
Link to my mockups of installation/sculpture pieces
Thesis considerations
As I should be putting together a thesis outline right about NOW I’ve been looking at the arc of my work over the last year, the readings I’ve done, papers I’ve written and collecting work by artists I like.
I’ve made a map of all the areas that I think might contribute to a thesis outline and abstract, but need to narrow it down to a focused and tangible thesis topic to explore.
If you haven’t already done so, please take a look at this map of things I’m trying to consider and let me know if there are any research or writing tangents that it might suggest.
Pursuant to writing a thesis outline and abstract is the notion of artist influences that I might be referencing, so I've put together a page of current artist influences.
