Daniel Swain

Daniel Swain

Stegosaurus Plates

2021

7ft x 28ft x 5ft

High-density foam board, steel, mortar cement

 

This piece came from a desire to illustrate visually and physically the sale of the dinosaur Stegosaurus.  It is composed of high-density foam insulation board coated with FlexBond tile cement.  The rig was constructed with a variety of 1/4" and 3/8" steel embedded in the ground. 

While I am happy with how the piece turned out as a whole, there were some pitfalls.  Primarily, I overestimated the strength of the steel I was using, which caused the largest plate to bend the steel while remaining secured on the rig.  The cross-bar support was also on the flimsier size, bowing heavily once the plates were attached.  This, however, added some life to the sculpture which I found interesting.

As such, I plan on revisiting this project in order to perfect upon the design that I have, namely in my methods to secure the plates and usage of stronger steel.

Ulyana Gore

 

Ulyana Gore

Chrysanthemum Birdbath

2021

Ceramic

18”x18”x9.25”

        I enjoy making work that is beautiful but also functional. Over this last year I've really gotten into gardening because I love seeing things grow and the idea of being self sufficient. Gardening brings an abundance of food, but also beauty and peace of mind to my life. I wanted to attract more birds into my garden so I thought making a bath for them would be a good way to do that. I chose to make it out of clay because that is a medium that I really enjoy working with and I wanted to push myself to make something larger scale than I have in the past. The stem at the bottom inserts into part of a flag pole that was taken apart and placed amidst the raspberry bushes.

Grace Schacterle

 

Grace Schacterle

Chronically Ill

2021

Plaster, Chicken wire,  Canvas, Glitter paint

13 x 8 x 5.5 in

Chronically Ill is a piece that exhibits how it feels to have a chronic illness (or several). I suffer from multiple chronic illnesses, and I wanted to create something that makes people like me feel seen, as well as something that helps others to understand our experiences better. I wanted to create a head to show how physical illness can really affect someone mentally. I decided to use canvas and plaster in a style similar to paper mache to represent feeling like you are falling apart from the inside out. And I have the chicken wire showing through in some areas  to show that inside a hard exterior there is a structure that is not as strong. This represents how while chronically ill people may seem strong for all that they go through, that is not necessarily how we feel on the inside. Lastly, I added gold glitter paint as if it were dripping down like pixie dust. I included this because when you are chronically ill, sometimes it feels like the only thing that can help you is pixie dust. 

 

Derek Charleton

Derek Charleton

Damaged House

2021

Steel

32"x16"x35"

The Damaged House concept arose from trying to self reflect on childhood experiences with my family, understanding that I grew up in sort of this broken middle class American house hold. I never grew up too close with either my mother or father, especially after my parent's divorce, toxicity within my family, and I never lived a good family dynamic as I had seen with almost all of my friends. Feeding off that, I decided to consider diving into the concept of representing the destruction, the damage, and disgust of living in a broken American household riddled with toxicity, hatred, and abuse (outside of what my own fa. I wanted to start at the root and base of every family in America, or rather what every good family started off with, which would be the house.

 I started at the house, demonizing it and creating a living force from an inanimate object, and turning it from a comforting object that should seem safe and welcoming into something that was now a disgusting and disturbing creature. It seemingly turned into a balloon, with assorted tentacles and chains hanging from beneath the house from where it originally attached to the ground. The next step would be the representation of the family, where I tried to represent three different figures (number based on my own household): the father, mother, and the child. Each one of the figures are demonize as well representing the lack of innocence and the evil that resides in each one of the family members. Originally each of the figures would be holding and hanging onto the house, almost like an effort to stay attached to a house that has nothing left for it. However, only one of the figures remains holding onto the house, as if there is still something left to hold onto. The other two figures trudge behind, while the house in front of them drifts away like I lost balloon. Drifting and trying to flee away from those who created the mess for the house, and those who are no longer welcomed for it.

Tish Williams

Untitled 

 4x4x4.5 

 Wood, Cotton Fabric, Lights, Tripod, Rope 

This piece is the result of several self imposed rules. 

1. Must be able to collapse 

2. Natural Fiber 

3. Under 4' square 

4. Outside must not give clues to the outside 

Solving these problems and keeping with the rules was not an easy task but there was comfort in the boundaries. To be clever and find loopholes to the rules added thrill and welcomed self reflection. In a word, the piece is about identity. A structure easily collapsed and built again; not easily entered. The process of making this opened a door of new ideas for the future. I would like to work with textile, structure and identity moving forward.

Theresa Keefe

 

Theresa Keefe

The Dancer 

2021

steel and paint

36" x 16" x 16"

This piece was inspired by a video of my friend dancing. The way the pleats of her dress moved around in the wind influenced the way the petal shaped steel plates rotated around the central steel rods. I wanted to create a piece in motion attached to two rods that represent falling pieces of ribbon. The purple paint on the edges of the steel softens the hardness of the material, which adds to the sense of gentleness of dancing. The lighting added to the aspect of a stage because the light reflected off of the sanded steel plates, like the twinkling from a dancer's costume. I encountered many struggles along the way because this was the first piece I made from steel and the first time welding. I realized that every time I was experimenting and making mistakes, it took more time to fix the mistakes than to create them. No matter the struggles I encountered, I enjoyed the process of new materials through a dynamic idea. 

Jeff Kim

 

PANDEMIC

2021

Sand, Metal, Found Material

144 x 84 x 144

The past 20 months have been an eye-opening experience for everyone in the world. In this time, we lost about 4.9 million people worldwide to a virus that we can’t even see with the naked eye. As the virus ravaged our neighbors, friends and families several reoccurring words seems to be expressed throughout the world in the medical community, Isolation, hopelessness, sinking feeling and lifeline. I wanted to reflect those words in my work to honor those who worked exhaustively, knowing they are putting themselves in harms way to save another. People like me take comfort in knowing you are out there. Thank You!   

Audrey Hagstrom

 

Audrey Hagstrom

"Defense of a Precious Resource"

2021

1/4" steel rod, spray paint, mineral spirits, buckets, wood, chains, dead grass and leaves

74" x 68" x 65"

I have always been drawn to the unique and ambiguous forms nature wields out of itself, so the incorporation of the cut down tree log was always going to be a key component of the piece. However, something new that I wanted to explore was working with found objects, like the buckets. The contrast of these clean uniform buckets against an aged and unique piece of tree log brought up ideas of the environment and its current state. Thoughts of the California wild fires and the deforestation of the Amazon currently wreaking havoc on our trees also came to mind. What resulted from those ideas was the concept of defense mechanism. I imagine a sort of fantasy world in which these wood resources are so depleted that they must actively facilitate for themselves the defense they need, and, with the buckets, also use these other earth materials, which have come to pollute the very place from which they originated, to do so. Thus, the concept behind the aged chains and steel rods flowing out of the log and elevating it, as well as the sharpened rods atop, symbolize this resource’s need to actively defend and preserve itself. The welded spheres placed through the sharp rods atop and which hold dead grass and leaves symbolizes the different biomes of the environment and the ravaging of its habitats and resources.

Adam Sexton

 

Adam Sexton

Solution 21A

2021

Found object, vine, audio, pedestal

11' x 5' x 3'

Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to be unaware of the problem in the first place. When you put the solution first you will find the problem has been there all along.