studiOmnivorous

Prius Project, Day Three: Production

Day Three of the Prius Project: Production

Today was a heavy production day here at our studio in Casa Corteza, building the basic structure of the sculpture, structurally planning, and creating elements to include as embellishments for the hanging chandelier. ReachNash specified that the chandelier shouldn’t light up: they’re doing exciting things with Global Inheritance so that kinetic energy from visitors generates electricty for the tents, but there’s no need to drain all that dynamically-harvested off-the-grid power to support lightbulbs when there are so many ways to harvest natural light instead! We’ve been investigating ways to playfully incorporate reflective elements and surfaces, but since this adds weight and shape to the existing piece, having a stable sculpture base is more important than ever.

Lindsey‘ll give you more of an idea of how she goes from sculpture conceptualization to the building process on Tuesday, and Stephen‘ll talk more Wednesday about how he addresses structural concerns both in the sculpture framing itself as well as in transportation, but today we’ll give you a brief look at the kind of production work we’ve been doing today.

First order of business is, of course, getting the base of the sculpture started so we can begin visually assessing how elements work/don’t work: the discovery of play.

To save on time, budget, and the usage of resources, Lindsey gave a second life to three bowl-shaped, welded-aluminum frames from a retired art piece. We chose to overlap and bind them together to create stability for hanging as well as a more compact transport footprint.

Hanging the structure in the studio to test weight and begin building in a dynamic environment. (Since it did not fall on me, I feel safe to say we got that right!)

The best way to contemplate the next direction for element production is to put yourself in The Zone.

Stephen has built muscles! And when you're done admiring his cardboard pecs and egg-crate abs, he's also developed the basic templates for the outer ring frames.

Stephen uses waxed thread to sew the egg crate surface onto the cardboard stabilizing frame.

Stephen demonstrates to Corey how the crate frame will attach.

We stop for lunch and pick up some gluten-free pizza from Mellow Mushroom...

...and some more aluminum recycling to rinse, cut, and create the reflective elements in the piece.

Oh! And you can never have too much cardboard...

...which we're using, among other elements, to create the bases of pennant shapes to hang from the piece's peripheral elements....

...such as the upcycled plastic bags we're fingerknitting into vines....

...and the braided vines and edging we're making from reclaimed scraps of fabric.

Corey wraps up with imagry for our stencils for the bins, as well as providing us with important assets such as Flock of Seagulls, Cyndi Lauper, Michael Jackson, and The Police.

The studio is knee-deep in elements, and while our fingers are sore from stitching, pulling, trimming, edging, rinsing, cutting, piecing, and playing, we’re going to bed with a good feeling about the day.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Corey‘s post talking about our painting process!