Carlsbad Art and Culture

What is your background in sculpture/architectural design? Where do you attend school?
I didn’t really have a background in sculpture until this project. I’ve always had sort of an abstract approach to things though. Since I started going to school for architecture at New School of Architecture and Design, I have really let my mind sort of go and engulf myself into whatever project it might be and this one was one of those projects that won’t be finished until I burn it.

What was the influence for this project? If for school, what was the assignment?
This project started as a school project by picking 3 solids and making some sort of sculpture, or as my professor called it- a model. A couple of requirements were that the first sculpture had to be solid white, stand on its own and be able to fit inside a 12” by 12” cube. The materials for the white sculpture could be anything as long as you could paint it white.

How did you initially approach this project?
Since I have a history in construction, I kind of went back to that sort of mind set when you are getting ready to start a new gob for the first day. Until you actually start swinging the hammer or demolishing walls you are kind of lost. Then when once you’ve gotten started, you’re completely committed to the project and that’s all you think about. At least for me that’s how it is. I kind of get in to this selfish leave me alone state of mind. It drives my wife crazy, but luckily she knows that’s how I have to be to create or to do whatever it is I’m involved in at the time. I think that most artists are like this whether they admit it or not.

You began with a small white sculpture, Why did you go so much larger with the wood?
After the white sculpture was done, the project started evolving and it was time to start exploring the idea of making this sculpture a place you could actually walk through. What would be the path you traveled? Where would you go? What would it be used for? The final wood sculpture that I did was not supposed to be as big as it is. In fact, it was only supposed to be 2” more in volume. But since the whole idea was to be able to see the path you would take or where you would go inside the model, I decided to make it larger so that you could really get a sense of being inside the idea I had.

How did you execute the idea of the large wood piece?
Since this sculpture was so much larger than the white one, I knew that getting it to stand on its own was going to be a challenge. So I decide to take some of my orthographic drawings of the white sculpture and blow them up to a 3 foot scale. That made the wood sculpture much easier to construct. Everything on the wood sculpture is nailed or screwed together and I built the whole thing in my shop in my garage. I was actually really surprised how well it stood on its own considering how heavy it is and where all the actual weight is.

Did you accomplish your goal with this project?
When you look at it from the side you think there is no way it is standing alone but it is actually perfectly balanced. I think that is what I’m the most proud of on the sculpture is the defiance of gravity it has but still looks really balanced and that’s what I set out to do.

What are your future plans for this sculpture?
I plan on burning it and taking pictures of it burning, then hopefully making a collage of the pictures or something cool.

Do you have any other projects in the works?
Right now I’m working on a birdhouse for the auction coming up next month at the Buena Vista Audubon Society nature center. I’m also working on school stuff as well as some designs for some patio furniture.

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