All the three elements have been produced. cnc, mill and fdm. Now each element will need to be refined as the final sculpture is completed. More posts coming as the work progresses.

This was a quick concept sketch that I developed for a sculptural idea almost three years ago. In the proposal i stated that “The “Black Man Grove” series adopts the mangrove tree as a symbol of the African Diaspora. Nature has provided the mangrove with many adaptations that has allowed them to thrive in challenging ecological environments. The form of the work incorporates the tap root system and pneumatophores of the mangrove tree with anthropomorphic abstractions of the human form that resemble and allude to African Nkonde and Nkisi invocation figures. The resulting objects combine to create a testament to the resilience of nature and the human spirit.”

This sketch will serve as the starting point for my work this summer and my explorations of both two dimensional and three dimensional digital fabrication processes.

It’s really nice when things come together. I had fun putting this piece together. I challenged myself to build it without looking at the computer model. It certainly went together better than the first model in tag board. This paper stock has a lot more structural integrity and I will be using it to construct more paper models this summer.

I am awaiting some brush-on epoxies from polygem that I will be using to further stiffen the model in order to make it more permanent. There is a clear epoxy that goes on very thin that will stiffen the paper and another product that can be used to build up a 1/8-1/4″ shell. For this model I will be using the clear to coat this model.

Joe Siepel, a fellow sculptor stopped by to talk with me the other day and began to admire the piece. He told me that he loved the numbers on the piece that are used for registration. I told him that I liked them too and that I really love the way they become more dense in the areas of high detail in the model. He made me promise not to cover them up. This study is more about the digital fabrication process and will reflect the hand of the artist and the tools that were used to create it. The numbers stay.

This work embodies the sculptural attitude that when you complete a digital fabrication process you are only at the 40% stage of the sculptural development.

When I created the original Pepakura Study I used manilla tag board. I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of structural integrity in the material. When I stuffed the piece in my car the paper lost alot of its structure and began to buckle. At one point I thought about cutting the work apart to cannibalize the parts. (I’ve been known to so that) the piece sat in my garage for a couple weeks until the end of the quarter.

In one of those what the heck moments I took it to the studio and decided to see if I could cover the paper in plaster to see how it would hold up. To my surprise it worked very well. As the legs were completed the head began to regain some of its integrity. I decided to cover the head with rigid rap in order to maintain some of the details of the underlying form. Suffice it to say I am very happy with the results.

I am currently covering the plaster with sculpting epoxy bringing to life the black mangrove tree form. The shift in scale imbue the work with more power and sculptural presence. As I was working I realized that I will be able to bring to life an earlier computer model that I created around the idea of BlackManGrove Pneumatophores.

I will be posting the progress of this work and It will be one of the themes that I will be exploring during this summer.

This model is an abstraction of a mask form. It is an extension of my continuing explorations of polygonal modeling techniques in maya. This geometry began as a cube primitive that was articulated using surface extrusions and polygonal bridges. FFD and Twist deformations were used to further transform the form that was then subdivided to add more detail.

I created this form as a part of a video demonstrating the cut my ribs script by un didi. http://dimitrie.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/bridge-to-materiality.

Andrew F. Scott | Gavel: Ohio Supreme Court, originally uploaded by afsart.

At my opening “Invocations of Power” at the KIACA gallery in columbus ohio. Ruth Newcomer of the Ohio Supreme Court reminded me that I should go down to the court and shoot some snow pictures of the Gavel. This had to be the coldest photo shoot I’ve ever done. Pardon me if the photos are a little blurry. I was freezing my @$% off. She also let me know that the work is very popular with everyone in the Supreme Court Building and that it is has also become the place to take that iconic Ohio Judicial Center Photo. Sometimes you get it right.

I have to thank my former studio mate david bamber for helping me install my multi-panel laser engravings in the Kiaca Gallery in Columbus, Ohio. I look forward to installing the rest of the show and the opening on Thursday Jan 7, from 6:00 – 9:00.

afsart: digital relief prints, originally uploaded by afsart.

This posting is dedicated to my high school art teacher Bernard Rattiner who introduced me to the joy of printmaking and made it my first artistic love.

Over the winter break I have been exploring relief printing using laser engraved plates. Through a series of experiments I have come up with some techniques and applications that are beginning to yield some very good results.

While the texture of the wooden plates yield some very nice effects I have a little more work to do on both the pressure and the inking in order to get the quality that I want.

When preparing the wooden plates there is a lot of work that needed to get the laser setting right in order to avoid burning your plate when you have very dense lines. After some trial and effort or I should say charr and error, I have got those settings dialed in. These settings will come in handy when I am creating wood burnings as an end unto themselves.

Acrylic plates seem to be the way to go to get rich color and excellent line quality. Additionally there is the added benefit of being able to use the same plates for Intaglio processes. My colleague Prof. Steven Ramsey has turned me onto a real cool application for combining both of these processes on the same plate.

I am currently working on a new series of plates. Once I have them printed I will devote a posting that deals more specifically with the content of the work and the digital processes that I use to create them.

A collaborative Sculpture by John Adams (Industrial Design) an Ricki Dwyer (Fibers). This work combines digital fabrication and basket weaving techniques.These photos depict the work in progress which will be complete for finals in two days. This is an excellent example of both the collaborative and high-tech high touch ethos of the sculpture minor program.