Husk
Additional Photos & Construction Notes
April, 1999
Husk
is another in the "House" series of sculptures I've been
exploring for over 20 years. The overarching theme of house is represented
again with the basic cube with a pyramid on top.
The piece consists of
hundreds of 3/8 steel reinforcement rods. The rods are arranged in an
X-Y-Z axis grid with the "roof" layers stepped in smaller
concentric squares as they rise upward.
To achieve the effect of
the structure rupturing outward, the terminus of each interior rod was
hand forged to a point and bent outward. There are over 450 hand hammered
pieces of steel in Husk. Each custom made, fitted and welded in place from
the ground up.
This piece posed an
interesting problem in assembly as each weld required space for the
welding nozzle to reach. A careful sequence was worked out to ensure that
nothing had to be cut away to weld other parts. No easy feat!
I would like to say that
I will never do a piece as complex as this again, but experience has
taught me that I really don't have a say as to the complexity of the
pieces that I do: They are as complex as they demand to be. So be it...
