Older Works

Pre-2017

Burl Book

2016

Red Oak burl, latex paint, birch ply, marine foam, galvanized piping, patch kit, hardware

Burl Book is a found Red Oak burl sliced into very thin pages with a Re-Saw to observe or “read” the fluctuating growth rings within the massive burl. Proper display was achieved together with safe containment by molding the burl in marine foam within a travel box that doubles as the fragile item’s pedestal. A patch kit within the box allows for simple repair of the box itself and for any pages that may fall out of the book. Burl Book was made for for no space at the Chicago Artist’s Coalition.

Inherence Applied & Slough

2015 - 2016

Ash wood scarred by emerald ash bore beetles, Ash bark scarred by emerald ash bore beetles, Latex mold, Flexible marine foam, Brittle marine foam, Cadmium powder, Cerulean powder, Porcelain, Tomato plant, Chip board

Inherence Implied and Slough together document a lineage of object studies produced from a single Ash tree off-cut. Each generation’s form is directed by material derived casting potentials applied to the preceding study. As the project continued forms became increasingly abstracted from the source off-cut.

Pictured below:

original ash (Ash off-cut)

study three (marine foam, cadmium powder)

study five (marine foam, cerulean powder)

cast (chip board, marine foam)

study seven (porcelain, water, tomato plant)

slough (Ash bark, latex)

Lineage:

The husk of bark was skinned by the Emerald Ash Borer Beetle from the segment of an Ash tree. Usable wood from this segment was milled while a sliver of wood was unfit. This unfit sliver (listed as “original ash”) was cast in silicone and replicated in marine foam for test two (not pictured, failure), test three, test four (not pictured, failure), and test five. Test three’s draped position was recast in plaster and replicated in porcelain to produce test six (not pictured, failure) and test seven. Test three was painted for test ten, ending the project. The silicone mold that produced tests two through five was draped over the husk of bark to produce Slough and put it to rest.

The Mussel Makes the Shell

2015

Ash burl scarred by emerald ash bore beetles, Trench coat, Mild steel, Foundry wax

The Mussel Makes the Shell is an Ash burl off-cut from a forestry reclaim mill in Indiana that was scanned into CAD software, mapped into layers, cut out of mild steel with a plasma CNC, and plug welded into a replica topography. The Mussel Makes the Shell was produced for for no space at the Chicago Artist’s Coalition in 2016. The coat was hung to counter balance wood while the wax salamander was left to slowly melt as the steel warmed in the sun for the month long duration of for no space.

On Use

2015

latex, acrylic, steam bent oak, found flipper, hardware

Unnamed Object

2015 - 2018

pressure-washer-inflated cold rolled mild steel, found chair, garden hose

Unnamed Object (accordion to whom?) was inflated in the backyard of Chateau Drake in Chicago’s Humbolt Park from flat steel panels welded together at the seem. From 11 am to 4 pm on March 18th 2015 a rented pressure washer expanded the stack until enough leaks developed that the form would no longer expand. The yard was left to freeze while the drained form was strapped to a tow cart and biked to the School of the Art Institute for display. Post display at the School of the Art Institute, the piece was left to rust in the backyard of Fat City in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood. In August of 2018 the piece was stolen from the yard and it’s current whereabouts are unknown.