Iron Age Wonder Valley / WYSIWYG, SVA Sculpture Center

Iron Age Wonder Valley / WYSIWYG is a projection installation exhibited as a closing to the SVA Sculpture and Digital Media Residency program in which I participated.

The installation features two resin castings of natural stone surface found near an abandoned iron quarry in Wonder Valley CA. The video projection displays a real-time manipulation of photography and video which documents the mining site and related sites I have visited. The video also included generative animation derived from 3D scans of the site which are projection mapped to the surface of the sculpture.

Wonder Valley WYSIWYG, (Plaster, Resin, Video Projection, Custom Software)
Wonder Valley WYSIWYG, (Plaster, Resin, Video Projection, Custom Software)

Gale Crater with Copper Mine

Gale Crater with Copper Mine is a speculative 3D model which sites Bingham Copper Mine on the surface of Mars. The famed Utah strip mine is the largest human excavation in the world and the site of one of Robert Smithson’s proposed land interventions. The Martian site, Gale Crater, is currently being explored by the NASA Curiosity Rover. The model is exhibited in renderings, 3D printed studies, as well as a real time 3D simulation. The work urges us to consider the ramifications of anthropogenic change and radical land alterations beyond Earth.

Gale Crater with Copper Mine, digital rendering
Gale Crater with Bingham Copper Mine, Shadow Computations, (Rack Mount PC, Military Flight Case, Video Projection, Custom Software). Installation view from the SVA Sculpture Center lobby.
Gale Crater with Bingham Copper Mine, Study #1, 3D Powder Print, Plaster
Gale Crater with Bingham Copper Mine, Study #2, 3D Powder Print, Plaster

Models and Studies

Presented on a long plinth are a collection of artifacts which show process and inspiration. Included are casting studies in plaster and resin, 3D printing tests, and natural stones that I have used for reference.

Cast plaster and aqua resin studies, samples of alabaster, salt sample from Salt Lake UT, 3D printing studies in PLA with copper filament. (Installation view from the SVA Sculpture Center lobby. )
Carved alabaster, cast resin with sand and pigment, salt sample from Salt Lake UT, 3D printing studies in PLA with copper filament, chalk and silicate samples from Farhult, Sweden.
Cast resin studies, 3D printed studies, geode samples, plaster miniature landscapes, unopened geode samples form Quartzite AZ, chiseled alabaster, low grade e-waste gold. (Installation view from the SVA Sculpture Center lobby.)