My Work Paper
SImply speaking, my work looks like a combination of material consideration, modern iterations of historical motifs, utility, and original inspiration. My objects are made, predominantly, out of wood with occasional use of metal and plastic.
Traditionally speaking my objects are a product of a fluid process. I have an idea in mind when I start, I look at images or have a moment of imagination that is the impetus, then I make sketches. As I work, the limitations of the material, shop, my skills, and the design permeate the process and change slowly occurs. As my skills grow, my objects become more and more accurate as it relates to the technical drawing. The materials I have used in the past have been, almost exclusively, store purchased. I love using American hardwoods such as oak, walnut, maple, cherry, and ash but I have occasioned exotic hardwoods such as purpleheart, rosewood, zebrawood, and amarillo. As i transition into a more mature woodworker I find myself intrigued value in the innate temporality of American hardwoods as they relate to american economic and social development. I am working to build authentic rhetoric that integrates this material history into my objects while also highlighting the temporal aspects of the physical material. Examples of this are utilizing a patinad oak beam surface as a drawer front, or preserving some horizontal sawyering (an out of date practice) marks in the final surfaces so that the history, literally, permeates the finished piece. But, this is only an aspect and I work to make sure that, while I highlight these aspects and they are central, they are not everything. My hands, and contemporary material practices are equally important, and I strive to create balance and communication between these two traits. I feel that the type of shop that I have been exposed to has been both a blessing (mostly) and a curse (less so). The MECA woodshop is incredibly well equipped, full with a CNC, multiple high powered table saws, router tables, industrial scale jointers and planers, a newer model-medium sized timesaver, and incredible dust collection systems, etc… Therefore, the methods I use are very much dependent on this shop, at least in terms of the physical making of the objects. I strive to be aware of both modern and traditional practices, but, I don 't like to focus on either to heavily. I think the onus is on the quality of the object. Not on the romanticization of a hundred different traditional techniques. Internally speaking, my process is very complex and simple simultaneously. Impetus comes from an array of intuitions and inspirations. But, after that moment I usually let the ideas stay as ideas for quite some time. If they remain, then I will either put pen to paper or will begin by designing and problem solving the designs with Rhino CAD software. When I am satisfied with the design and confident that it is physically possible, I make orthographic …show more content…
My past experiences are so varied that even I get lost when considering my own identity, but, as I am thinking about writing a thesis and asking much more pointed questions and demanding concreteness. I have found the answer I keep coming to is, I want to make simple things, things that allow myself a reprieve from the complexities of my inner emotional, intellectual, and relational realities. I like that, as humans, we have been given a remarkably simple set of shapes, or functions that are the foundation for everything we have achieved. And by simple I mean line, square, triangle, and circle. We have parlayed these tiny gifts into complex successes, societies, relationships, and achievements. Behind it all are these simple realities, I like to relate how these work to the simplicities of human interaction both inner and outer. Love, family, friendship, struggle are experiences we can all relate to. I think the objects that reside in the peripheral can heighten or lessen each of these human experiences and I strive to make things that strengthen these bonds each of us live with each day. I want people to love a little more, hate a little more, talk a little more, and be silent a little more. And when I say a little more I mean it in a qualitative sense, not quantitative. The simplicity of my work is for my own well being and making objects that enhance the human experience is something I find to be much more
SImply speaking, my work looks like a combination of material consideration, modern iterations of historical motifs, utility, and original inspiration. My objects are made, predominantly, out of wood with occasional use of metal and plastic.
Traditionally speaking my objects are a product of a fluid process. I have an idea in mind when I start, I look at images or have a moment of imagination that is the impetus, then I make sketches. As I work, the limitations of the material, shop, my skills, and the design permeate the process and change slowly occurs. As my skills grow, my objects become more and more accurate as it relates to the technical drawing. The materials I have used in the past have been, almost exclusively, store purchased. I love using American hardwoods such as oak, walnut, maple, cherry, and ash but I have occasioned exotic hardwoods such as purpleheart, rosewood, zebrawood, and amarillo. As i transition into a more mature woodworker I find myself intrigued value in the innate temporality of American hardwoods as they relate to american economic and social development. I am working to build authentic rhetoric that integrates this material history into my objects while also highlighting the temporal aspects of the physical material. Examples of this are utilizing a patinad oak beam surface as a drawer front, or preserving some horizontal sawyering (an out of date practice) marks in the final surfaces so that the history, literally, permeates the finished piece. But, this is only an aspect and I work to make sure that, while I highlight these aspects and they are central, they are not everything. My hands, and contemporary material practices are equally important, and I strive to create balance and communication between these two traits. I feel that the type of shop that I have been exposed to has been both a blessing (mostly) and a curse (less so). The MECA woodshop is incredibly well equipped, full with a CNC, multiple high powered table saws, router tables, industrial scale jointers and planers, a newer model-medium sized timesaver, and incredible dust collection systems, etc… Therefore, the methods I use are very much dependent on this shop, at least in terms of the physical making of the objects. I strive to be aware of both modern and traditional practices, but, I don 't like to focus on either to heavily. I think the onus is on the quality of the object. Not on the romanticization of a hundred different traditional techniques. Internally speaking, my process is very complex and simple simultaneously. Impetus comes from an array of intuitions and inspirations. But, after that moment I usually let the ideas stay as ideas for quite some time. If they remain, then I will either put pen to paper or will begin by designing and problem solving the designs with Rhino CAD software. When I am satisfied with the design and confident that it is physically possible, I make orthographic …show more content…
My past experiences are so varied that even I get lost when considering my own identity, but, as I am thinking about writing a thesis and asking much more pointed questions and demanding concreteness. I have found the answer I keep coming to is, I want to make simple things, things that allow myself a reprieve from the complexities of my inner emotional, intellectual, and relational realities. I like that, as humans, we have been given a remarkably simple set of shapes, or functions that are the foundation for everything we have achieved. And by simple I mean line, square, triangle, and circle. We have parlayed these tiny gifts into complex successes, societies, relationships, and achievements. Behind it all are these simple realities, I like to relate how these work to the simplicities of human interaction both inner and outer. Love, family, friendship, struggle are experiences we can all relate to. I think the objects that reside in the peripheral can heighten or lessen each of these human experiences and I strive to make things that strengthen these bonds each of us live with each day. I want people to love a little more, hate a little more, talk a little more, and be silent a little more. And when I say a little more I mean it in a qualitative sense, not quantitative. The simplicity of my work is for my own well being and making objects that enhance the human experience is something I find to be much more