Todd Slaughter is an internationally known sculptor and Professor of Art at the Ohio State University. He used form•Z to construct Walden Woods, a sculpture currently part of his “American Primitives” exhibition at the Canzani Center in Columbus Ohio that runs through November 8, 2012, a gallery at the Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD) where Todd began teaching sculpture in 1968. |  | |
| Walden Woods is composed of four inter-connected cartoon-like trees of bright, striped fabric. The 9-foot-high artwork—its frame consisting of a plastic used to make bowling balls and baking trays—hangs above the floor. Gallery visitors can marvel at the work from outside, or they can enter the “grove” and experience its underlying structure from within. Spotlights emphasize the colorful and ephemeral nature of the sculpture.1 The underlying lattice structure was created by sectioning the original 3D computer model in form•Z. The lattice is made up of over a thousand notched and labeled separate parts that were laid out on twenty-seven four foot by eight foot phenolic sheets. These shapes were cut out on a Shopbot, and then assembled by hand. form•Z was used to determine the final weight of the structure prior to construction, and to design and construct an “assembly tree”, an intermediate structure that kept the parts in place while they were glued. Todd had been through several previous attempts to create Walden Woods, but its inherent complexity stood in the way of its construction. Eventually, he talked about his concerns with John Alexander, of AutoDesSys. After these initial discussions, they determined the best way to move forward was to useform•Z to make the cut files from the initial model by thickening it, then determining lines of intersection with arbitrarily placed planes. There were thirty-five horizontal planes, and seventy or so radial planes, causing the lattice to converge at the top. Striped fabric was then added to create the outer surface of the sculpture. | ||
 | ||
 | ||
Todd explains the intention behind the work in the exhibition catalog: “Walden Woods points to a romantic perception of nature and the the misuse of Emerson and Thoreau’s ideas of identity as an endorsment of radical, self-centered worldviews. The artwork is intended as the touchstone of this exhibition, pointing up the parallels between American individualism and isolationism. An often-applauded aspect of the American character has been the perceived righteousness of the self-reliant individual roughing it, toughing it, and lone-ing it.” Todd Slaughter’s other notable artworks include a transparent Fiberglas reproduction of Lake Michigan, hanging inside Chicago’s Midway Airport; and La Mano y La Bola, featuring a huge aluminum hand reaching toward a slowly rotating ball on a hill in Spain overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar.1 To find out more about Todd Slaughter and his current exhibition “American Primitives” at the Canzani Center Gallery, click HERE. | ||
 | ||
| 1. Paprocki, Ray, The Columbus Dispatch, “A Look at ‘Alone’”, September 30, 2012. Image of the Artist, Tom Dodge, Dispatch Photos.; All other images courtesy of Todd Slaughter. | ||
Tuesday, 13 November 2012 16:02
Todd Slaughter uses form•Z to construct Walden Woods
- font size decrease font size
increase font size
