Jim Drain shares some images with Art in Embassies, of the process up until casting of the new sculpture for the U.S. Embassy in Rabat. The images were taken from his time with RISD students throughout the process.
0:00 The office of art in embassies
0:05 art in embassies +risd presents:
0:07 Using the discoveries and drawings from the Winter session course as inspiration, we translated these ideas into potential visions of the fnished sculpture. We worked freely with color, line, and pattern, staying open to new possibilities.
0:21 With RISD’s extensive library at our disposal, we researched drawings, paintings, sculptures, and architecture that related to our drawings.
0:28 These included works by Picasso, Modigliani, Bill Bollinger, Buckminster Fuller, David Adjaye, Mona Hatoum, Lygia Clark, Martin Boyce, in addition to various paper folding techniques.
4:01 Satisfied with the current model, we began to think about how its form might be translated into other materials.
4:08 We cast plaster and wax in geometric molds as way to demonstrate the type of surface we might achieve in a more permanent materials, bronze, stainless steel and glass.
4:15 WE took these plaster and wax castings to New England sculpture service in boston, a foundry specializing in bronze casting.
4:18 Consulting with them was very helpful in determinging the next phase of the project.
4:24 We built three plywood molds of pyramidal forms, into which we poured a mixture of sand and resin. When the san and resin mixture hardened, it became a solid mold to case bronze in.
5:05 This process allowed us to carve directly into the sand molds giving the casting a hand made quality. We experimented with different methods of carving, including using had tools, drilling passages through the molds, and embedding steel and copper plates, pipes and wire.
6:22 To be continued…
