Some Urban Imagery Inspirations

The straight architecture and intense construction attracted us at first,  and we thought the girders would be able to bend and twist in interesting ways if their lines were applied to a flexible surface.

The forms of erector sets proved very valuable because of their simplicity and gentle curves.

These historical drawings inspired ideas for connections between pieces of plastic, and suggested possibilities for represented connections between architectural and organic elements.

One idea we kept returning to was a crumbling city as a place of catharsis.

The farm field trip for Combine Riding

On a very hot day in early June we went to the Dilts' farm to participate in soybean planting. The previous year's harvest was corn. Thousands of seeds were planted per hour, as the tractor drove slow and straight over each row. 

Everything was coated in thick dust from the dry rows. Underneath the dry topsoil the ground was very wet. The heat and humidity rose thickly upwards in waves.

We understood what it meant to be patient as Mr. Dilts carefully drove the tractor back and forth over the long and straight rows.

The ground was littered with last year's corn crop.

Model Making

So many ideas about landscape and culture inspired our work. These images were taken in the first week of our collaboration, when we were hashing out the possibilities for the sculptures and installation in Karen's studio. We spent hours working out some of the forms and drawings for the scale model.

We thought about how the space might function if there were large sculptures placed centrally, and how it might change if the sculptures were scattered throughout. This was a lot of fun and an excellent way to see how our different ideas might work together.

For the maquette we used a variety of found materials including cardboard, paper, screen, thread, and glue. We also included drawings and collaged images on the walls to suggest how a large wall drawing might work with the sculptural forms.

The model is approximately 2' x 2' wide and long.