The final piece of my Sculpture in the Public Eye course, as mentioned in my proposal post, Sonus-Ventus (Wind-Sound), has finally come to its current fruition. Taking on the project, I had a strong idea in my mind and a wish to see it through, but certainly did not anticipate the work associated with such an undertaking. Before this project, I had yet to work on something so substantial on my own, and I feel it really showed in the work, as well as its process.
The piece began as seven 20 foot long pieces of angle iron, which I cut to rough sizes, re-measured and cut, and then began forming into the final frames. The rigidity of the metal, as well as my vision for it clashed back and fourth throughout the beginning of the work. After cutting and placing the metal, I began welding pieces together that would become the bases, I then decided to use bolts to secure its vertical arms so that I could transport it myself, relying less on the availability of a trailer. After several long days cutting, grinding, welding, drilling and bolting, the pieces were ready to be placed and then covered, per my original plan.
Once the pieces were erected, I began wrapping them with sheets of insulation plastic, using Gorilla Tape to attempt to secure it to the frames. As well as everything held up while putting the plastic on, it was not to last. As I was finishing the first piece with its wrapping, and cleaning up the area I was working in, the wind came in with huge gusts, ripped the plastic at the front edges of the frame, and tipped over my piece. It was a major feeling of defeat after the amount of time I spent just wrapping the silly thing.
The aftermath of my plastic attempt lead me to discuss with the class about more substantive materials and securing methods. Gunning for resilience, I chose to use tarps secured by zip ties for my next iteration. For the sake of frugality and the safety of Sonus-Ventus, I also chose not to wrap the entire frame, hopefully creating less pressure within the piece, and less potential for ripping, while still achieving its goal of making a noise generated by sound.
While it is not exactly the manifestation of the sound that I had hoped to create in the beginning of the project, I learned a lot about large sculpture creation, materials, and seeing a piece through. All in all, the piece put me in my place, and I feel that I appreciate it all the more for it.