My recent work is a continuing investigation of the ways wearable objects interact with the surface of the body. My work is created in the digital environment using Computer Aided Design.  When the creating process is complete within a CAD modeling application the objects are realized tangibly though the use of Rapid Prototyping. Rapid prototyping involves various computer-controlled machines that translate my data into tangible functional objects. The objects are built layer by layer in various plastics and photosensitive resins.

Baseball in Three Parts (2008)

Dead Cardinals for Dad

Because of my father's passion for baseball and more specifically for the St. Louis Cardinals, I grew up thinking that there was one team in all of baseball. Similar to the Harlem Globetrotters, a entertainment/performance based basketball team, I was convinced that the Cardinals were the team and that opponents were dreamt up to challenge them.In my childhood, the Cardinals always won.

When we moved from the mid-west to a suburb of Philadelphia that I learned there were other teams in baseball, like the Philadelphia Phillies. One day when I was about 10 my father came home from work and was speaking with my mother in the kitchen.

He relayed to her that his co-workers had left a dead cardinal on his desk that morning, a symbolic gesture of a significant Cardinals loss to the Phillies the night before. I heard every single word and could not have been more horrified. My father left the story in the kitchen that evening but my imagination took over. Since then when I think of that story I see three or four business suit clad car dealers trying to net a bright red cardinal somewhere in a grassy area bordering the car lot. I have always wondered how they killed the poor bird.

Fielding

I am interested in diverse look and feel of baseball. Not all baseball fields are the same; in fact the only distances that are regulated are those between the bases and from the pitcher's mound to home plate. The distances to the fences are different in each park, as are the shapes that the outfield walls take.

These astonishingly asymmetric borders often reflect much more than a venue to play baseball in. They often define distinct advantages and disadvantages to offense and defense.  There are "hitter friendly parks" where homeruns come often and with great distance. And then there are just the opposite, where "long balls" are rarely seen.

I find it interesting that in a sport where statistics, averages, percentages, and the like are so important that the field of play is not constant. To reflect this contradictory idea I turn to material: mirrored acrylic to show the individuality of the wearer, or player, and wood grain contact paper to speak to the hitter's tool, the baseball bat.

The Fielding bracelets are made possible though the significant research of Andrew Clem and the information he shares on his website: www.andrewclem.com

Mourning

The rivalries that exist between baseball cities and teams is an amazing thing. Ask people to back a political candidate or support low-cost healthcare with such zeal.  It is the suspension of disbelief, baseball, a way of rooting for the little guy and feeling a part of history.

Though with all of its cheering and athletic amazement baseball is no stranger to controversy or illegal behavior. Each baseball generation has its own black mark that reflects many societal issues at large. The shadow hanging over the game now comes in the form of performance enhancing drugs.

Baseball players and drug usage were the main event of a 2005 Congressional inquiry that revealed nothing and everything. George W. Bush spent precious moments of his 2004 state of the union address to speak to drug usage in professional sports. Indictments, tell-all books, and a constant stream of media inform us that players, already talented and well regarded players, are "juicing."

The three bracelets in the Mourning series respond to a spectrum of drug usage in baseball.

Jose Canseco admitted to his usage of performance enhancing drugs, after his retirement, and named numerous other players who he witnessed doing the same. His autograph is accompanied by the ironic nickname "The Chemist" a clear indication of his drug experimentations while playing the game.

Barry Bonds, the current single season homerun record holder, has recently pleaded innocent to the accusations that he lied to a grand jury about using performance enhancing drugs. He faces federal prison if convicted of his 15 felonies. His next court date is scheduled for early 2009.  Bonds is currently unable to secure a Major League contract with any team.

 Roger Clemens is a highly respected pitcher who has been accused of using as well. He is on the end of the spectrum, having been accused of using by his former personal trainer, he denies ever knowingly using. He is now in the beginnings of a FBI investigation for perjury.

The act of dissecting valuable autographed baseballs and repurposing their skins into bracelets containing form language of mourning dress reflects my opinions of the damage these recent activities have done to baseball.

After all, it is only a game.

Layers (2008)

In these exploratory pieces I am supplementing the RP process with processes that are outside of the tool path driven data, hardware, and software. Here this interaction is seen through color, more specifically two or more colors, that are manually introduced to the object as it is building. The striated, almost geological, result is a three-dimensional record of time. While at first glance these color relationships seem decorative or secondary with the assistance of a key the piece becomes a personal narrative and a new way of visualizing the trajectory of decision-making.

Army Green Laundry and Little Reminders, ongoing

In Army Green Laundry and Little Reminders I continue political observations begun with my recent series Army Green Orchids. In these pieces I bring focused attention to major issues surrounding our current political presence abroad. Most Americans are not capable of describing the geographical locations of some of the countries our military currently occupies or the reasons why we are in a war that has raged on longer than World War II, yet we are very quick to talk about these things in friendly conversation.  There are new terms in the chit chat lexicon today and they are thrown around too easily without much consideration as to what they actually mean. In Army Green Laundry I will represent those subjects, airing them out on a clothesline in the sun. Little Reminders serve as just that. They are easily wearable brooches that swing as you move reminding you, and those around you, of small things we can do to change our landscape in positive ways.

Army Green Orchids (2005-2006)

The series Army Green Orchids consists of 18 brooches that redefine the corsage inspired by early botanical illustrations. The series brings awareness to the practices surrounding commercially cultivated flowers and the increasing number of American military casualties in Iraq. Flowers have been worn on garments and in the hair since ancient Greece. Over time they have signified achievement, adornment, class, mourning, celebration, marital status, and wealth. Today corsages are sold for special occasions such as weddings, formal dances, and holidays; wearing flowers has evolved into a business. The preciousness of the corsage as self expression has been watered-down with the onset of overnight delivery. Flowers are ordered, not picked, they are tinted, dipped, glued, sliced, and submerged in a long list of preservatives.   Our society has created the mass produced flower. In parallel, as a nation, we have grown accustomed to the growing casualty count in Iraq. Approximately 3195 American soldiers (and possibly hundreds of thousands local civilians) have been killed as of March 13, 2007. I am unable to reconcile the need for these deaths and find it hard to imagine that each individual has been given the reverence or attention they deserve. To bring attention to the preciousness lost in the overwhelming numbers I turn to color. “Army” green speaks to military activity in general but also to the familiar toy soldier, sold in bags by the millions. In many ways, we have created the mass produced soldier. I will consider this body of work a success if the wearer/viewer considers the idea of preciousness found with the orchid, the soldier, or another facet of society.

The Shorthand Series (2004-2005)

In The Shorthand Series I strive to create a group of objects that supply the beginnings of a narrative, while subtly commenting on how I create my work. Directly inspired by the defunct stenography language of Gregg Shorthand, the brooches are three-dimensional versions of two-dimensional shorthand outlines. In choosing words that evoke the positive and negative emotions of personal relationships, I want the viewer to imagine a time or event in their life when such words were relevant and important. In taking two-dimensional language and giving it three-dimensional form I attempt to capture the movement and energy created in the act of mark-making. By selecting a language which at one time was considered industry standard in its efficiency I seek to compare and contrast to the technology I employ in my work. Creating within three-dimensional virtual space and producing tangible versions of the objects through various rapid prototyping processes challenges the history-laden ideals of craft. The media I choose to work in is seen by many as a shortcut, when in essence it is –like Gregg Shorthand—a language. Through “The Shorthand Series”, which contains twelve brooches I create a metaphor for how a fluency of language, be it written or visual, can allow the writer/artist to create their concepts more fluidly.

adhesive work (2002-2003)

The relationship between my brooches and the body is one of an echo. Through form-language and material choice I reiterate the shape and surface of bone, muscle, and ligament. I wish to communicate a growth or appendage that has developed from beneath the skin. While drawing inspiration from the female body, it is my intention to create hybrid organic forms that resist direct identification. Eliminating the traditional need of clothing as the attaching surface I ask the viewer/wearer to see the brooch in the context of the naked female form. When worn, a dramatic tension is created as brooches are placed intimately on the skin, adhering and adapting to the surfaces of the body. While I have investigated different types of wearable objects, most of my work consists of brooches, pieces of jewelry that are worn on or around the chest. Using a variety of medical adhesives and wound-treatment devices I create brooches that are applied directly to the skin.  The adhesives provide an armature that accepts and supports the objects I create via CAD and Rapid Prototyping. This self-adhering brooch series is built using Fused Deposition Modeling, an additive process that builds ABS plastic layer by layer. This work is a transition from my graduate thesis work.