Georgetown Sculpture Tour 2022-2023

While I welcome private commissions, public art enhances quality of life in a community and reaches a larger audience.
   
‘Interconnected’ has been accepted in the Georgetown Sculpture Tour 2022-2023 which features public art installed throughout the Cultural District in Georgetown, TX.  
   
For about a year, beginning October 2022, ‘Interconnected’ can be viewed at 606 S. Church Street, about a block from the courthouse on the Square.

I welcome this opportunity to share my outdoor sculpture with the Georgetown, TX, community and its visitors!   ​

‘Unleashed’ represents an elemental force which has burst free from its constriction.  The energy unleashed is on the move.

This sculpture utilizes a critical, 5-degree mortise tenon joint that provides stability when assembled, yet allows the sculpture to disassemble easily for transport.

'Unleashed' was created by The A-B-C  Collaborative (Armstrong-Bastas-Crouchet), and getting this creative team together was handy since we all reside in the Austin, TX, area.

William Bastas was particularly instrumental in the joint’s design and execution.  Bastas devised an approach for the joint design which allowed Laura’s sculptural vision to come to fruition.  Additionally, Bastas’s ability to have just the right stock on hand for a project is uncanny…

John Crouchet’s willingness to lend his time and shop for the creation of the joint is only yet another generosity of spirit from that seemingly endless well.   

I cherish the time spent with my blacksmith friends and hope to continue finding reasons to work together.

‘Unleashed’ is made from 5/8” square steel bar and measures 49” tall x 34” wide x 24” deep when assembled and weighs 23 pounds. When disassembled, the sculpture's seven pieces fit handily in a case for transport.  ​

‘Interwoven’ is sited amongst prickly pear cactus, granite boulders festooned with lichen, and Texas persimmon trees.  Seasonal elements include wildflowers, native grasses, and a meandering waterway which fills when the spring rains come to Central Texas and runs dry when the rains cease.

A small clearing between prickly pear and boulders was handpicked as a sculpture site.  ‘Interwoven’ was designed for this specific site for a Hill Country private collector.

Perhaps the copper-brazed pod is ripe, ready to burst forth with seeds to scatter in the wind — or has it withered with nothing more to offer while remaining resolutely in place?  The larger pod appears to have already bloomed, revealing lacy skeletal ribbing as its final legacy.

‘Interwoven’ is a nod to the interconnectedness and cycle of life in the natural world.

The sculpture was designed to complement its surroundings and not necessarily be the primary focus; rather, the sculpture blends into its picturesque environs which change with the Texas seasons.  To that end, ‘Interwoven’ is an acknowledgement of working with natural patterns and rhythms and not overpowering them.

I wish to thank my SCR benefactors!  'Interwoven’ was made possible by an SCR Grant in support of my Hill Country Artist-in-Residence program.

This kinetic sculpture measures 60" tall x 42" wide x 3” deep. Steel of various dimensions; steel sheet with copper brazing; brass rivets; stainless steel, copper-coated, and brass welding rods.  

Other site-specific sculptures to date created by Laura Armstrong Studio include ‘Walking Stick,’ ‘Sinuosa,’ and ‘Swivel-Stack Totem’ in Colorado, Argentina, and Texas, respectively.    
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Intended as accessible public sculpture, Swivel-Stack Totem is located on private property within an arm's reach of the street, allowing visual and tactile access to passersby. 

This steel-and-plexiglass sculpture was designed specifically for its current outdoor environs using recycled and common materials such as drill pipe, steel strap, and common hardware.    

A central pole is the vertical axis onto which the modular elements can be sleeved and arranged in any position around the pole.

The inner and outer frames were bent by hand into a variety of sizes using an adjustable jig to achieve the desired shapes.

Colored plexiglass ‘canvases' serve as pops of color in the inner frames.  

The modularity of this sculpture allows for interchangeable canvases.  The color schemes of the plexiglass can be played around with.  Or, the canvases can be changed to a completely different medium:  think fiber weavings, stained glass, or perhaps a mosaic of hummingbird tongues and bat wings… 

Swivel-Stack Totem is nestled between two Pride of Barbados plantings and is intended to complement their showy orange blooms.     

This outdoor sculpture is a nod to the concept of public art on private land.  And unlike a city-sanctioned public art project, the permitting and installation of this sculpture was a breeze!

Swivel-Stack Totem measures 8 ft. tall x 3 ft. maximum width.  Drill pipe, 1” x 3/16” steel strap, socket head cap screws, socket set screws, and plexiglass. ​

There are challenges and opportunities throughout one’s life.  Let us rise to them...

I was commissioned by a thoughtful parent to create a desktop sculpture for her 12-year-old son whose beloved pet had recently died.  
 
The sentiment I wished to convey via this sculpture is that we can and do emerge anew as we continue on life’s journey.  Death, transformation, and rebirth are a natural and normal part of life.   

This sculpture is not intended for him only as a young person — I hope 'Phoenix (Rising)' holds a message which proves valuable to him from this day forward.   

I began this project by making sketches which evoked the emotional tenor I wanted to convey.  From a sketch, I made a clay form to determine the elements’ shapes and sizes.  With a clay model at hand, I was now ready to fire up the forge and light my oxy-fuel torch...  
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'Phoenix (Rising)' was created from mild steel using forged and tack-and-bend techniques and measures 5.5” tall x 4.75” wide x 2.5” deep.

The inspiration…
Sinuosa was inspired by flowing rock formations in Salta, a northwest province in Argentina which I visited in 2018.    

Visually interesting from afar, the tall and slender abstract form invites viewers to approach closer and examine traditional joinery techniques and forged details.

Sinuosa is a human-scale sculpture designed to complement its outdoor surroundings and leave viewers refreshed. 

The realization…  
Sinuosa was made at the 3rd International Forging 2020 event on February 27-March 1, 2020, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where an international group of blacksmiths shared artisanal skills and taught trade skills free-of-charge.    

After my team completed Sinuosa on the final day of the event, the sculpture was given as a gift of public art to the city as a thank you for hosting the event.

The pedestal was designed and built the weekend before the event.  The pedestal perfectly complements the sculpture without overpowering it.

Sinuosa is a physical realization of collaborative efforts amongst artist-blacksmiths! 

A gift of outdoor sculpture for the city…
I'm honored to have been asked by the event organizers to design a public art sculpture.  

Until its final outdoor placement is determined, Sinuosa resides at the Luis Perlotti Museum in Buenos Aires.

The sculpture's vertical orientation needs only a minimal footprint in a dense urban city such as Buenos Aires.   ​

I like to imagine Sinuosa's suitable surroundings might be...    

• Adjacent to/amongst seating in a small neighborhood park, or
• In a small plaza which offers respite for urban workers on their lunch break.

In gratitude…
I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to design Sinuosa and lead the team to build it.  A huge thank you to Team Sinuosa!:  Katherine Ackerman, Eben Finer, Claudia Alvarez, Kurt Rempel, Hernan Onnainty, Peter Sevin, and John Crouchet.

Mil gracias to the event organizers:  Fabian Rossi, Jerry Coe, Carlos Real, Alejo Kerwitz, and Dario Klehr.   And a shout-out to Forjadores Argentinos for documenting the event and connecting blacksmiths around the world. 

Many thanks to Fabian and his delightful wife, Cristina, for hosting me in their home, and for Fabian and Alejo’s assistance constructing the pedestal.  

John, look how much one can accomplish between breaks!   

Final measurements...
The sculpture itself is about 5 feet tall (about 1.5 meters) x 15" wide x 6" deep.  Sinuosa atop its pedestal is about 7.5 feet tall.  (The pedestal measures approximately 30" tall x 20" wide x 20" deep and is made from 3/4"-thick steel plate and 8"-wide x 5/8"-thick flat bar.)  
 
Construction details, half-lap design, and joinery method...
Sinuosa was designed to be forged without power tools, as none would be available on-site at the event.

The sculpture is comprised of 5 pieces of overlapping (i.e. half-lap) steel plate joined together with rivets.

The sculpture's profile reveals a gentle curve which evokes movement. 

Simple butchering tools and a sledge hammer were the main tools employed.  (A butcher is used to create a clean shoulder so that metal is not removed, but moved down and over…).   A torch was used in lieu of a forge, as spot heating was the most efficient way to butcher while not distorting the straight lines we were establishing.

The visually uncluttered form belies the details required to achieve the simple, streamlined look:

• The vertical lines in the sculpture are intentionally placed to highlight the otherwise sinuous lines of the sculpture.  Keeping the multiple vertical lines parallel to each other was critical and challenging.   

• A keen observer will note that the sculpture’s ‘seams’ are different on each side, given the nature of half-lap joints.  Keeping track of which side of a piece to draw down to half-lap required vigilance!   
• The edges of the sculpture are ‘upset’ to provide depth and texture.  (‘Upsetting’ is a process of heating and hammering the metal to push it back onto itself to increase its diameter.)

And for those interested in even more construction details…

• The sculpture is comprised of five (5) pieces of 1/2" steel plate, torch-cut to approximate dimension — and don’t forget about those ‘tails’ that need to be accounted for when butchering those far edges…
• Each piece was butchered to receive an adjoining piece; this is the half-lap concept.  Where a piece met an adjoining piece, the adjoining piece was necessarily butchered on the opposing side.
• Each piece was butchered to half-depth so that when the two half-laps 'mated,' a return to full-depth of the original steel stock was realized.      
• Each sculpture piece overlaps at least one other piece; some pieces required as many as three (3) butchered half-laps.  There's a total of three yards of butchering on this sculpture!  
• The half-laps are riveted together using 3/8” x 1.25” rivets.  In addition to joining the sculpture together, the large round rivets provide visual interest and depth.  The riveted look is carried throughout, including the bolts which attach the sculpture plate to the pedestal.  
• For ease of transport and installation, the sculpture and pedestal were designed as two separate pieces.

Design and maintenance considerations…
Sinuosa was designed to meet generally accepted public art guidelines for safety, durability, and minimal routine maintenance.

The finished sculpture was sealed with multiple coats of clear lacquer, allowing the beauty of the hand-forged texture to show through.  Periodically, just like a painted object, the sculpture will need a fresh coat of lacquer applied to it.

If/when the sculpture rusts, it can be easily cleaned with a wire brush to remove the rust, then painted with clear lacquer to restore the sculpture to its original and pristine condition. ​