This particular piece uses past techniques and combines them to form a sculpture of a non-functioning piano intended for wall mounting. The backing to the piece is simply made of plexiglass, which has been given a border to help it stand off the wall. The plexiglass was then treated with acrylic paints to give an older, weathered look, with patina green to complement the copper found throughout the piece. Under the plexiglass is an aluminum framework that helps suspend the piece and allows it to “float” off the wall. The highlight of the piece, however, is the copper piano keyboard that projects off the plexiglass backing. Each individual key was handcrafted from sheets of copper, with the “ebony” keys being oxidized with an acid to give that older, patina green color. This is a technique used by sign shops to help tarnish copper and keep it from deteriorating when hung outside a storefront. Every part of the piece has been completely hand sculpted, no machines or computers, simply templates and hand tools for a truly authentic feel. Under the keys lies a tube of green neon, which, when lit, helps to complement the green found throughout the sculpture. The piece is meant to showcase the industrialized, cold feel of metal, to represent a factory ambiance that is not usually associated with a piano. However, the subject
matter, the piano itself, is meant to relate to the viewer on a personal level, conjuring up memories of home, family, and warmth. It is this dichotic nature of the piece, this pertaining to the different senses and emotions, which gives it such an unconventional theme not seen in many sculptures. It also combines the old, using muted, tertiary neutrals, with the new, represented by the use of media such as plexiglass and neon. It is with these multilayered dualities that I wished to display a piece that was both different and inimitable.
This wall piece combines the techniques I have developed over the years working in a neon sign shop with the art movement known as the Found Object. The Found Object simply is taking found items and putting them together in a way that is new, unique, and different from the original purposes of the objects. In this particular piece, I have taken plexiglass circles and used them as a frame to sandwich white neon, giving a bright, halo-like glow to the surrounding wall’s backdrop. The plexiglass was then treated with acrylic paints to give a weathered, rustic look to the piece, with accents of patina green to complement the copper channels that surround it. Inside the “window” at the center of the plexiglass are clock gears created by manipulating copper metal and gold colored aluminum to foster an industrial feel for the interior. These gears can also be seen on the outside of the piece, springing from the inside and complementing the nuts and bolts that are fastened to the exterior. The objects that were found for the piece are those that can be seen on the outside, namely a camera, old black-and-white photos, and a functional clock at the upper right corner, as well as a non-functional clock at the bottom left. The idea behind the piece was to combine different media, some created, some found, that tell a theme. On the left half of the clock, I have chosen to depict time standing still, locked into place as a fleeting memory that slowly turns to black-and-white, but still always remains a part of one’s stable conscious. On the right side, time is seen as a constantly moving entity, always perpetuating forward and moving contrary to our ephemeral memory. The piece represents the sharp contrast between kairos and chronos, and suggests that time is not something easily defined, but rather must be experienced and deciphered.
Altered Books are a popular form of art used by assemblagists to create pieces of tangible, three-dimensional art from ordinary books. The idea behind book alteration is to transform the theme of a book, whether it be a children’s book about sharing, or an adult textbook designed to teach economics and risk management. Whatever the book, it is the artist’s intention to take this piece of literature and alter it through varied means in order to forge a piece of art that still represents the underlying theme of the book, but in a more creative and aesthetic way. In doing so the artist has “restated” the message of the book and done it in a way that appeals to multiple senses simultaneously. The book can be altered many different ways, using paper, gels, paints, other pieces of literature, tangible objects, and even fire. Techniques can range from burning pages and sewing to wintergreen and gel transfers, using painting techniques to grab the eye of the viewer. In my particular piece, I have taken a book on neurology and altered it to encompass a rustic, older 
undertaking of what a primitive medical textbook would resemble. I have used tertiary as a main color component to give an antique finish to the piece, and I have also used and altered some famous images to give a new spin on older themes by past artisans. My intension was to create a piece that not only combined the ideas of the past, such as phrenology, with the present, as with my use of X-ray imaging, but I also wished to show that medicinal dogma and integrity transcends time and manifests itself in multiple facets.
Altered Boards is a technique used by many collagists and assemblagists to create pieces of art from previously unaltered materials. By taking media such as paper, paints, gels, cardboard, and any type of paper or liquid media, an artist has the ability to alter preexisting material into something that is completely different and unrecognizable. These flat boards can then be made three-dimensional by using a styrofoam back, as pictured with these five particular pieces, forming a “frame” that allows the pieces to project off the wall. Many techniques have been used on these pieces, from gel transfers to gel coverings, from paint flinging to scratch resurfacing. My inspiration for these pieces is not completely straightforward. On the one hand, I wanted to create pieces that were not complete alterations of the original, but rather slight variations to make them indistinguishably unique. On the other hand, I wished to take muted, unconventional art, pieces that are not necessarily ingrained into the communal psyche, and see if I could make them more appealing, more psychologically and optically powerful. In combining these two ideas, I have fashioned pieces that do not take away from the original artists’ intensions, but rather add a new degree of strength and activity to them.
This particular piece uses past techniques and combines them to form a sculpture of a non-functioning piano intended for wall mounting. The backing to the piece is simply made of plexiglass, which has been given a border to help it stand off the wall. The plexiglass was then treated with acrylic paints to give an older, weathered look, with patina green to complement the copper found throughout the piece. Under the plexiglass is an aluminum framework that helps suspend the piece and allows it to “float” off the wall. The highlight of the piece, however, is the copper piano keyboard that projects off the plexiglass backing. Each individual key was handcrafted from sheets of copper, with the “ebony” keys being oxidized with an acid to give that older, patina green color. This is a technique used by sign shops to help tarnish copper and keep it from deteriorating when hung outside a storefront. Every part of the piece has been completely hand sculpted, no machines or computers, simply templates and hand tools for a truly authentic feel. Under the keys lies a tube of green neon, which, when lit, helps to complement the green found throughout the sculpture. The piece is meant to showcase the industrialized, cold feel of metal, to represent a factory ambiance that is not usually associated with a piano. However, the subject
matter, the piano itself, is meant to relate to the viewer on a personal level, conjuring up memories of home, family, and warmth. It is this dichotic nature of the piece, this pertaining to the different senses and emotions, which gives it such an unconventional theme not seen in many sculptures. It also combines the old, using muted, tertiary neutrals, with the new, represented by the use of media such as plexiglass and neon. It is with these multilayered dualities that I wished to display a piece that was both different and inimitable.
