Techne`
26
Steel + Encaustic
Michael Phillip Pearce
Making, creating, contriving and designing
sculpture from steel with encaustic
came from vast amounts of experimentation
and trial and error. I am going
to share with you what I have learned
thus far. In this article of Techne’ I
use steel as a 3-dimensional sketching
technique. It enables my conscious mind
to rest and encourages my unconscious to
flow. This form of personal listening
to explore and investigate spatial relationships
of architecture without my
conscious mind inhibiting what I perceive
to be truth and fact. I started using
this method while I was studying, Tor
Norretranders,The User Illusion, when
I was writing my architectural thesis.
My process of 3d sketching -- I prefer to
use steel instead of wood because it is
very fast. When you are in the moment,
there is very little time think rationally.
To illustrate this process, I have chosen
to deconstruct a sculpture I call Piranha,
created back in 1998. It began as an
architecture probe, contrived from 3d
sketching. I came up with this fabrication
process from studying architects and
designers, mainly Lebbeus Woods, who was
the main catalyst of my approach to building.
The original Piranha was a horizontal
cantilevered structure that was a model
of a mixed use building. It was a large
urban space with many levels for living,
Piranha, 1999
dining and shopping. However, like
life it changed throughout the years!
I would say in 2005, it turned into a
vertical hanging sculpture and was no
longer an architecture model. The fragile
model evolved into a rustic skeleton.
Here is my process.
nnnnnnnnnnn
Fall
Piranha, Donated to the Encaustic Art Institute’s Permanent Collection, 2008. Steel + Encaustic 14”T X 4”W
www.EAINM.com