It’s early April and we’re just now entering week two of the Broomhill Sculpture Award work. As with most projects, the beginning is often a lot of sketching, a lot of writing, and a lot of speaking with fabricators, and over the past week I’ve been waiting on a few parts to come in for testing, while considering two primary considerations.
The first consideration has to do with number of panels. While I’m quite comfortable with the sculpture’s height, the actual arrangement of panels now needs to be carefully considered. Here are the three primary option I’ve been considering. The decision on this comes down a bit to how the panels are connected to the central axis and standard sheet sizes. As it stands right now, the best option is the 12 panel (far right) option.
The next consideration involves rotation.
I’ve often shown photos of my sculpture proposal and have heard numerous times the the question “Does it spin?”. Naturally one would think that, given it’s form and focus on wind and temperature, but for some reason it had not even occurred to me until after my submission. This is a great idea and one well worth exploring in these first few weeks. Is it possible? Is it in budget? Will it stand up well for a year and continue to spin without the need for any maintenance? These questions are being explored as I speak to manufacturers about sealed-ball bearing systems that would allow the panels to freely spin with the wind. Additionally, will they all free spin or will each panel be connected to its neighbouring panel to maintain a more refined shape?
