Tim Kent: Spring Quarter Post 1. Advanced Digital Sculpture 450

I am picking up this quarter where I left off last. In Sculpture 250 I really enjoyed learning about 3D Scanning, and serial slicing. This quarter, I started by refining a form I utilized last quarter. Here is the picture of the 3D foam Maquette from laster quarter(left), compared to the maquette I carved this quarter(right):

The intention was to refine the form, and make it more organic, asymmetrical and dynamic. 

The next part of the process was 3D scanning, then setting up the file to get laser cut.

During this time, I played around with layering different exotic and domestic woods together. I was a little dusty on planing, and glueing up wood, so I wanted to do some tests before I started on the pieces I would be creating to laser cut. Here is an example of a test piece:

The 4 layers of wood shown are Oak, Poplar, Poplar, then Redheart.

I was initially wanting to create the whole sculpture out of solid exotic woods, but upon researching the workability and toxicity of each species available, I found that to not be the best idea. I problem solved a lot until I found the best way to incorporate accents of exotic wood that would be easy/friendly to work with.

Here I have laminated Pine with Redheart:

Lastly, here is two final layers of laminated, planed, wood that were ready to be laser cut! The woods used are poplar, redheart, and pine.

For more work, including painting, sculptures, and mixed media, check out my artist website : www.timkentart.com

Tim Kent 

Tim Kent : Winter Quarter Post 1

     This is a sculpture I designed a few years ago, and originally carved in plaster. Since then, the 2D drawing has been a basis for my sculptural work. This is to say, all my sculptures are a transformation from the original 2D paper drawing. I was excited to be able to take this practice into the 3D world. Using the 3D scanner, I was able to trace a foam maquette into the computer, and after a few hours of cleaning up the file, it was ready to be played with in Rhino. I am excited to now be able to morph the form dimensionally, rather than being confined to the limitations of 2D rendering. 

     One of the first things I did in Rhino was learn how to contour the form. This was a fundamental step for learning how to Serial slice an object. One I had a contour drawing of the sculpture, I went into the perspective mode of Rhino and used the command "draw 2d". This created a drawing of the contours in the prospect I was looking at it. I was then able to laser engrave this image using the laser cutter.

     Finally, I got my pieces back from the laser cutter, and it was time to put them together. Here you can see that process. In my following post I will show some more completed works. Digital applications of sculpture has been really interesting so far and a nice break from oil painting. I am excited to see how it will influence my art.

More of my work, including oil painting, drawing, sculpture, mixed media, and replicas can be viewed on my website: www.timkentart.com

Tim Kent