Jacqueline Kory-Westlund

"What the work of art looks like isn't too important. It has to look like something if it has physical form. No matter what form it may finally have it must begin with an idea." -- Sol LeWitt

I took a sculpture class this semester on a whim. I enjoy art, but I've never done much sculpture, and I haven't taken an art class in years--so why not?

The first project I did was an exploration of mass. I sculpted a head from clay (the professor modeled, because he couldn't get an actual model), made a plaster waste-mold from it, then did a plaster casting. Everyone else in the class did essentially the same thing--sure, there were variations in the way the heads were sculpted, but we all made heads.

The second project, however, was open-ended. We were given an introduction to a selection of sheet metals, wire, and tools; we were told to think about space rather than mass, and that we should include repetition and variation in the work. And that was it.

Do you want to know what I created? Take a look! I titled it "Selves." I think it turned out pretty darn cool. (But I wouldn't have created it if I thought otherwise.)

Every so often, I am struck with a notion for a new project. It may be a concept for a series of sketches, the first line of a short story, a card game to convert to code so I can play it on my computer, or perhaps I just want to learn an entertaining skill such as juggling or typing on a Dvorak keyboard. My current and most recent project is this: the website formerly known as Agent Plus Environment.

Why a website?

I took a web production class recently. In the class, we talked about the history of the Internet. We looked at issues raised by technology and new ways of approaching technology. We analyzed design elements, functionality, and the structure of websites. We touched, briefly, on how to build websites. But I wasn't content with this basic introduction to Dreamweaver. I decided I'd like to actually learn HTML, CSS, and PHP, along with whatever else goes on behind the scenes. What better way to learn than to build my own website?

With great ideas comes great research

I toyed with the idea for a while. If I were to have a website, what would I put on it? What would I write about? More importantly, what would I call it? Names are important, folks! Whatever pattern of neurons firing brought me the idea Agent Plus Environment made this all happen. Suffice to say, the name says a lot about my view of the world--check out my note about it (there'll be more detail later; that's just the teaser version). The name gave me ideas. So I researched domain registrars and web hosts. I considered content management systems and color schemes. I brainstormed topics for later blog posts. I began delving into the HTML, CSS, and PHP of Wordpress themes. I felt I might be in over my head, but I'm learning fast.

Look, no hands!

Slowly but surely, the pieces are coming together. In no way is this website done--this is the bare minimum I can stand to let you see. It'll get better. You'll notice that most pages currently have filler content. I'm not set on the colors or layout. There are bugs. There are inconsistencies. If you notice anything drastic, let me know. In the meantime, I'll be over here, continuing to figure out how to make the web do what I want.

"Selves" (2009) - steel sheet and steel wire

Background

I almost titled this section "Space: The Final Frontier." You see, I did this work as a part of a sculpture class. In the first half of the class, the focus was on mass; I worked in clay and plaster. The second half of the class emphasized space. Space:

1. a continuous area or expanse that is free, available, or unoccupied
2. an empty area left between one-, two-, or three-dimensional points or objects
3. the dimensions of height, depth, and width within which all things exist and move

I was supposed to develop a work that explored three-dimensional, volumetric form, and that consisted of repetitive elements involving change or variation. There was a selection of sheet metal and metal wire available for the project; ideal, perhaps, for the more abstract forms that often result from an exploration of the space around and between objects.

Concept

I had a plethora of ideas revolving around selves, self-reflection, consciousness, perfection, how people interact and connect, the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio, mirrors, infinity, the way pieces of ourselves are shared, facets of ourselves, the way people are perceived, and... well, the list goes on.

The idea I finally narrowed down on is best explained by the following metaphor: A person is a set of puzzle pieces. The puzzle pieces add up to create the pattern of who one is, shaped both from within, and from others' outside perceptions. Some pieces are unique to oneself. Some pieces are identical to those that compose other people. Some pieces almost match up, but not quite. People overlap and interconnect.

At first glance, relationships appear straightforward--as in the chain of puzzle pieces: at the top, it is more orderly, periodic, and coherent. I overlap with this person because of a shared interest in robots. She and I went to the same high school. He and I both react calmly in upsetting situations. But the more you know a person, the more levels down you dig, the farther down the chain you go, the more chaotic it becomes. Pieces branch off the main line. There are more overlaps, more connections, more intricacies. The pieces don't fit together cleanly.

Many of my initial sketches focused too much on mass and not enough on space. As I did more research, I noticed that the works I found most appealing were those that involved space and interacted with it, instead of just presenting forms bounded by their own edges--exactly what this project was all about. I also realized I did not have to make my ideas so explicit--I could suggest instead of state, and with that change, remove a layer of visual noise. The final design is far more simple than my initial sketches.

Even after I built the puzzle piece frames you see in the chain, it took me quite some time to decide how best to arrange them. Early thoughts involved placing some frames inside others to create 3D pieces, but I experimented with all possible arrangements: laying all twelve frames flat in a grid, stacking them, suspending them from a mobile, lining them up... Then I tried hanging them in the chain you see in the photos. It's always the last thing you try that works!

Materials & Construction

The puzzle piece frames are constructed from galvanized steel sheet metal (zinc-coated). I cut the sheet metal into strips 1.5cm wide and bent the strips into shape with a simple pair of pliers. Each strip was long enough to make about half of a puzzle piece frame, so I spot-welded two strips together for each frame, taking care not to breathe in the toxic fumes from the zinc.

To connect the pieces in the chain, I drilled a hole through the steel at each connection point, then slipped a bit of galvanized steel wire (1.6mm gauge) through the holes and folded the ends over. Simple, easy, and able to be disassembled if necessary.