Process 1.07.

More in the ongoing series on process.

Last year, a piece by Deborah Fisher really captured my imagination. “Solid State Change” was a large sculpture she made for Middlebury College.

I grew up around farms. During my childhood there existed, close by, a large field (really, just a few acres of land) that was filled to overflowing with broken down, rusting farm machinery - tractors, thrasher and other machines whose function was a mystery to me. After years on the sun the tires had warped and twisted into rubbery licorice.

“Solids State Change” took me back there.

Fisher was generous enough to let me crib the creation process for "Solid State Change" from her site.

Here is her statement, a good place to begin. Next is the proposal and sketches for the project. In her own words, here is the strategy:

1. Let the tires and whatnot accumulate and deform the expanded metal shape
2. See what shapes result and "lock in" those shapes with a bunch of armature steel.
3. Build a fake curved wall and figure out the best possible relationship between the sculpture and the wall
4. "Lock in" that relationship with more steel.
5. Add cement, cut and cover naked screwheads, and generally finesse it into something that someone would
    want to keep around for twenty years.

Below are photos of the piece in progress.