FROEBEL'S GIFTS
welded aluminum contact
Froebel's gifts: energized cube , 2017, 16' x'4 x 4' top left, was the first large scale sculpture in the series. It was commissioned in metal for the permanent collection of the Kenner Sculpture Garden in New Orleans, at 16' high, It is made of twelve identical 42" high welded aluminum modules fabricated from 3" x 3" hollow tubes . After fabrication it was painted with autobody paint,.
The wood sculpture prototype (see slide show and history below) was exhibited at Trestle Gallery in Brooklyn in 2016.
A short time later it was commissioned in metal for the permanent collection of the Kenner Sculpture Garden in New Orleans from the wood sculpture prototype/
Froebel's Gifts: Blue circuit, 2018, 18' x 8'x 7' , was originally exhibited 2018 -2020 in the Poydras Corridor Sculpture Exhibition in New Orleans, (bottom left and right) with support from the Helis Foundation and Sculpture for New Orleans. It is currently on loan to the Josephine Sculpture park in Frankfurt , KY.
Middle row, center photo is the same sculpture Froebel's Gifts: Blue Circuit, when it was later exhibited at the Ohr 0Keefe Museum in Biloxi, MS.
The wood sculpture prototype (see slide show and history below) was exhibited at Trestle Gallery in Brooklyn in 2016.
A short time later it was commissioned in metal for the permanent collection of the Kenner Sculpture Garden in New Orleans from the wood sculpture prototype/
Froebel's Gifts: Blue circuit, 2018, 18' x 8'x 7' , was originally exhibited 2018 -2020 in the Poydras Corridor Sculpture Exhibition in New Orleans, (bottom left and right) with support from the Helis Foundation and Sculpture for New Orleans. It is currently on loan to the Josephine Sculpture park in Frankfurt , KY.
Middle row, center photo is the same sculpture Froebel's Gifts: Blue Circuit, when it was later exhibited at the Ohr 0Keefe Museum in Biloxi, MS.
BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT
" To Froebel belongs the credit for finding the true nature of play and regulating it to lead naturally into work. The same spontaneity and joy, the same freedom and serenity that characterise the plays of childhood are realised in all human activity. The gifts and occupations are the living connection which makes both play and work expressions of the same creative activity. " W N Hailmann
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Artist's Statement :
Friedrich Froebel was the founder of the modern kindergarten in 1838. He designed basic geometric forms (sphere, cube, cylinder, pyramid) as gifts for children, believing it would increase their ability to think abstractly. Upon learning that Frank Lloyd Wright and Buckminster Fuller played with sets of these (later marketed as toys) when they were children, I created Broken Cube (pictured on left) an asymetric wooden geometric form with each square beam purposely cut at anything but a 90 degree angle, and intentionally glued . at contrasting angles., Broken Cube fascinated me because of the way it frames the space beyond it, and how different it looks from each side. I originally envisioned it as 30 or 40 foot high monumental sculpture for a public space, which people could sit on, but since I was new to sculpture and had never made a metal public sculpture, I realized I needed to do something more practical so people would see it.
I then enlarged it in wood 17" high, and after doing some floor installations, I used it as a module for building larger wood structures, fasteningthe components together in different formations. I then added precariously positioned cubes for several reasons:
In later wooden works I explored triangles and folded diamond shapes..
In later works I explored triangles and folded diamond shapes.. In later works I explored triangles and folded diamond shapes.. In later works I explored triangles and folded diamond shapes..
____________________________________________________________________________________
Artist's Statement :
Friedrich Froebel was the founder of the modern kindergarten in 1838. He designed basic geometric forms (sphere, cube, cylinder, pyramid) as gifts for children, believing it would increase their ability to think abstractly. Upon learning that Frank Lloyd Wright and Buckminster Fuller played with sets of these (later marketed as toys) when they were children, I created Broken Cube (pictured on left) an asymetric wooden geometric form with each square beam purposely cut at anything but a 90 degree angle, and intentionally glued . at contrasting angles., Broken Cube fascinated me because of the way it frames the space beyond it, and how different it looks from each side. I originally envisioned it as 30 or 40 foot high monumental sculpture for a public space, which people could sit on, but since I was new to sculpture and had never made a metal public sculpture, I realized I needed to do something more practical so people would see it.
I then enlarged it in wood 17" high, and after doing some floor installations, I used it as a module for building larger wood structures, fasteningthe components together in different formations. I then added precariously positioned cubes for several reasons:
- create a more balanced distribution of color
- imply motion, as though they might fall,
- suggest play looking as if they could be removed.
In later wooden works I explored triangles and folded diamond shapes..
In later works I explored triangles and folded diamond shapes.. In later works I explored triangles and folded diamond shapes.. In later works I explored triangles and folded diamond shapes..
Linear ins
Artist's statement, Once I enlarged the model in metal, 42" high, I noticed that Because each square beam is positioned at a different angle the color changes as as the light hits from different angles, or might reflect one section onto another. I began creating larger stacked structures based on the wood sculptures I had exhibited, and later I felt .that this module could create a variety of interesting structures to which I had various associations, mostly architectural . Below are the 5" High 3D prints of Broken Cube, made with support from Hudson Valley Advanced Manufacturing Center, by scanning the original 10" high Broken Cube. The 3 D prints were originally made to create a model I could easily ship to the fabricator I found in Texas.but later I played with them to create additional structures. |
Froebel's Gifts: Blue Circuit
in welding shop and on loan to Josephine Sculpture Park today for exhibition. |
Bejewelled.
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Entwined Geometries. Prototype sculpture composed of various colored modules that are can be duplicated and placed in different locations
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Froebel's Gifts; Blue Circuit. 2018.
18' x 8' x 7' welded aluminum
with auto body paint.
- currently at Josephine Sculpture Park,
- Frankfurt, KY