Artifacts From an Uncertain Future

Artifacts from an Uncertain Future

Sculptures in charred white pine

Daniel E. Weddle

2024

 

So much depends on the materials.  Whether it’s a house or a dress, the material is going to  inspire and lead design.  The material used in creating these artworks was removed from large timbers used to construct a timber frame house in Pennsylvania.   These particular forms were created by drawing a large radius or circle that intersects with the timber creating a curve known as a minor segment. The curved side of the segment is referred to as a minor arc.  This process is to create a decorative curve in a wood member. These off-cuts are usually considered a waste byproduct but they always draw my eye with the simple beauty of their form. The negative spaces, things removed. 

At first my brain tries to relate the forms to recognizable objects...petals, feathers, sleek schooling minnows, blades. Our brains feel more comfortable when associations can be made and purpose or appearance can be identified.  What I found interesting with these pieces was trying to create an opportunity for the viewer to explore their personal impressions and associations and lay those on the artwork so that each ‘instrument’ might take on a different existence for each individual choosing to engage.  Each of these pieces shifted in appearance and meaning as I worked with them and I only settled on the listed names as a secondary approach to introducing the objects.   Rocking Horse in fact was once a surfer, an uncomfortable rocking chair, a compass, a speed walker, a gear cog, a bicycle with a flat tire…

Do these objects need to represent something you are familiar with? What if they represent something unknown? Or unknown only to you.  In a world of infinite possibilities and quantum dimensions perhaps each of these instruments does represent something real with a designated purpose and name that we have yet to discover. Or, they exist singularly as models of themselves, instruments used to give shape, weight and balance to drifting memory and minor arcs of existence.

 

Mast

Flight Path

Rocking Horse

The Scale

 

 

Dark Matter Spark