KIWI
The Kiwi is the New Zealand national bird and also how New Zealanders refer to themselves.
These Kiwis were inspired by a dream I had early in 2006. The feelings I wanted to express were shy, introspective, defensive but solid and grounded - feelings I have had as I crawled out of the hole I was in as a typically emotionally numb man. These kiwis represent, for me, the archetypal New Zealand male: the first men to come to New Zealand spent sometimes two years in isolation, clearing the land before their women arrived.
I like the elemental quality of plate steel and copper. Not for me, the sculpture made from found objects. I wanted to create something new, with flowing organic lines, as if it arose from nature.
The early work is created from 3 mm mild steel plate, marked out from elevation drawings and cut out with a plasma cutter. Pieces are tack welded using a MIG welder; pulled into shape with clamps and some heating with oxy/acetylene. Once fully tacked together the joints are completely welded.
Joints are ground roughly with a grinding disc on an angle grinder, and then polished with a sanding flap disk. Tight corners are finished with a compressed air powered die grinder with various grinding and sanding bits. This leaves all the welded joints with a smooth bright silver finish.To obtain the blue - grey patina, the piece is heated with oxy/acetylene and a rose tip. This gives the surface a certain degree of protection from corrosion. Nialic is used to further protect the surface.
Later works are modeled in Rhinoceros, a 3D CAD program. Rhinoceros allows surfaces to "unrolled" to produce patterns which are cut out of corten steel or copper on a CNC plasma cutting table.
These Kiwis were inspired by a dream I had early in 2006. The feelings I wanted to express were shy, introspective, defensive but solid and grounded - feelings I have had as I crawled out of the hole I was in as a typically emotionally numb man. These kiwis represent, for me, the archetypal New Zealand male: the first men to come to New Zealand spent sometimes two years in isolation, clearing the land before their women arrived.
I like the elemental quality of plate steel and copper. Not for me, the sculpture made from found objects. I wanted to create something new, with flowing organic lines, as if it arose from nature.
The early work is created from 3 mm mild steel plate, marked out from elevation drawings and cut out with a plasma cutter. Pieces are tack welded using a MIG welder; pulled into shape with clamps and some heating with oxy/acetylene. Once fully tacked together the joints are completely welded.
Joints are ground roughly with a grinding disc on an angle grinder, and then polished with a sanding flap disk. Tight corners are finished with a compressed air powered die grinder with various grinding and sanding bits. This leaves all the welded joints with a smooth bright silver finish.To obtain the blue - grey patina, the piece is heated with oxy/acetylene and a rose tip. This gives the surface a certain degree of protection from corrosion. Nialic is used to further protect the surface.
Later works are modeled in Rhinoceros, a 3D CAD program. Rhinoceros allows surfaces to "unrolled" to produce patterns which are cut out of corten steel or copper on a CNC plasma cutting table.