Surrogates

I would use the term surrogate to describe some of what I design and build. These projects function as a surrogate or stand-in for concepts and methods I want to explore before applying them to projects that really matter.

The molding profiles I used to form up this cabinet top section are surrogates where the cabinet project itself was a surrogate design for an organ case architecture concept I wanted to develop. I have a number of profile cutters that are sold as colonial period molding router bits. A person will usually run a short length of profiled molding from scrap stock to see how that particular shape will look. I wanted to get a feel for how these period profiles could combine to form the more complex shape of a historically referenced cornice, so I created this cabinet top section to experiment with that some. The design profiles can also be applied to new design work now that they are modeled in computer solids, a none too trivial task in and of itself.

This particular top section design is fairly complex, and might not be realistically used in a real project, although organ case trim of a typical northern European Baroque pipe organ was similarly complex including the varied use of color to set off each different layer of trim.

This certainly gives a better impression of what is possible with respect to the use of combined profiles, and how I might attempt to successfully combine diverse profiles in a commissioned project to produce just the right effect.

Worth Revisiting

I came across an online article mostly by accident today that was written when the building I rent workshop space in was sold to a new owner a few years ago. The article is worth reading not only for its take on the history of the building, but also because it describes an artist space well. The article which originally appeared in the Minnesota Daily can be found at the link below.

"Former General Mills research and development complex becomes an arts haven on Hennepin",  by Sarah Harper

I bring this up because a space for artists is just as important as a space for makers. The Minnesota Daily article I reference here again reminds me that an artist, designer, or artisan needs the help and nurturing to succeed at his or her work that an artist space provides.