Sculpture
The Blue Strain
Rectangular Prism Indigo-Glass Art Sculpture
The Process
The Blue Strain was born from The BookMark and The Baby BookMark glass sculpture’s improved creation processes. The Blue Strain physically differs from the other two sculptures by a 45 degree slope on the top of the rectangular prism. The Blue Strain’s construction improved with the addition of clear acrylic panels acting as a base layer to the panels. The multiple-step assembly processes improved with 1. better resin application timing 2. several types of resins for different purposes 3. improved corner construction moldings 4. the addition of a several layers of top-notch crystal clear UV varnish 5. kick plates for easy installation 6. faux neon internal light design.
“Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.” -Salvador Dali
This quote from an influential surrealist visionary validates mistakes. Self-critiques can destroy an artist but they are so unnecessary. Art is about discovery and mistakes pave the road to success. I hope to smack someone in the face with this quote and change the very course of their life.
The Blue Strain
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a beacon of history influencing the present to build an inspired future.
The Meaning
The Blue Strain is the fourth (really the fifth – I’ll explain below) sculpture from TuxedoKat in 365 days. Commissioned by Southern Strain Brewery, The Blue Strain represents the brewery’s brand of Concord’s textile mill history while serving as a unique public sculpture for the brewery’s second location on Central Avenue in Plaza Midwood – the super duper trendy arts and brewery scene of Charlotte, NC.
The sculpture is assembled with five panels consisting of mosaic broken indigo glass from a renovated textile mill in Concord, NC. Held together with acrylic, fiberglass and resin, the panels were adhered to a fabricated powder-coated steel frame. Inside the sculpture is a double helix light design with RGB faux neon LEDs.
The 4th Sculpture – “The Hazy Strain”
In the planning of The Blue Strain, we added acrylic base sheets for each panel. In The BookMark, we noticed the panels were transparent enough to allow the internal LED light design to “hot spot”, meaning the LED diodes created a broken line of light. We wanted it to be continuous in The Blue Strain. To combat this, we chose DIFFUSED acrylic sheets (white acrylic designed to illuminate when lit from the back) to soften the “hot spotting” issue . Turns out, this diffusion was too much and completely diffused the internal double-helix design. The diffusion turned the sculpture into a bright blue box with 0% transparency and 100% not what we promised Southern Strain. So, as I was finishing up the diffused Blue Strain, David and I both decided that we had to start all over again with clear acrylic and changed the name to this version to “Hazy Strain”.
Collection, cleaning and sorting of the broken blue glass
Beginning of building panel #1 on diffused acrylic
Booty Boots enjoying a finished “Hazy Strain”
Adding final coat of crystal clear UV epoxy varnish