VESSEL FIELD, 2010
Vessel Field is a configuration of vessel-like forms suspended on stainless steel aircraft cable in the glass roof atrium of the renovated Gilman Hall at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. The forms are constructed out of industrially powder-coated steel hollow tube covered in a white semi-transparent shadecloth.
The suspended sculptures reference the building’s function. The atrium is situated above the archeological collection of Johns Hopkins University and the new architectural design allows not only for storage, but also for display of artifacts. In this way the vessel forms above echo those below. The suspended sculptural forms reference the vessels in the collection, but suggest the spirit of vessel rather than a literal representation of any particular specimen. Another feature of the work is the ‘vessel within vessel’ superimposed urn design– an option that the transparency of the material allows.
In Vessel Field I wanted to suggest that hand-scale brittle artifacts had transformed into enormous weightless membranes.
Vessel Field was designed and built in collaboration with South African artist Siemon Allen. The project was coordinated in association with Mark G Anderson Consultants of Washington, DC and installed by the Chicago-based art rigging specialists Methods and Materials.
Vessel Field, 2010
In collaboration with Siemon Allen
Commissioned by Johns Hopkins University
Gilman Hall, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.
Rigging by Methods and Materials
Project management by Mark G. Anderson Consultants
steel, shadecloth
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