Neil Forrest
Flake
Each flake is developed as a fragment cut from the surface of single torus, with the five curved fragments wrapping in the shape of a bowl.
The cells or ellipses on the obverse side are structural additions that stiffen each flake.
Small slivers extracted from decaying spruce trees were the basis of the flake shapes. These irregular shapes were shaped by carpenter ants as they built their habitat in the spruce - cutting with their mandibles. The density of the growth rings govern how the ants create their voids - their housing.
The actual ant-carved shapes were projected onto a virtual torus, which then provided the double curve to envision the ceramic Flake shapes. A mold was then CNC-milled based on the torus-imprinted file.
FLAKE
2011
Stoneware, glaze & automotive finish
25'L x 11'W x 20'H
8 m x 3.5 m x 6 m
© 2022 by Neil Forrest
exhibition at the Denver Museum of Art
Fabricated at the Matter Factory, with special thanks to the expertise of Andy Brayman
Photography by Jeff Wells. Details by Neil Forrest