Obelisk Erupting modern art sculpture rises from a 6′ diameter alluvial black glass and marble base, layered black-veined obelisk entwined with steel roots and limbs thrusts upward, supporting a three-sided trellis of plexiglass and blue stained glass (this project is in process).
Marble, stainless steel vine work (several hundred feet), black stained glass and plexiglass. Will be about 30’ in diameter at floor; 15’ high.
“Obelisk Erupting is born from my interpretation of the classic Tree of Life. The Obelisk of marble is a surreal outcropping of layered stone, thrust up form the earth. Thin vines of stainless steel twist around the obelisk and radiate across a base of purple/black handmade glass. When completed, the piece will measure 30′ in diameter.”
“Thick stainless steel vines or branches grow out from the back of the obelisk and move upward where they will intertwine with the blue-glass-faced plexiglass trellis structure. Some of the vines will have stainless steel flowers that grow through the openings in the trellis. So the piece will rise up from the earth and reach for the heavens.”
“The construction of this work has presented me with numerous engineering challenges. I had to make a steel frame, hidden from view, inside the obelisk, in order to hold the weight of the trellis and upper part of the sculpture. The marble, by itself, would simply crack under the stress. From this internal structure, metal studs come through at the back, which support the stainless steel branches of the tree.”
“All of the twisted vine work has to come apart, so it can be threaded through or intertwined with other sections. The longer the piece of vine, the more complicated attaching them together becomes, So when you get to a certain length, one or more have to come apart, so they can intertwine with other components and later be disassembled again.”
