OPEN ENSO
plywood and steel ▴ 2011
My touch guided the creation of a three-dimensional enso ▴ I wanted people to physically interact with my work
In my junior year at Washington University in St. Louis, I received the University City Sculpture Series grant to build a public sculpture in a University City park. At the time, I was working with wood and found serenity and focus in the process of bending, cutting, and joining. I wanted viewers of my work to be able to touch as well and to experience the same meditative physical interaction. The drawing of an enso, a meditative practice in Zen Buddhism, encapsulated this feeling of physical mindfulness. By kerf cutting the plywood, I was able to create strips that would bend into an arc, and use those pieces to create a physical enso ring that presented a braille-like texture on its surface. The completed circle, 16 ft wide, was installed in Mooney Park for 6 months, where it weathered, breathed and grew with the trees around it.
plywood and steel ▴ 2011
My touch guided the creation of a three-dimensional enso ▴ I wanted people to physically interact with my work
In my junior year at Washington University in St. Louis, I received the University City Sculpture Series grant to build a public sculpture in a University City park. At the time, I was working with wood and found serenity and focus in the process of bending, cutting, and joining. I wanted viewers of my work to be able to touch as well and to experience the same meditative physical interaction. The drawing of an enso, a meditative practice in Zen Buddhism, encapsulated this feeling of physical mindfulness. By kerf cutting the plywood, I was able to create strips that would bend into an arc, and use those pieces to create a physical enso ring that presented a braille-like texture on its surface. The completed circle, 16 ft wide, was installed in Mooney Park for 6 months, where it weathered, breathed and grew with the trees around it.