Fusion of Art and Physics Show
Brad Burkhart, clay artist participated in the Collaboration between Art and Physics. He is a lover of Physics as well as clay scultpure.Brad recommended that I read Art and Physics a book by Leonard Shlain. It truly opened my eyes to the science of art.
Brad Burkhart shares his process-clay and physics
Since finishing my sketches for the project, I have been turning them into clay relief form. Due to time issues,not all sketches could become sculptures for the group show on March 1. My goal was to finish 4 of the 6.Notwithstanding this goal was daunting. Each of the clay pieces require over a month of slow drying before firing. By necessity, I sped up the drying process. I used an electric heater in the studio. Moreover, I devised an open lath support under the sculptures to allow them to dry faster. Finally, I found local potters,Steve and Bonny Barisof. They agreed to do this firing for me.
The process-
Below are a few photos of the transformation from sketch to sculpture.
Firing is always an unpredictable process. This one was no exception. The three top pieces came out beautifully. However, apparently I had not dried the bottom one enough. Unfortunately, it fell apart in the kiln.
But the disintegration of piece #4 led to some new insights. My wife and I discussed the broken piece. We decided to mount the main pieces on a board. A quote on Chaos Theory is its show title. After that, we named the other pieces in a similar way. As a result, using physicist quotes or theories added to the exhibit.. I invited Hendrik to participate. In the end we went with my wife’s suggestions for the show. In other words,her suggestions were easier to understand by average viewers. However, I present them both below because they are both insightful. I am still deciding on final names for the pieces. Although I have definitely embraced Hendrik’s name for #3.
Hendrik’s Suggestions: 1.) Superconductivity by John Bardeen, Leon Cooper, John Robert Schrieffer 2.) What is it? Fermi-Dirac or Bose-Einstein 3.) Einstein, Soccer and Gravitation Waves 4.) Parity or no Parity, Noether, not Hamlet will answer this question.
Wife Ann’s Suggestions: 1) “Things” Can Be Regarded on One Level as Structures and on Another Level as Processes —-T. R. Young
2) By Making Everything as Small as Possible the Waves Become Much More Agile and Faster —-H. Ohldag
3) Are You the Observer or the Observed?
4) The Final Outcome…Is Radically Affected by Tiny Changes in the Initial Conditions —-S. Morgan
Notes on Ann’s titles:
1) Young, TR: Chaos Theory & Human Agency http://www.critcrim.org/redfeather/chaos/chaosindex.html
Complexity theory also denies the concept of the objectivity, or separation of the observer from the observed (Young 11).
4) Steev Morgan: Applying Chaos Theory to Artistic and Cultural Practice
Continuing Work at Hendrik’s New Lab
In addition to preparing sculptures for the show, I have continued to interact with Hendrik at his new lab. I am awaiting his comments about having my piece “What’s Your Sign?” in his new lab at the Berkeley Cyclotron. He is just getting started there.
In the meantime, we discovered that the research conducted at SLAC resulted in a significant breakthrough in understanding the speed of magnetic waves. Previously it had been thought that 1 mile per hour was the limit. But they discovered through the experiment that if materials were made small enough, this speed could increase up to 500 miles per hour. This is particularly significant because computer memories use magnetic storage. With the right design, it now appears possible to significantly increase storage. Moreover,while lowering energy use significantly.
Naming a Piece at the New Lab
I try to name my works through a group consensus process. We have been attempting such a process at Hendrik’s new Berkeley Lab location. We hung an unnamed piece in the researchers’ lounge with a suggestion box nearby. See the piece below with set of suggestions. Feel free to participate in the process by e-mailing Hendrik or myself your suggestions. I envision sorting these out along with names for the show pieces later this spring.
https://slbailey109.wixsite.com/fusion
https://annbaldwinmayartquilts.com/2019/02/fusion-of-art-and-physics-show/
https://annbaldwinmayartquilts.com/2018/07/inspiration-and-the-collider-event/https://annbaldwinmayartquilts.com/2018/06/collaboration-of-physics-and-art-1/
