SPACE SAMPLING SPACE COAST

If you have been following the past blogs on our Space Coast Tour you may have noticed some reoccurring themes such as the relationship of nature to mechanization, and a fascination into ways of exploring things from different perspectives.

One personal favorite viewing mechanism has always been the Hubble Telescope pictured above with the NASA Airstream : aka the Astrovan that transfers astronauts from the operations and checkout building to the launch pad.

Up at the crack of dawn we made our way to witness the first rocket launch of Orion. Orion will be the first spacecraft since Apollo that will facilitate human exploration of destinations beyond  Low Earth Orbit such as the Moon, asteroids, and Mars.

 

Arriving at 4am to the Kennedy Space Center we waited .. and waited ... even the alligators were waiting ... after several hours we were notified that the launch will be postponed until the next morning Friday 5th Dec. It was worth the wait!

The Orion Spacecraft is a multi purpose Crew Vehicle intended to carry a crew of up to four astronauts to destinations beyond-low Earth orbit. It was a successful mission going twice around the earth before shooting off another 3,600 miles taking it past the International Space Station close to Mars and back down to earth in four and a half hours.

Even from such a distance one could feel the force especially the after noise, it was phenomenal.

The most powerful liquid-fueled rocket engine ever produced, the F-1 engine, was a critical component in sending astronauts to the moon during the Apollo Program. Developed under the direction of Wernher von Braun, the Saturn V rocket was also the largest. Standing 36 stories high and weighing over 6 million pounds it required a cluster of five F-1 engines generating more than 7.5 million pounds of thrust to lift the rocket off the pad.

We chose to scan the F-1 engine onsite and explored stereo collaging it with other 3D models using a method developed by Paul back in 1994 which he termed 'Space Sampling'.

'FALLEN BLOCK ISLAND F-1 APOLLO'
* available as print

The space program has used a lot of classical references for its legend, the above work is a combination of those legends and consists of the photogrammetric scan of the F-1 Engine that we made onsite at the Kennedy Space Center, a 3d laser scan taken directly from the Parthenon of the Greek deity 'Apollo' combined in belvedere with the Block Island Meteorite found on Mars by the Opportunity Rover and Aurora 7 the first US Spacecraft.

The Shuttle Atlantis named after the utopian novel by Sir Francis Bacon published in 1627 has a textilian surface like a woven blanket which echos the layered fabric called 'Flong' which received the output from Charles Babbage's Difference Engine: the first computer stereotyping bed.

 

'F-1 ATLANTIS APOLLO'
* available as print

'We have also perspective houses ...........we make artificial rainbows, halo's and circles about light. We represent all manner of reflexions, refractions and multiplications of visual beams of objects' 
  

Except from The New Atlantis'  by Sir Francis Bacon 1627

 After 8 weeks on the road our last days on the Space Coast has bought our tour to a close. We have traveled in our silver machine, the airstream fab lab a total of 3400 miles through 8 States, Lecturing as visiting artists at 6 universities and exploring many sites of interest as well as participating in major events such as Art Miami, Jacksonville Iron Pour and The Orion Rocket Launch.

Next stop is back to the Studio where we will develop some of the ideas for exhibition : please watch this space for the completed series of Space Coast bronzes and prints.

Thanks to everyone who made this tour a real pleasure!

Over and Out : Moon walking on the Space Coast 2014

A1A The Scenic Route

Leaving Jacksonville we continued to head south. Closely following the Atlantic coastline we took the slow road and winded our way between Historic Route 1 and Scenic Route A1A which are the most eastern and among the oldest routes in the United States.

 

We set up camp at Tomoka State Park just north of Ormond and Daytona Beach. 

The beach between Ormond and Daytona is the original site of the world land speed breaking records starting in the 20’s onwards and you can still drive on the beach today. Plenty of hotrods and custom gaslamp cars to see.

This 1968 Roadrunner R/T Car reminded Paul of a series of collages he made in 1976 based on catastrophe histograms that went with a series of his game theoretic sculptures.

Tomoka State Park is home of the spirit of great chief Tomoka, we were informed that if we saw anything strange in the woods to not be surprised, unfortunately we did not see any but his statue.

We investigated another Indian burial mound in Ormond this one was much better preserved than the Santee Mound/Fort Watson in South Carolina which made it difficult to take in the round photographs : pictured below

 

These are two of many mounds to visit in the south east. The Ormond mound contains as many as 125 bodies and is sited in someones back yard.

Using photogrammetry we scanned the earthwork as a way of documenting our experience of it, these photographs will enable us to later create a 3D model of it to possibly use in my future work.

Ormond Beach was also the winter home of J D Rockefeller where he hosted his friends notably the comedian and 'Populist Cowboy' Will Rogers 1879-35. Paul believes that the 1957 movie ‘A Face in the Crowd’ is based upon this location and the real life friendship between Will Rogers and Rockefeller as Rockefeller saw the advantage in exploiting the common man by passing political memes through popular entertainers and figures. 'political satire can be as dangerous as an unguided missile when it is unsound' James Thurber 1968.

Winding down Route 1 we came across many sites of 50’s and 60’s Americana as this was the old route taken by vacationers from New York, tiny motels too many to mention including a steamboat car wash, and we just had to stop at the moonlight drive in diner for a bite.

 

Before arriving at our next visiting artist engagement we treated ourselves and the Airstream to an overnight stop at the famous Land Yacht Harbor, an Airstream only park where the fab lab was able to reunite with many old friends.

Next Stop is Florida Atlantic University in Boca Rotan, Florida : Public Lecture at Noon on Monday 24th November.

 

Savannah SCAD

 
The Sculpture Forum at the Savannah College of Art + Design invited us to stop by today. After our lecture we shared the latest work in progress at the Fab Lab.

'Object Agent Action' made at Santee State Park : home of Swamp Fox and the Santee Indian Burial Mound

Passage of spheres over time as emergent gliding automata collide with the asteroid Eros. (asteroid acquired by remote telemetric data acquisition NASA).  'The three spheres of object agent and action lack inherent existence' Madhyamaka teacher Nagarjuna c.150-250

Thanks again to our gracious hosts Matt Toole and the Sculpture Forum at SCAD.

We will be in Savannah for the next few days.

VISITS ON THE ROAD

 

After leaving Kiptopeke State Park we traveled across the 17 mile long Bridge and Tunnel System of the Chesapeake Bay, our route took us through the snow white cotton fields of Virginia and North Carolina.

We set up at the Sculpture Studios of The University of North Carolina in Greensboro. The Lab was visited by many students throughout our stay where we scanned some cotton buds picked along the way. We are working on a new piece called 'CottonOpolis'.

 

The Lecture was well attended and it was good to revisit with the faculty Andrew Dunnill, Pat Wasserboer and Billy Lee who made us very welcome, Thank You! Next stop was Davidson College also in North Carolina.

 Davidson has a beautiful campus and Art facility like a retreat we were well rested and accommodated in the guest house after our lecture and crits with the students in sculpture and digital art. Thank You to our hosts Cort Savage and Austin Shepard.

We had an open door policy as public stopped by the fab lab whilst we worked.

Currently at the edge of Lake Marion we will be on the road again soon for our next public talk is at Savannah College of Art and Design with the Sculpture Forum 2pm Alexander Hall, SCAD, Georgia.

Followed by an open studio in the Airstream with refreshments form 3pm til 5pm

'A Goal is a Dream with a Deadline'

RED SQUARE FORTUNE COOKIE

Having been on the road for about three days now we arrived at Salisbury University where we were invited to Lecture and set up the Solar Airstream Fab Lab in Red Square : its a red brick square in the center of campus. We found a Fortune Cookie with a surprisingly interesting fortune and decided that this was a sign towards making it the 1st scan on the Space Coast Tour. The fortune cookie itself has a discrete mathematical form and message.

 The Scanner is set up inside the Airstream to scan objects found along the journey.

  

 The scanner produces a 3d model which is then sent directly over to the 3D printer.

 

Paul Higham is preparing the 3d model for printing, seen here sharing the process with sculptor James Hill.

 

 

The scan has been scaled up to 125%, it is verified and processed ready and took 2 hrs to print. We produced 2 prints, one of which will be cast in bronze and will be available to purchase.

 

The 3D Print is printed with a 'raft' which is a base plate and scaffolding which is picked off to reveal the sculpture once it has finished printing.

'A Goal is a Dream with a Deadline : Red Square Fortune Cookie' Printed on site in the Solar Airstream Fab Lab October 21st 2014

 

Thanks to our host Bill Wolff, Sculpture Professor at Salisbury University pictured here on the left with Paul Higham and visitor James Hill. 

Thanks also to all the students and faculty who came by to see us today.

Press Release for 'THE SPACE COAST' Tour

The Solar Airstream Fab Lab will be departing from Alfred, New York in mid October and working its way down the East Coast to the Space Coast then on to Miami and Key West in December. It is due to return back to New York by January 2015.

The Space Coast in particular attracts us because of its history of exploration.

The Solar Airstream Fab Lab is a 1960’s Airstream converted into a digital sculpture lab and research studio, harnessing solar energy via 2 x 22ft panels on the roof it is primarily a mobile studio for small scale production of art. Housing Paul Higham’s custom built rapid prototype machine where he manifests objects from data, whilst Coral Lambert works at each site developing environmental foundry processes utilizing the mobility of the studio.


The Space Coast is a region in the U.S. state of Florida around Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. All of NASA-launched manned spaceflights running from Project Mercury in 1961 to the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011 have departed from either KSC or Cape Canaveral. The Air Force Station has also launched unmanned military and civilian rockets. Cities in the area include Titusville, Cocoa, Rockledge, Cape Canaveral, Merritt Island (unincorporated), Cocoa Beach, Melbourne, Indialantic, and Palm Bay. It is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean.



ACTIONS  EN ROUTE

Digital Fab Lab : Rapid Prototype Technology
Paul Higham will be using his custom made rapid prototype machine to create a series of works involving data acquisition along Florida’s Space Coast. www.datasculpture.net

Environmental Foundry : Clay Mold Process
Coral Lambert will be using the sites along the Space Coast for inspiration as well as to collect objects to mold and cast along the way. She will be developing and further researching her Environmental Foundry practices using the site specific resources at hand. For example a simple mold made from clay, sand and organic matter can be used to make piece molds off of a found object then charcoal and hand pumped bellows to melt the metal. Environmental Foundry uses appropriate and sustainable technologies and materials, such as beeswax, clay, solar, wood, earth, vegetable oil and charcoal to make molds and melt metal. www.corallambertsculptor.com

SPACE COAST TOUR STOPS (subject to change)

October 17th           Depart Alfred, New York

October 20th           Lecture : Salisbury University, MD

October 21st           Airstream Exposition, Salisbury University, MD

October 27th           Lecture + Studio Crits : University of North Carolina Greensboro

Weds Oct 29th        Lecture, Studio Crits + Airstream Exposition :  Davidson College, NC

November 7th        Lecture + Airstream Exposition, SCAD Savannah, GA

November 13th       Lecture : University of North Florida, Jacksonville

November 15th       Iron Pour : University of North Florida, Jacksonville

November 18th       Research Kennedy Space Center

November 20th       Research Cocoa Beach : Space Coast

November 24th       Lecture + Airstream Exposition : FAU Boca Rotan, FL

December 1-2nd     Art Miami

December 3rd         Research Coral Castle

December 4/5th      Orion Rocket Launch : Kennedy Space Center.
 
December 13th      Research Space Coast Mission: Over and Out

See you on the road !