Siebren Versteeg
(American, b. 1971)
History, 2003
Silicon, bronze, velvet, and wood
photograph by versluis
MCA didactics state:
The History Channel
Siebren Versteeg's sculpture History greets visitors at the entrance to (Museum of Contemporary Art | Chicago) MCA Screen, with an ironic nod to the culture of infotainment that spins mainstream narrations of history into pulp fiction.Read More......
Illinois Institute of Technology’s Crown Hall covered in wet snow, March 2014.
photogrpghs by versluis
South elevation and entrance
Mies van der Rohe, architect
Open in 1956
If Peter Behrens, (d. 1940) had seen Mies’s Crown Hall perhaps he would have exclaimed, “My heart went out!” The quote was Behrens’s remark when he saw Mies’s 1927 Weissenhofsiedlung project [*]. (1)
These photographs indicate Mies's classicistic perspective on architectural form in glass and steel. The modernistic formal language and principles of design served the Miesian framework and became the Bauhaus curriculum of architecture. The building is emblematic of Mies’s pedagogical perspective and program on how to become an architect.
*The Weissenhofsiedlung was housing (a subdivision) built for the Deutscher Werkbund in Stuttgart.
Joseph Claude Sinel
New Zealander, 1889-1975
“Model S” scale, c. 1927 (closeup of the base)
International Ticket Scale Company, Manufacturer, New York City
From the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art
photograph by versluis
“You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald
Pilgrim Baptist Church, 2014
3300 South Indiana Ave. Chicago, Illinois
A sad view—rebuilding after the 2006 fire.
photograph by versluis
Above is a current photograph of Pilgrim Baptist Church on the south side of Chicago. The building was initially designed by architects Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler in the early 1890s as a synagogue; in 1922 the building became home to the Pilgrim Baptist Church. By the 1930s the church became well-known for its gospel music with leading members such as Thomas A. Dorsey and Mahalia Jackson. In 2006 the building tragically burned and was mostly destroyed except for the massive stone walls.
Milton Glaser (American, born 1929).
Mahalia Jackson. 1967.
Offset lithograph, two sheets, each 38 x 24 inches
Apparently Glaser was mindful of the entry door and the very prominent and characteristically Sullivanesque large round arch doorway of the Church when he designed this poster in 1967 to promote the Mahalia Jackson Easter Sunday Concert at Lincoln Center in New York. Pilgrim Baptist Church was home base for Mahalia Jackson.
Source for the poster image:
Schreck, Audrey. “Designer Spotlight: Milton Glaser.” Typophile. N.p., 1 Mar. 2009. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.
© Wade Vollink, 2014
Dordt College—Three-Dimensional Design Foundations
Prisms and Cylinder Structures
Wood
15.5" w x 10" h x 3" d
photograph by versluis
Pictured are examples of Dordt College student work from the Three-Dimensional Design course this semester. Artist / designer Wucius Wong writes about prisms and cylinders in his book, Principles of Form and Design: Three-Dimensional Design that: “A prism is a form with ends which are similar, equal, and parallel rectilinear figures, and with sides which are [perpendicular to the ends] rectangles or parallelograms.” In addition Wucius Wong goes on to explain, “From this basic prism many variation can be made.” (1)
© Kit Drennen, 2014
Dordt College—Three-Dimensional Design Foundations
Prisms and Cylinder Structures
Bristol Board
16" w x 12" h x 16" d
photograph by Kit Drennen
Hans Hollein
Skyscraper of the Future
1958
City of Chicago—unspecified location
Photograph by versluis, 2012
Hans Hollein’s Skyscraper of the Future split the conventional tower into segments while integrating public space.
Chicago’s skyscrapers impressed architect Hans Hollein when he visited the city in his twenties [during the 1950s]. But he found their design and function monotonous. Hollein wanted to design a dramatically different skyscraper.
Hollein split the office tower into multiple sections and inserted public buildings and gardens, creating floating villages.
Hollein’s tower, currently under construction in Shenzhen, China, is a testament to Chicago’s role as a catalyst of architectural innovation. (1)
Model courtesy DSM’s Somos® Materials Group.
David M. Versluis
Untitled on Four Legs / Feet
Wire and Steel
26"H x 17"W x 9"D
Artist Statement:
This whimsical sculptural piece made of wire and steel uses all metallic materials and basic metal-working skills to suggest the breastplate and shield of the invincible “Man of La Mancha”.
This piece was selected for recognition for the Juried Exhibit—Artists’ Showcase: Orange City Arts Council’s 2014 Regional Exhibition, February 14–22 at the Northwestern College DeWitt Theatre Arts Center in Orange City, Iowa. The show ran concurrently with the Northwestern College musical production of “Man of La Mancha.” Orange City Arts Council promotions stated, “Artworks are related to the themes in de Cervantes’ tale of Don Quixote: from madness and idealism to the fine line between illusion and reality.”
