David Versluis—New work: Fulgurite

© David Marc Versluis
Fulgurite (vitrified silica caused by lightening striking sand or soil)
2017
Aluminum, powder-coated
13h x 7w x 7d inches (33 x 18 x 18 cm)

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Geometric Complexions, a group exhibition curated by Sergio Gomez: The Zhou B Art Center / Chicago, April 28 - June 9, 2017

Geometric Complexions: Curated by Sergio Gomez. Picture in the background are paintings by Enrico Magnani, Italy. In the foreground is David Versluis’s “Tectonic Tower” at the Zhou B Art Center, Chicago. All photographs courtesy of Sergio Gomez, © 2017.


David Versluis talks about his work during the Artists Talk on April 28. A public reception will be held on May 19.


Geometric Complexions: Curated by Sergio Gomez. Pictured above are works by Ruben Aguirre and David Versluis’s sculpture titled “Boundless Spirit: A Steady Flame” at the Zhou B Art Center, Chicago.

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David Versluis | new work: Public Art Edina, Minnesota—Sculpture Exhibit 2017–18

This piece, titled “Rungs to Rings” was selected by the Edina Art Center, city of Edina (Minneapolis metro) for the 2017–18 outdoor public sculpture exhibition. The eight foot high (325 lbs), welded, all-steel and powder-coated sculpture will be rented for a year starting in May. The piece will be placed on a twenty-inches high pedestal and elevated to a total height of almost ten feet.

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Hélio Oiticica: a retrospective exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago—

Hélio Oiticica, (Brazilian, 1937–1980)
NC1 Small Nucleus (foreground), (NC1 Núcleo pequeno 1)
1960
Oil on wood, mirror
photograph by versluis 2017

Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium is on display at the AIC, Regenstein Hall, through May 7, 2017. In the late 1950s, Oiticica’s painterly and suspended constructions that are pulled from the gallery wall to interact/engage with the space of the viewer. The gallery label for the piece pictured above states:

Like the Bilaterals and Spatial Reliefs, Oiticica’s Nuclei are made up of forms suspended from the ceiling. Clustered together, so that viewers have to walk around to pieces to fully experience them—they represent an early exploration of architectural space for the artist. Oiticica’s aspiration to integrate the viewer into the work itself is made literal here through he reflection provided by the mirror. Oiticica’s goal was to give color an independent physical presence apart form the form on which it appeared.

From the collection of César and Claudio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro

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Rick Valicenti: Patriot Table—from the exhibition “(maybe) THIS TIME”

Rick Valicenti: Patriot Table made in collaboration with Jonathan Nesci.
nothing normative—in post-election Patriot Table becomes even more poignant.
From the exhibition: (maybe) THIS TIME
Loyola University Artist-in-Residence, 2016–17 Ralph Arnold Gallery
Exhibition ends 26 November 2016

The following text taken from Thirst/3st:

“Red, White, Blue and Dangerous—this life-threatening side table is the ideal accent in any flag waving, All-American decor.”

There’s no question this piece can stand on its own—the red, white, and blue pork pie drum/table supported by javelin legs, which includes the stereoscopic reflection of the mirror on which this piece stands. Time will tell if hell is on the way—meanwhile Valicenti’s piece offers help by contrasting irony (sans cynicism) with an artifact of exquisite design and craft.

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A signature piece: Rick Valicenti’s “A Wheel of Fortune—Round and Round”

From the exhibition: (maybe) THIS TIME
Rick Valicenti
Loyola University Artist-in-Residence, 2016–17
Ralph Arnold Gallery
11 October – 26 November 2016

Chicago based artist/designer Rick Valicenti’s Wheel of Fortune—Round and Round installation artwork seems to be a hybrid and hyperbolic time piece with a subtle note of George Nelson’s modern clock designs. The light rays emanating from the center hint at Bernini’s Ecstasy, while the centralized casting of a “death mask” accents the vanitas genre without the moralizing. The piece is a roulette and metaphor for all the small deeds of civility. Photograph above used with permission.

Wheel of Fortune 2016
Industrial Felt
60 x 60"
Fabricated by West Supply
Unique

Round and Round 2016
Polished Aluminum
72 x 72"
In collaboration with Taek Kim
Fabricated by West Supply
Unique

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Rebecca Hutchinson: “Florilegium” Show / Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis

Tranquil Burst, an installation by Rebecca Hutchinson.
porcelain, paperclay, handmade paper, adhesive, adobe, willow, 2016.
Northern Clay Center—Contemporary clay work and ceramic sculpture gallery in Minneapolis. Photograph by © versluis 2016

The following information is from the exhibition label:

In nature there are d1verse states of existence that I continue to study the structure of nature. the resulting state of nature after interact1on with other forces of nature. the resilience of nature. and the complexity and awe 1n the engineering of nature All of these states of nature are rooted and formed by the motivation and need to survive, and they provide countless influences for diverse construction and conceptual possibilities for art making. More specifically. they provide endless opportunities for metaphor, as they speak to the depth and complexity of living with the hopes of revealing the human condition in visual and sculptural form, utiliZing traditional and non-traditional ceramic materials and processes.

My work focuses on the respect for process and the endless influences found in nature. Formally and structurally, my interest is in the details—quality of craft, connections. and structure -and conceptually. 1n an understanding of all physical parts to the whole. I build clay and fibrous sculptural works made from indigenous materials. such as recycled 100% natural fiber clothing or harvested garden materials beaten down to pulp and formed Into handmade sheets. and industrial cast-off surplus materials. like cotton thread from the bedding industry, shredded 100 dollar bills taken out of circulation, or sisal from the burlap bag industry.

Clay is either site-dug or purchased and mixed with pulp to create a slurry of paperclay. I hand model, slip trail, and dip surplus industrial materials or handmade paper forms and pour paperclay slip between papers, and cut and construct. Each paperclay form is built to be fired or remain non-fired A sticky mixture of paperclay mixed with glue binds the handmade paper and the paperclay florets to each other and to a simply constructed, wooden frame. Installation construction is influenced conceptually by specific growth patterns. but does not replicate nature. Like an animal that uses the vernacular from place. I, too, upcycle humble materials and remake them into what I hope to be exquisite sculptural forms. …

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Isamu Noguchi: “Mountain Landscape (Bench)” 1981 — three views

Isamu Noguchi (American, 1904-1988)
Mountain Landscape (Bench), 1981
Basalt
Collection of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri 

The following is from the museum label:

Mountain Landscape (Bench) reveals Noguchi’s outstanding ability to combine refined carving and roughly chiseled surfaces within one work. The massive, horizontal bench was carved from a single p1ece of stone and rests on two stone feet. The flat-topped form on the sculpture’s upper surface suggests a great mesa or mound rising from a primal landscape. These forms relate to Noguchi’s lifelong study of ancient pyramids and burial mounds, which he explored on his world travels. Like a distinctive rock that has been carefully placed in a traditional Japanese garden, Mountain Landscape (Bench) also served as an aid to meditation. At Noguchi’s studio in Mure, Japan, he and others rested on the bench and observed other sculptures.

Gift of the Hall Family Foundation F99-33/70

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Donald Drumm: designer and sculptor and master craftsman

Donald Drumm (American, b.1935), designer and sculptor
The 10 story concrete mural at Bowling Green State University’s Jerome Library building. Concrete, carved/chiseled relief panels with paint for contrast, c.1966. Drumm was artist-in-residence at BGSU in the mid-1960s. In 1996 the mural was refurbished to it’s original state.

The scale of this work is fantastically impressive and the syncopation of the visual elements are delightful.

Drumm is based in Akron, Ohio. He was born in Warren, Ohio and received art degrees from Kent State University.

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Ossip Zadkine: (re)considering the artist’s empathetic work — searching for “a true reality and a real truth”

Prometheus (1956), Bronze
Ossip Zadkine (1890–1967), Sculptor
Saint-Germain des Prés, Paris
photograph by © versluis 2010

Traditionally, Prometheus was ridiculed as the purveyor of good gifts to humankind — Zadkine’s Prometheus (in a beautifully subtle contrapposto pose) asks whether humankind is using the gift of fire for good or for ill. The consideration of Zadkine’s artworks again seem relevant in these disconcerting times.

One of the best reflections of Zadkine’s work was by Dutch artist, Henk Krijger (1913-1979). The following excerpt, subtitled, A christian style, is from Jan de Bree’s fine article, “Henk Krijger and the Institute for Christian Art / Patmos, 1969-1973”:

Krijger in his article Drie Overwegingen, discussed the christian artist and the development of a christian style. In his considerations he turned to the Russian sculptor, Ossip Zadkine, and showed how Zadkine’s work was important for the christian artist. According to Krijger, Zadkine, like so many other modern artists, experienced a cultural crisis. In his distress he searched for a ‘true reality and a real truth’ and broke through to the deepest deep, ‘the primordial state in which horror, fear and lostness were the characteristic emotions.’ Like Zadkine, the christian artist also was to break through to the deepest deep. The Christian had to break through the ‘schriftge­ leerden-wet or leer’ (the law or doctrine of Bible scholars) to the depths where prayer, the cry to God (an existential outburst) broke forth and a conversion took place. Going against the certainty of human knowledge and casting oneself upon God made the christian artist not a rebel against God, but a witness of the Word. He would be a witness of the Word in his own language, his christian art, with a true style. That is conversion.

The turning away from a kind of academic knowledge or dogma, as Krijger later called it, to an intuitive, emotional knowing was one of his main points in his view of art. …(1)

1. de Bree, Jan. “Henk Krijger and the Institute for Christian Art/Patmos, 1969-1973.” Hommage `a Senggih: A Retrospective of Henk Krijger in North America. Ed. Jan de Bree. Toronto: Patmos Gallery, 1988. 25-26. Print.

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Dordt College graphic design and printmaking student: Kwan Yong Park, South Korea

Kwan Yong Park 
Untitled
Two-Color Linocut 2016
Several Dordt College art and design students, taking printmaking for the first time, recently had their artwork selected in a juried Regional Exhibition. Dabin Jeong, Youra Song, and Kwan Yong Park were among the twenty-five regional artists featured in Orange City Arts’ exhibit April 22–30, 2016 at the DeWitt Theatre Arts Center at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.

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David Versluis’s new work: “a little bit of cathedral in it”

David Versluis and Nelson Wynia
“a little bit of cathedral in it”
2015
15'H x 10'W x 1'D
Welded aluminum, powder coated chrome
Aluminum skeletons from Kooima Laser Cutting

Dordt College Commission and Permanent Collection—Science Building Addition. Photographs by Carl Fictorie ©2015

The design and title of this piece is inspired and responds to this quote by engineer and writer Samuel Florman:

“Not only cathedrals, but every great engineering work is an expression of motivation and of purpose which cannot be divorced from religious implications. This truth provides the engineer with what many would assert to be the ultimate existential pleasure.

I do not want to get carried away with this point. The age of cathedral building is long past. And, as I have already said, less than one quarter of today’s engineers are engaged in construction activities of any sort. But every man-made structure, no matter how mundane has a little bit of cathedral in it, since man [humankind] cannot help but transcend himself as soon as he begins to design and construct.”(1)

1. Florman, Samuel C. The Existential Pleasures of Engineering. 2nd ed. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1996. 125. Print.

L: David Versluis (designer) and Nelson Wynia (welder) installing hanging brackets and five foot x ten foot aluminum panels.

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David Versluis’s new work: Tectonic Tower Maquette

David M. Versluis ©2015
Tectonic Tower Maquette
Welded aluminum, powder coated chrome
2015
14.5"H x 9"W x 5"D
Photography by Doug Burg

This piece is a response to the transitional tectonics and nature of the cultural landscape. Contour lines angle and change directions to form an architecture of triangular shapes or plates. These plates stack, layer, and off-set to suggest a balanced or unbalanced structure depending on your perspective—the whole piece becomes richer than the sum of individual parts. The imperfection of the welds and reflective surface help viewers to focus on their experience.

This piece is to some extent inspired by Herbert Bayer’s Leaning Spiral Tower. However, ironically, this piece seems to suggests a kind of:

“transautomatism”, which was a term used by artist, Friedensreich Hundertwasser Regentag (1928–2000)(1).

1. Calvin Seerveld, Setting Things Right, CIVA Seen, 2013. 5.

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Henry Moore: bones that are still alive

Henry Moore (British, 1898–1986)
Working Model for Divided Oval: Butterfly
Bronze, 1967; cast 1982
Collection of the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
photography by versluis ©2015

The model for Divided Oval feels like it’s from a sculptor who was also a bone and joint specialist. Dr. Calvin Seerveld has mentioned that, “You sense that Moore means to pare things down to the essential bone, but the bones are still sinewy and alive, not skeletal!”(1)

The following text is from Henry Moore Works in Public:

Moore’s own words, although not specifically relating to the Butterfly, reflect upon the alliance between tension and enigma…

My sculpture has a force, is a strength, is a life, a vitality from inside it, so that you have a sense that the form is pressing from inside trying to burst or trying to give off the strength from inside itself, rather than having something which is just shaped from outside and stopped. It’s as though you have something trying to make itself come to a shape from inside itself…

I think it should not be obvious exactly what a work of art is on the very first view. If it is obvious then, one tends to look at something, recognize it and then turn away, knowing what it is.’

1. Seerveld, Calvin G. Rainbows for the Fallen World. Toronto: Toronto Tuppence Press, 2005. 231. Print.

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Carl Milles: “The Vision of Peace” at the Saint Paul City Hall – Ramsey County Courthouse

The Vision of Peace (God of Peace)
Memorial Hall, Saint Paul City Hall / Ramsey County Courthouse
View from the third floor. All photographs ©versluis 2015

Sculptor: Carl Milles
Material: Mexican Onyx
Height: 36 feet, Weight: 60 tons

For Native Americans the ascending smoke from a ceremonial fire or the peace pipe signify prayers being lifted up. The following is from the label/didactics that identifies the monument:

This statue depicts five Native Americans [at the base] in a spiritual ceremony with their sacred pipes. From the smoke arises a Vision of Peace. One hand of the statue holds the sacred pipe, the other extends in a gesture of friendship—symbolic of the idea that with meeting and understanding comes the hope for world peace.

The figure [unnoticeably] rotates 132 degrees on its base (66 degrees in each direction).

Building dedicated in 1932
Building Architects: Holabird and Root
Construction: Ellerbe & Company

The left-handed God of Peace (right-handed in final version)
Plaster maquette made to scale by Carl Milles, 1930
The first three designs were not accepted. The image above is the fourth maquette submitted, which was finally approved by the commission.
From the collection of the Minnesota Museum of Art

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“Evocative Poetry: Colossians 1:15-20” — a collaborative work by David Versluis and Jacob Van Wyk

Evocative Poetry: Colossians 1:15-20
David Versluis (designer) and Jacob Van Wyk (ceramic artist)
Ceramic Tile Mural (Glazed Stoneware)
10 x 17 feet—approx. 3,000 lbs.
A 2014 Dordt College art commission for the Science Building Addition.


This view shows Versluis (dark shirt) and Van Wyk (red shirt) who are beginning to layout the finished tiles on the template. Eventually this preparation step will lead the mounting the tiles to the aluminum support panels that are adjacent to the template in this picture.


Nelson Wynia, the metal fabricator and Van Wyk are shown mounting the aluminum baseplate to 30, one and a half inch, protruding wall standoffs.

The work is based on the following Biblical passage:
 
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Col 1: 15-20

Artists’ Statement:

The title “Evocative Poetry: Colossians 1:15–20” was derived from two significant books on Colossians. In The Climax of the Covenant theologian N.T. Wright describes Colossians 1:15–20 as “Paul’s poetry.” Keesmaat and Walsh in Colossians Revisited call it “radical and evocative poetry.”

This relief sculpture is meant to reflect what Colossians says about Jesus, in creation and in covenant with his people. Through the square-cut tiles we want to suggest, as songwriter Matthew Westerholm does in “The First Place,” that “Every inch of this universe belongs to you, O Christ. For through you and for you it was made. Your creation endures by the order of your hand.”

The suggested topographic geographical map alludes to God’s blessing on all creation, all things, and all humankind. With N.T. Wright, we proclaim that “the creator God is also the redeeming, covenant God, and vice versa.”

In the coloration of the piece, we tried to compliment and anchor the interior space in this building. Even though the ceramic tiles are heavy, they seem to float against the wall, creating a sense of dynamic and kinetic energy in this space in which students and faculty will explore and discover the endless wonder and complexity of what God has made.

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new work: “Man of La Mancha”

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.”

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Three-dimensional design à la Wucius Wong: Wall Structures—Cube, Column, and Wall

© Nathan Morehead, 2014
Dordt College—Three-Dimensional Design Foundations
Wall Structures
8" w x 12" h x 2" d
photographs by versluis

Pictured are examples of Dordt College student work from the Three-Dimensional Design course this semester. Artist / designer Wucius Wong writes in his book, Principles of Form and Design: Three-Dimensional Design that: “All formal two-dimensional structures can become wall structures with the addition of some depth, and their structural sub-divisions can be made into spatial cells.” (1)

The design shown above is the systematic arrangement of cubical spatial cells. The unit forms are composed of slightly curled strips with the cut-out square that join the two edges of the spatial cell to construct an alternating angle.


© Kit Drennon, 2014
Dordt College—Three-Dimensional Design Foundations
Wall Structures
12" w x 12" h x 3" d
photographs by versluis

The wall structure in this design relies on the contrasting arrangement and modification of spatial cells. Unit forms are cut-out tear-drop triangular negative shapes, which allows the viewer to see through the spatial cells.


© Kim DeBoer, 2014
Dordt College—Three-Dimensional Design Foundations
Wall Structures
15" w x 15" h x 4" d
photographs by versluis

The projections of spatial cells in this design creates a strong impact as indicated in this vantage point. Unit forms are the open ends of the cells, which are accentuated by the suggestion of a tessellation-like structure. This pattern seems reminiscent of Friedrich Froebel’s “The Twelfth Gift”

1. Wong, Wucius. Principles of Form and Design. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1993. 259. Print.

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Three-dimensional design à la Wucius Wong: Serial Planes in repetition and gradation

Dordt College—Three-Dimensional Design Foundations
2014 © Wade D. Vollink
Serial Planes
16" w x 13" h x 7" d
photographs by versluis

This semester at Dordt College, Sioux Center, Iowa a new course in three-dimensional design is being offered. In this student design project, titled Serial Planes, as Wucius Wong states, “Volume is represented by a series of planes, each plane is a cross-section of the volume. Thus, to construct a volumetric form, we can think in terms of its cross-sections, or how the form can be sliced up at regular intervals, which will result in serial planes.” (1)

The serial planes in the design above rely on the effective use of gradation of shape for impact. The positive curvilinear forms are contrasted with the negative circular shapes that move diagonally from larger to smaller and vice versa. The broad curves resonate and enhance the circular shapes.


It’s interesting when the same design is repositioned to a vertical elevation—the effect of the new perspective becomes very architectural.

1. Wong, Wucius. Principles of Form and Design. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1993. 247. Print.

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Compliments for “Enlaced: A Burning Bush, Psalm 19” — a new sculpture for Dordt College, Sioux Center, Iowa

Enlaced: a Burning Bush, Psalm 19 — a sculpture for Dordt College
David M. Versluis, concept, design director, designer
8 feet at the base and 18 feet high
Weighs 6,550 lbs.
Southwest elevation looking toward Southview apartments

The dedication for Enlaced: a Burning Bush, Psalm 19 is scheduled for Monday November 4 at around 3:45 p.m.  Dr. Calvin Seerveld will be in attendance and will speak a few words. Seerveld’s “Burning Bush” insight from Psalm 19 in Rainbows for the Fallen World was part of the inspiration for the sculpture.

Sculpture Project Credits:
Thank you to the donors for generously funding the sculpture project.
Dordt College Art Committee, Sally Jongsma, chair
Lauren Ochsner, maquette welder, Golden Prairie Art, Maurice, Iowa
William Morren Design, LLC, industrial designer, Hillsboro, Wisconsin
Daniel Dykstra, engineering/structural analysis, Grand Rapids, Michigan,
D+M Metal, Inc., manufacturer, Comstock Park, Michigan
Stan Haak, et al., site preparation and concrete foundation forms, Dordt College Maintenance Dept.
Mark Van Voorst, Van Voorst Concrete, Hull, Iowa
Nelson Wynia, Nelson’s Welding and Machine, Sioux Center, Iowa
Mike Wynia, supervisor, Hoogendoorn Construction Inc., hoist service,
Canton, South Dakota

Regarding the sculpture here are some compliments from esteemed colleagues and acquaintances:

“Having stood alongside David during the original proposals, many technical plans, and delays, its a joy and a privilege to see and experience the final result, in the flesh.”
—Jake Van Wyk, Professor of Art, Dordt College. Van Wyk is an artist and teacher with over 35 years experience

“What a simple powerful presence it has.”
—Roy R. Behrens, Professor of Art, and Distinguished Scholar, University of Northern Iowa. Behrens was a nominee in 2003 for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Design Awards

“It looks fantastic!…. And I love the name!”
—Phil Schaafsma, founder and director of Eyekons, Grand Rapids, Michigan

“Brilliant”… “Magnificent”
—Rick Valicenti, founder and design director of Thirst/3st, AIGA Medalist and Fellow of the AIGA Chicago. Honored at the White House Valicenti was awarded the Smithsonian Cooper-­Hewitt, National Design Award for Communication Design in 2011

“…it looks wonderful.”
—Joseph Michael Essex, Partner, Essex Two, Chicago and Fellow of the AIGA Chicago


North elevation looking toward East Campus


East elevation looking toward Covenant Hall


Installation of the uprights to the baseplate on 20 August. Pictured R-L is a Hoogendoorn Construction worker, Nelson Wynia, Jake VanWyk

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