David Versluis | Roy R. Behrens: a collaborative series of Iowa Insect Montages

The Iowa Insect Digital Montage Series preface by Roy R. Behrens:

David Versluis and I decided to try something. He has a collection of Iowa bugs (dead ones) of which he made exquisite scans at high resolution. He began to send me the scan files, one at a time by e-mail, with the challenge that I should respond to them by beginning to build a digital montage, using Adobe Photoshop. I could do whatever I liked. Then I would pass that back to him, in response to which he’d make a move—and pass it back to me again (as if we were playing chess). And so on, usually with five or six back-and-forth turns, until we mutually came to suspect that the work was finished. So that’s how we proceeded.

Beetle I Digital Montage (2012) © David Versluis and Roy R. Behrens
40 x 60 inches 


Beetle II Digital Montage (2012) © David Versluis and Roy R. Behrens
40 x 60 inches 


Cicada Digital Montage (2012) © David Versluis and Roy R. Behrens
40 x 60 inches 


Yellow Jacket Digital Montage (2012) © David Versluis and Roy R. Behrens
40 x 60 inches 


Dragonflies with Cicada Digital Montage (2012) © David Versluis and Roy R. Behrens
40 x 60 inches 


Scarab Beetles Digital Montage (2012) © David Versluis and Roy R. Behrens
40 x 60 inches 


Hoverflies Digital Montage (2012) © David Versluis and Roy R. Behrens
40 x 60 inches


Leaf Beetle Digital Montage (2012) © David Versluis and Roy R. Behrens
40 x 60 inches 


Ladybird Beetle Digital Montage (2012) © David Versluis and Roy R. Behrens
40 x 60 inches 


Cicada Husk Digital Montage (2012) © David Versluis and Roy R. Behrens
40 x 60 inches 

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typographer and architect juxtaposed: a version of ‘typotekt’

Antonius Kurvers (Dutch, 1889-1940)
Poster
Tentoonstelling van Nederlandsche
Gemeentewerken (Exhibition of Dutch Municipal Works [Utrecht]), 1926
Color lithograph; Van Leer, Printer

Gerrit Rietveld (Dutch, 1888-1964)
Sideboard, 1959 (designed 1919)
Beechwood, pigment
Gerard A. van de Groenekan, Maker (Dutch, 1904-1994)
 
From the Modernism Collection, Minneapolis Institute of Art

‘Typotekt’ is a shortening of the words typographer and architect and was a name used by Piet Zwart to describe himself as a graphic designer. 

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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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Iterations (a design process): John Ronan’s the Poetry Foundation

Poetry Foundation Building, Chicago, Illinois. 2011
Photograph courtesy of the Poetry Foundation.
John Ronan Architects (American, founded 1997); John Ronan (born 1963)
The building comprises:
• a public garden
• a 30,000-volume library
• an exhibition gallery
• the Poetry Foundation’s programming offices


Presentation Model, 2008. The semi-transparent screen in front is featured.
Basswood, cardboard, and Plexiglas
Photographs taken from the exhibition Iterations: John Ronan’s Poetry Foundation.
December 14, 2013–May 4, 2014 at the Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 24.
Architecture & Design Society, 2012
Photographs by versluis @ 2015 unless otherwise indicated.



Diagrammatic Sketches, 2008
Computer print on paper exhibition copy
Architecture & Design Society, 2012


Iterative Models, 2008
Cardboard, paper, Plexiglas, and other materials
Collage and assemblage site-plans and floor-plans (projecting-up the plan views).
Architecture & Design Society, 2012


Precision drawing.
Architecture & Design Society, 2012

AIC exhibition didactics state:

For Ronan, the gestation of a design begins with analog processes. After a period of thinking the ideas are quickly sketched hand, or down-loaded, in a spontaneous and intuitive manner. This set of hand-drawn diagrams reflects Ronan’s initial thoughts about how best to integrate a garden—a requisite of the project—with the space’s other key elements: a public reading room and library a performance space, a gallery, and an office. Here Ronan explored different relationships—such as interlocking or overlapping—between the building and the garden, which he then translated onto the site plan. …

Founded in 1997 by John Ronan, the Chicago-based architecture firm John Ronan Architects has made its mark with a range of critically acclaimed buildings and a thoughtful approach to spatial relationships and materials. The firm uses a distinct, iterative methodology in order to explore a wide range of options at the outset of a project. While many architects have adopted a completely digital process, Ronan sees advantages in both handmade and digital design methods; the handmade process, seen here, allows for a more intuitive and less calculated approach that is valuable in the beginning stages, while digital tools allow for the precision necessary to finalize a design.

Operating on a shoestring budget since its 1912 founding by Harriet Monroe, Chicago-based Poetry magazine experienced a surprising windfall in 2003 with the bequest of approximately $200 million from the pharmaceutical heiress Ruth Lilly. The magazine reorganized as the Poetry Foundation and decided to build a permanent home to advance its mission of raising the public profile of poetry. After a thorough selection process, the organization selected John Ronan Architects to design the building.

For the Poetry Foundation, Ronan’s design process entailed thoughtful considerations about how to integrate the required elements of the building. As seen here, the iterative approach was used throughout the design’s development-from the initial diagrams and a set of site-specific models to the presentation model-with the goal of creating a compelling spatial narrative. Completed in 2011, the building was recognized with a national design award from the American Institute of Architects. 

This exhibition has been mode possible with support from the Architecture & Design Society. 

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Erich Mendelsohn: ascending the steps of Mount Zion—by design

Erich Mendelsohn, architect, (1887–1953)
Mount Zion Temple, Saint Paul, Minnesota, (1950–1954)
View from the northeast on Summit Avenue 
Photography by versluis ©2015

Erich Mendelsohn was one of the great twentieth century architects. His buildings are characterized by sensitivity to the site and very expressive of the buildings purpose. Renovational updates of various areas of the building were completed in 2001 by the architectural firm of Bentz, Thompson and Reitow of Minneapolis.


View from the courtyard with Sanctuary in the background


Sanctuary


Hans D. Rawinsky’s The Burning Bush (Holy Presence), 1960

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Erich Mendelsohn: synagogue architecture — an expression of purpose

Erich Mendelsohn, architect, (1887–1953).
Temple Emanuel, Grand Rapids, Michigan, (1948–1952).
View from the southeast. The automobile canopy was added sometime later. Photography by versluis unless otherwise indicated, ©2015.

Temple Emanuel in Grand Rapids, Michigan was one of the last buildings designed by one of the great twentieth century architects, Erich Mendelsohn. A distinguishing feature is how the architect situated the building to take advantage of a southern exposure so that generous light fills the interior space. Inundating the sanctuary with light becomes a celebration of life. As stated in Temple Emanuel’s website: “He [Mendelsohn] visualized a different approach when designing our synagogue. The tall clerestory windows high in the sanctuary allow natural light to flow in, and the movable walls permit us to divide the space as needed.”

The site rests on a gentle rise, which is elevated from the street level. The rhythms and proportions of architectural forms result in a building that harmonizes beautifully with the relative horizontal flatness of the site and verticality and energy of the trees.

Writer Arnold Whittick, in his piece about Mendelsohn for the Encyclopedia of Modern Architecture states that: “Mendelsohn’s work was characterized by a sympathetic and original use of materials, steel, concrete and glass, and by an expression of purpose through the forms of his building, .... His designs were always actuated by the principles of organic unity, so that each part by its character denotes it relation to the whole, and each building is closely wedded to its site.” (1)

1. Whittick, Arnold. “Mendelsohn.” Encyclopedia of Modern Architecture. Ed. Gerd Hatje. 1964. 183-86. Print.

The 1000 sq. ft. sanctuary wall mural that celebrates Light of Creation (recently restored) is the work of Lucienne Bloch Dimitroff (1909–1999), 1953. Casein paint on plywood panels. The mural creates a wonderful golden glow in both daylight and with artificial lighting. Photograph courtesy of The Conservation Center, Chicago. 


View from the southeast and taken through the garden courtyard.


Calvin Albert (1918–2007), “The Burning Bush,” Bronze, 1973.
The sculpture is located between the front entry doors.

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“Streamline Moderne” — Kem Weber’s style

Kem (Karl Emmanuel Martin) Weber American (born Germany), 1889–1963
“Skyscraper” night table, 1928–1929
Mirror, burl walnut, glass, painted and silvered wood, chrome-plated metal, cedar
The Modernism Collection, Minneapolis Institute of Art
photograph by ©versluis 2015
Modes and Manners

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