owl

Owl surgery /  by kelly heaton

Paper owl looking onto its electronic eye circuit, 2018

Paper owl looking onto its electronic eye circuit, 2018

Transitions. Sometimes it feels like the holes that we have are equally -if not more- beautiful than what promises to fill them. Here, a paper owl contemplates the circuit that I designed to fit into its eyes. The addition of electronics to a static object adds more than functionality and aesthetics - it changes the identity of the object. Non-electronic things live in a physical world with thousands of years of creative history, while electronic things are very new. What was once an owl then become a robot - perhaps more robot than owl in our estimation. Does the owl stand to lose more than it gains?

Low Poly Owl /  by kelly heaton

I've been working on a series of "low poly" sculptures for my latest Electrolier sculpture. Here are some images of an owl in progress. He was modeled in Blender, unfolded using a research software from a professor at GMU, cut on a laser cutter at Nova Labs, and assembled in my studio. The owl is still in the process of being refined and painted. The image of the pattern corresponds to the owl's right foot. The reason that my Blender model is separated into parts (body + two feet) is related to the pattern's complexity - it's easier to unfold if I process it in pieces.

 

open studio: who /  by kelly heaton

Detail of "Who," 2016.  Colored pencil, graphite, and gouache on paper.

I continue to study electronic circuit design as a means to represent the "energy anatomy" of a human being.  In this drawing, "Who," I have constructed each chakra of the body using a simple circuit designed to manifest the corresponding energy.  In the above detail, you can see the solar plexus, heart, throat, mind, and crown chakras (in ascending order).  In the coming weeks, I'll be working on sculptural studies of the chakras; and I will explain my reasons in greater detail.