Urban Cairn _ Fall 2009

  

In August, visiting artist, Laurie Spencer, joined the 3D Studies students from 3D Foundations, Sculpture, and Ceramics; and faculty - Tom Lingeman, Karen Roderick-Lingeman and Rex Fogt . Spencer provided sketches for the Urban Cairn project, a 9.5' ceramic sculpture. A design was chosen and the students got to work with the guidance of Spencer and the faculty. The project began by laying the foundation.

3D Foundations students created the arm-thick, 3' coils used to construct the cairn walls. Laurie Spencer returned to Oklahoma, and the students under the direction of the 3D faculty continued the construction using the coil method. Ceramics student, Candace O'Shea was "the inside person," working the structure on its interior as the shape took form. Weather conditions were a consideration throughout the process. Temperature and moisture effect the drying process. If the structure dried too rapidly or slowly, there could be problems.

Reaching the 9.5' summit took scaffolding and many, many hours of hard work. Once the sculpture was constructed, it needed to finish drying. Laurie Spencer returned to UT in October and the firing of the cairn took place over three days. The hand-built kiln, constructed from kawl wool and rebar mesh, utilized three under-ground intake pipes and four, 20' out-take pipes to control temperature and draft. Attended by faculty and students for three days and nights, the artwork reached its peak temperature of 2000º at 2 am Saturday. The kiln was removed, the Urban Cairn emerged, and the gradual cooling process continued through Sunday. Visitors can view and enter the Urban Cairn located the Center for Sculptural Studies at 535 Oakwood, Toledo, Ohio.

The Urban Cairn project was funded in part by a University of Toledo, Strategic Enhancement Award. Special thanks is extended to the following individuals, whose hard work and dedication made the process and experience a resounding success:

Laurie Spencer        Tom Lingeman            Karen Roderick-Lingeman
Mark Moffet            Brian Carpenter           Crystal Anderson
Candace O'Shea      Antonio Lopez-Lara    Julia Labay
Bill Rowland           Christina Stone            Brenda Guerra
Austen Kowalski     Dan Vieyra                 Mark Milliken
Monica Valdez        Alan Beyersdorf          Randy Hartman   
Nicholas Miller        Austin Tuttle