My role
Designed, CNC-cut, and hand-finished the wooden display platforms.
Collaboration
Robin Cass’s glass sculptures paired with my fabricated platforms.
Status
Exhibited at Rochester Contemporary Art Center in early 2015.
A tribute to misfits. February 6 – March 15, 2015, Rochester Contemporary Art Center.
Artist statement. A new collaboration between Rochester artists Bill Klingensmith and Robin Cass. Traditional craft and high-tech fabrication, used in the service of ideas, test the boundaries between art, craft, and design.
Cass sculpts the glass in its molten state, sometimes sealing silver leaf or other materials inside. These pieces are experiments that never found a home in her Curious Growths series or other assemblages. Here, those foundlings are chosen, cleaned up, and each given its own niche.
Klingensmith designs and cuts the wooden platforms on a CNC router, then finishes each one by hand. A metallic arch tops each shelf and gives the object below a sense of reverence, celebrating each misfit as a curiosity.
People have always collected odd objects for contemplation or display. The Renaissance cabinet of curiosities is the classic case. It answers a basic desire to reflect on the mysterious and feel wonder.
Process.
