Between September 9 and 23, Danish artist Nina Hole was on the SUNY Fredonia campus sponsored by the Williams Visiting Professor Endowment. During her residency Nina and her Swedish assistant, Ann-Charlotte Ohlsson together with numerous volunteers from both the campus and community built, and site fired a large ceramic sculpture. Her piece at Fredonia, entitled "Turning Point" is her 14th site fire sculpture. Others are to be found all around the world. Visit Nina's own web site at www.ninahole.com
Date(s): September 26, 2005. Album by Marvin Bjurlin. Photos by Marvin Bjurlin. 1 - 87 of 87 Total. 1102 Visits.
An event to remember- good show. - AJ, Mon, 7 Nov 2005 7:29AM
what an experiance - Scott Bye, Sun, 30 Oct 2005 3:23PM
What a great story & the firing was beautiful. You turned the ending into something great - kudos! - Linda Lampack, Mon, 24 Oct 2005 6:50PM
1 In preparation for the Nina Hole event, SUNY Fredonia M & O staff poured an extra thick concrete slab in a carefully chosen location near the Rockefeller Arts Center. Based upon drawings and a model the artist brought from Denmark, the artist began by laying out the foot print of the sculpture fire box base.
2 The firebrick (Empire S) used for this portion of the project was purchased at a significant discount through the generosity of Harbison-Walker Refractories in Buffalo, NY. Thank you Shane and John!
3 The clay chosen for use was a custom mix terra cotta used at the University for hand building and figurative sculpture. Standard Ceramics, of Pittsburgh very generously donated 7000 lbs. of this clay. Thank you Graham Turnbull! The construction began with two transport pads on silica sand. This was designed to facilitate shrinkage during the drying.
4 After several unsuccessful attempts to extrude the clay straps we resorted to rolling slabs and cutting to a standard template size creating the "J" forms Nina used to build the wall structure.
5 The "J" forms standing on edge resulted in an inner and outer membrane structure. One of the major challenges for Nina was to direct heat within the form during the firing. For his piece her strategy included a central column designed to force the heat into the three wings.
6 It was necessary to put up a small shelter to provide shade and wind protection. The "J" forms were manufactured in the ceramics studio on the second floor of the building in the background of this picture. They were transported to the work site on a cart.
7 As the form got taller, workers stood on cinder blocks and planking.
8 Ann-Charlotte Ohlsson trained local volunteers in the attachment of the building units. Nina monitored the growing form.
9 The courses alternated leaving the ventilation windows first on the inside, then the outside. This construction technique enabled maximum heat circulation.
10 A simple garden sprayer was kept on hand to mist areas that were drying too fast.
11 Scott Bye and Keith Johnson work with Nina.
12 At the beginning the sculpture form was closed into the small craft show tent at night. As the form grew, additional scaffolding had to be brought to the site by college staff. The SUNY Fredonia sculpture was three sided and this posed special problems for the rigging.
13 University staff provided all of the rigging as well as a 45' lift bucket on the site. The lift was used on occasion for aerial views of the form.
14 Western New York offers unpredictable weather. A significant problem encountered was rain in severe wind. A second lift had to be brought to the site to secure tarping over the entire work site. This view is from the ceramics studio in the Rockefeller Arts Center.
15 Electrical tubing was utilized to create a curved canopy between the three scaffolds. This supported all of the canvas that covered the project each night.
16 Special triangular platforms were constructed as out rigging to provide access to the concave sides of the form.
17 A particular challenge during the hot, windy days, was to keep the working edge moist enough to accept more clay while letting the base dry partially to provide strength.
18 Looking up from the base provided some interesting perspectives on the sculpture growing within its canopy.
19 After one day of severe rain, the entire area became so muddy, that University staff provided carpet walkways from the kiln court staging area to the work site.
20 This view shows additional baffles built into the interior of the form to direct heat. These were made of refractory fiberboard donated by M & M Pottery of Cory, PA. This generous folks also provided free delivery of all of the clay for the project. Thank you Tony!
21 As the form grew, the wings became more slender. Each "J" unit was modified to fit into its space. Small paddles were used to firm up attachment as well as adjust form.
22 The ceramics majors at SUNY Fredonia were the core worker group. Amanda Ford is in the fore ground and Bradley Cramer at the back.
23 At one point it became necessary to use blowers at each corner to push air in through the fire boxes to speed drying. During this process dry leaves were added in order to watch the interior air path around the heat baffles.
24 As a security precaution, the site was illuminated at night. There was no construction occurring after dark.
25 Since the canopy was not totally sealed, the sculpture itself was wrapped in plastic each night.
26 This aerial view of part of the campus shows the work site in the distance.
27 On one occasion some aerial shots were taken by myself from a Piper Cub flown by Al Leaky out of Dunkirk Airport.
28 This view shows the corner of the Rockefeller Arts Center, the adjacent kiln court and the work site.
29 This view was taken during a tight spiral turn.
30 A view of the entire campus.
31 The scaffolding allowed as many as 6 or 7 people to work simultaneously.
32 One day when we arrived to work we were delighted to discover that our favorite SUNY Fredonia staff assistant had secured flags to the scaffolding! Thank you Mike!
33 The form was completed and work began on refining the surface.
34 The flags reminded us that this was truly an international collaboration. The artist, Nina Hole is Danish, her assistant, Ann-Charlotte is Swedish. The students, including Shannon McArdle and Erin Foye in this picture, were American. The project occurred in New York State.
35 Once the form was complete, every possible effort was made to protect it from the threat of driving rain.
36 Eventually it was time to begin removing the canopy. Nina Hole decided to apply a terra sigilatta mixture to the sculpture surface to reduce the contrast between the firebrick and clay and to make the piece more like the nearby architecture in color.
37 A chain gang was used to transport additional firebrick to the site for the construction of the removable fireboxes.
38 The process of preparing the refractory blanket (Inswool-HP 8#) began with sewing chicken wire to the 2' wide rolls of insulation. Protective respirators as well as body suits and gloves insured against the typical itching caused by the fiber.
39 The blanket was wrapped around the sculpture. 12" spikes were used to hold the blanket out from the clay wall. 20' angle iron verticals were used in each concave corner to hold the blanket in.
40 The bucket lift was used to secure the angle iron at the top.
41 A triangular metal plate was fabricated to hold the iron together
42 Once entire blanket was wired together in tiers the scaffolding was removed.
43 A baby fire was used for 16 hours to finish the drying and preheat the sculpture. It is remarkable that this occurred only 10 days after the clay was still in the boxes from Standard Ceramics!
44 Early morning view, after an all night preheat. Once the firing began, teams of stokers had to work around the clock in shifts.
45 Ann-Charlotte and Nina did most of their communication in their own mixture of Swedish and Danish. The volunteer participants, both students at SUNY Fredonia and members of the local community were charmed by their ongoing chatter.
46 The scene shop of the Teatre Department donated some of the firewood. Thank you Steve. Approximately 3 face cords of dry pine logs were split to 2-inch diameter. In addition, 2 face cords of dry cherry were split small. Chautauqua Wood contributed African Mahogany rippings. Thank you Dan. Mill shop cut off stick wood Mayshark Builders, Inc. provided the ideal material. Thank you Jim!
47 The first night of the firing was relatively uneventful. Every effort was made to keep the interior temperature below 100 degrees C. The temperature was monitored by two digital pyrometers inserted half way up the wall.
48 The second night was a nightmare. Torrential rain and severe wind combined to almost bring the project to a premature conclusion. Temporary shelters were created for fire stokers but there was no way to shelter the kiln structure.
49 The next day was almost entirely spent attempting to drive the moisture out of the blanket and continue gaining temperature. Heat gain stalled for 12 hours. Never the less preparations were made for the final push to the end.
50 By evening on September 23 we began to see the interior heat through the blanket. This incredible material allows the glow of the heat to show through with very little actual loss of BTU.
51 As the crowd gathered to witness the conclusion of the firing SUNY Fredonia student members of African Drumming Ensemble added the fantastic energy of their music.
52 Excitement built as the evening went on. As many as 500 people gathered around a fence set well back from the action. The Fredonia Fire Department provided a truck manned by volunteers in case of an emergency.
53 At about 9:30 pm Nina Hole decided that it was time to remove the blanket to reveal the sculpture. This process was done with long wooden poles.
54 The inner circle of SUNY Fredonia students who had worked so hard with Nina during the constuction and firing were allowed to "baptize" the sculpture with handfulls of sawdust. With this ceremonial initiation, the terra sigilatta surface was pigmented by a sort of flame painting. The public was enchanted with the flashes of combustion on the surface of the sculpture.
55 It was immediately apparent as the sculpture began to cool that a considerable amount of distortion of the form had occurred during the firing. Such an encounter between clay and fire is always unpredictable. The sort of twisting and cracking although somewhat dissappointing, was not totally unexpected given the particularly difficult "birthing" process resulting from inclement weather.
56 The public in attendance was stunned by the drama of the entire event with many commenting that they could not have imagined what it would be like.
57 The following morning, all of the remaining extraneous materials were removed from the site.
58 Once again the bucket lift was utilized to give Nina a view of the space within.
59 The artist sees each of her pieces as experiments that yield new information. As a philosophy she seeks to explore new forms and structure. Nina Hole indicated that she learned much during the Fredonia project.
60 As has been true of the other venues at which Nina has worked around the world, she arrives with an idea for the form of her piece, but no name. During the communal effort of the construction, gradually a name is chosen by the volunteers. The SUNY Fredonia piece is entitled "Turning Point". The form appears to rotate around a point only viewed from above. The workers had to continuously move around the form while it was being built.
61 After the clean up, the artist photographed the piece from every angle.
62 This is a portrait of Nina taken as she peered through one of the openings.
63 The interior space blackened completely as a result of the firing.
64 The artist was extremely happy with the surface quality and coloration resulting from the flame painting. Here you see the large spikes which that utilized to secure the refractory blanket.
65 A commemorative t-shirt was designed by SUNY Fredonia students Lindsay Polito and Lauren Walkowski. Nina was delighted saying it was the first time that had happened.
66 The Artist was very pleased with the visual contrast between the I.M.Pei architecture of the Rockefeller Arts Center and "Turning Point". She felt that her attempt to achieve a similar coloration had been successful.
67 For the time being he piece is illuminated at night and visible from many vantage points around the campus.
68 A few days after Nina went back to her home in Denmark, Western New York weather kicked up again. A storm occurred that brought gusts of up to 50 mph. In the vicinity of Nina's sculpture a very large tree came down.
69 This same wind blew out a big piece of the sculpture leaving it structurally unsound.
70 This provided the benefit of exposing much of the interior enabling us to view the effects of the firing.
71 This is a view of the interior.
72 It was obvious that between a harsh firing and subsequent powerful wind structural integrity was totally lost.
73 A time was set at 5:30 on October 5, 2005 to "deconstruct" Turning Point. The group gathered to celebrate the short life of the sculpture and to participate in its end.
74 This picture is for Nina to remember the group of SUNY Fredonia students that worked so hard and gained so much by spending 2 intense weeks with her.
75 Sawdust and fire initiated the birth of Turning Point. Firebricks brought its end.
76 It took several salvos aimed at strategic support locations.
77 Finally a major portion broke off.
78 There was no sadness at this outcome.
79 As soon as most of the dust settled, individuals selected portions to take home as mementoes of their experience.
80 Students and faculty at SUNY Fredonia conspired to recreate "Turning Point" as a three dimensional drawing in steel rod. The Fredonia Potter's Co-op contributed the funds to buy the steel.
81 Senior sculpture major, Scott Bye, did all of the welding and grinding.
82 The piece, like the original in terra cotta was defined in three sections, each of which was carried out of the Rockefeller Arts Center to the sculpture site.
83 The metal sections were stacked on top of the original fire brick base and welded into one unit.
84 Rubble from the deconstructed sculpture was used to fill the fire box area.
85 The terra cotta shards, in all shades of color resulting from the wood firing remain on the site.
86 The steel rod was painted in a color similar to the original terra sigilatta.
87 All the SUNY Fredonia campus, from the students right up to college President, Dennis Hefner, have expressed their pleasure in having this new structure to remember the time spent with Nina Hole, Williams Visiting Professor and her assistant, Ann-Charlotte Ohlsson.
