10 Feb Oakland Squared at the Moffitt Library
I’ve detailed a bit of the work done by Five Ton Crane which we have dubbed Oakland Squared. Created for an exhibit at the SF MOMA Artist’s Gallery, the large collaborative panels are composed of the work of many different artists, and are now hanging in the lobby of the Latham Square Building in uptown Oakland.
The works gained popularity for their ability to evoke the unique landscapes of the place that many in our Oakland based arts group call home, and for their unique way of providing an equal platform to so many artists at the same time, while showcasing a cohesive greater perspective at the same time. As a result, we were asked to create two new panels for permanent installation in the newly remodeled Moffitt Library at U.C. Berkeley.
Again working with the theme of scenes of the place we call home, these two new panels show views of the Berkeley campus, namely Sproul Plaza, home of the free speech movement and of the S.O.G.A. Gardens, land of the Student Organic Gardening Association.
It was a special honor for me to be involved with this project, as I had just become proudly employed in the U.C. Berkeley College of Environmental Design at the Digital Fabrication Lab, where they have bestowed upon me the title “Mechanician.” What that means is I was able to spend some time familiarizing myself with the tools of the lab, and in the process created a square composed of layers of material processed by laser cutting, laser engraving, and ZUND. Yes, ZUND. You know–ZUND, the all-powerful digital swiss army knife of industrial machinery. My 12″x12″ square is made of Acrylic, Wood, Paper, and Colored Pencil.
