Showing posts with label Aurora. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aurora. Show all posts

Friday, November 1, 2013

SculptCAD Rapid Artists 3D Printed Sculpture

Brad Ford Smith SculptCAD Rapid Artists
The SculptCAD Rapid Artists Project was organized by Nancy Hairston in 2010 as a way to showcase the versatility of rapid prototyping 3D printing. Each year she has asked artists to come to the  SculptCAD offices and learn how to use this technology, then make some art.

The SculptCAD Rapid Artists 3D Printed Sculpture show at the One Arts Plaza is a quick sampling of some of the artwork that has been produced over the years. This show was presented to dove tail with the Aurora Dallas event. Artist in the show are: Steven Hopwood Lewis, Shane Pennington, Heather Gorham, Patty Delarios, Shawn Smith, Mark Grote, Morehshan Allahyari, Dave Van Ness, Joshua Goode, Elliot Johnson, Shelle Carring, Joshua King, and myself, Brad Ford Smith.

Below are a few snaps from the exhibit.

Brad Ford Smith SculptCAD Rapid Artists
Brad Ford Smith
Brad Ford Smith - Servings is a nod to the Balloon Dog sculpture by Jeff Koons.


Heather Gorham SculptCAD Rapid Artists
Heather Gorham
Heather Gorham - Is it a circus trick or a view of the universe?

Elliot Johnson SculptCAD Rapid Artists
Elliot Johnson
Elliot Johnson - Hellbender, a salamander with self-esteem issues. 

Shane Pennington SculptCAD Rapid Artists
Shane Pennington
Shane Pennington - Pushing the binderies between art , technology and nature with his living bonsai tree with spliced in resin print.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Aurora Dallas 2013 or Aurora Project or Aurora 2013 or Dallas Aurora


Brad Ford Smith  Aurora Dallas
Whatever name you prefer to use, Aurora, The Light Of Convergence was a stellar art event with a turnout well above the expected 35,000 people.

Brad Ford Smith Aurora Dallas
Aurora is an art event held one night in the Dallas Arts District that features new media artwork in mediums such as light, digital projection, performance and sound. This year all the Arts District Institutions joined in to make it a 68 acre block party.

Brad Ford Smith Aurora Dallas
This was my second time to be an Aurora artist. I selected a 10 foot square cement plinth to project my project onto, which was titled UP.

UP is composed of 63 photographs taken while hiking the back woods of Yosemite National Park. UP is a simple concept: we spend too much time looking at our hands and feet, and not enough time looking UP. By mirroring the images of treetops and projecting them onto a horizontal surface, this simple shift and change of angle illustrates the otherworld quality of simply looking UP.


Brad Ford Smith  UP 2013 Aurora Dallas

Brad Ford Smith  UP 2013 Aurora Dallas

Brad Ford Smith  UP 2013 Aurora Dallas

Keeping this project very simple is something I learned from my last Aurora encounter. People in crowds never stop for very long, perhaps 3 seconds. In that short amount of time you have to grab them with something that is striking AND recognizable. 

Swirling colors and complex geometric shapes or long slow narratives just get passed by.

With UP, the simplicity is its strength. A photo that is mirrored creates a rorschach test experience. It is what it is but it could be something else as well. The added effect of one image fading into the next so that there is a brief 4 seconds of overlapping taps into the basic human instinct to search out recognizable patterns and solve puzzles. 

The end result is that the crowd stopped. Some people watched the whole 3 minute loop, pointing out to each other what they saw hidden in the trees. 

Here are a few links to Aurora reviews and posts:
Bill McCarthy video
WFAA photos 49 and 50 are my favorites.
FrontRow D Magazine 


Sunday, October 30, 2011

Dallas Aurora After Glow

It's been a few days sense the Dallas Aurora event in the Dallas Arts District. People are starting to post images and videos. One of those in by my good friend Mark Birnbaum, who unbeknownst to me shot this great video of my installation. Thanks Mark!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Aurora 2011: A Thing To See And Do

Water Walls Dallas Arboretum
I have felt for a while now that I should be spending less time at the computer. All those hours logged on has left me feeling a bit like a big wooden log. So, it's up early, a balanced breakfast, walkies, perhaps a bit of yard work, and get involved with a few art events to get me out of this damn house!!!

Aurora 2011 is one such event. This year it's being held in the Dallas Arts District. 97 light and sound installations will turn the 19 block area into a night of color. The big power switch will be flipped on this Friday, October 28th at 7:30pm-12:00 midnight. Here's the Art and Seek post.

Fountain Place Park Dallas TX
I missed being part of the Aurora 2010 because I was in Italy, which I enjoyed completely and blogged about maybe a bit to much. That said, I have been waiting all year for the next Aurora event. This time I am in town, busy at my computer spicing together bits of video... So much for getting out of the house, or the walkies, or the balanced breakfast.

White Rock Lake 2 AM
I am producing 2 videos that will be projected onto the west garden wall of the Meyerson Symphony Center. Both videos are about water. One is natural footage of ponds, streams and puddles as seen in the top 2 photos above. The other video uses the same footage and manipulates it by re-filming the clips multiple times to produce color separations and distortions, as seen in these bottom 2 photos.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
This will be my first time to show any of these videos publicly. Very excited about it, and about seeing all the other installations, too!