Art – Page 5 – Geeky Girl Engineer

Giant Shiny Ball Play Thing

Posted on June 21, 2013 by geek

Last night, I went to Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences (CPNAS)‘s D.C. Art Science Evening Rendezvous (DASER). It is a monthly discussion forum on art and science. They always have interesting speakers, and it is one of the cool things about living in the DC area. Anyway, last night upon walking into the room right before the program began, I was immediately intrigued by this enormous sphere siting in the corner of the room, which I dubbed the Giant Shiny Ball Play Thing.

I had no idea what this thing was, and there was no mention of it in the program. I envisioned the amazing game of beach ball toss that a large crowd could play with it. The Giant Shiny Ball Play Thing was seriously one of the coolest things I had ever seen, and I wanted one. Sure it was probably about 10 feet in diameter and would never fit in my house. Even if it did fit in my house, putting a shiny inflatable ball in the same house with my cat and her claws would not end well at all.

I finally found out that the Giant Shiny Ball Play Thing is a reproduction of a satelloon. Greg Allen, one of the speakers, had it fabricated as part of his Exhibition Space exhibit. A satelloon is satellite balloon, of course, and I’m going to bet that either an engineer or scientist came up with that name. NASA made satelloons for Project Echo from 1956-1964. I am not going to describe the whole history because Greg Allen has a great summary of the project and the amazing satelloons. If you want even more history, you can read about it straight from NASA. The history is fascinating.

Thus the Giant Shiny Ball Play Thing is really a symbol of some incredible science and engineering history. I still want to play with it though. Also, I took a fun self portrait of myself in the satelloon.

There, dear readers, now you know what I look like.

Finally, if like me, you can’t get enough of the Giant Shiny Ball Play Thing, Heather Goss created this fun Vine video of it being deflated.

All Is Fare in Love & Brooklyn

Posted on June 1, 2013 by geek

I saw this building in Brooklyn on the corner of Boerum Place and Livingston. I have no idea what this building’s painting has to do with a Hero Shop, but I rather like it. Is it a path in love or a subway line?

Ai Weiwei: According To What?

Posted on February 6, 2013 by geek

This weekend I went to see the exhibit of Ai Weiwei’s work called “According to What?” that is currently at the Hirshhorn, part of the Smithsonian. Like I would imagine many people, I was somewhat familiar with him as a Chinese activist, but I had never actually seen any of his work. The exhibit features sculptures and photographs, but I found the sculptures to be the most interesting. I don’t presume to know almost anything about art, especially modern art. I like some things. I don’t like other things. I simply don’t get or understand many things. I am not sure I understand much of Ai Weiwei’s work, but much of it did make me think, which I think is part of what he wants.

Ai Weiwei’s Light Cube

Possibly the biggest sculpture at the exhibit is Light Cube. It is this huge cube with amber colored beads or crystals on the outside and lights inside. I really don’t know what it is supposed to represent, but it is really cool to look at.

Ai Weiwei’s Straight

Another large sculpture is Straight. It is made of 38 tons of rebar recovered from collapsed schools in Sichuan, China after the 2008 earthquake. The rebar was evidently carefully straightened after it was recovered. Straightening rebar is no easy feat. Photographs of the devastation are on a nearby wall. The sculpture certainly makes you think about the devastation of the earthquake. The way the rebar is placed makes me think of a fault line and topography, but I have no idea if, assuming that is what it is supposed to represent, it is an accurate representation of the Sichuan area. As an engineer, I love the use of rebar for art.

Ai Weiwei’s Bowl of Pearls

Bowl of Pearls is honestly one of the prettiest things I have ever seen. It is two huge bowls (as in about 3 feet in diameter) filled with freshwater pearls. It is absolutely gorgeous, and I have no idea what it means.

Ai Weiwei’s Bowl of Pearls, unclose view of pears.

The pearls are different shades and so pretty and luminous. Yes, I like pearls and shiny things. All I wanted to do was put my hands in there and run them through the pearls. It is like a giant zen sculpture or something.

Ai Weiwei’s Colored Vases

Colored Vases causes me torn emotions. I love the colors, and the vases are a lovely shape. I think the way the paint applied and allowed to run down causes a really nice effect. However, the vases are really old, from the Han Dynasty. Dipping these ancient vases in industrial paint strikes me as defacement. Evidently that is what he is trying to do. These are supposed to be a statement about the Chinese state. The vases are innocent victims in his political statement. I am very curious just how many Han Dynasty urns there are lying around that people can buy or just find. Can you just go buy one? How did he get a hold of so many of them?

Ai Weiwei’s Moon Chest

Moon Chest consists of several hollow wooden boxes lined up on a curve. Each box has four circular openings that are precisely cut so that they mimic the stages of a lunar eclipse.

Ai Weiwei’s Moon Chest, view of the aperture

The fun thing about this sculpture is that it turns almost everyone into a child. Almost everyone who walked by it and between the different boxes got up close and looked through the apertures and moved around to see how the view changes.

Ai Weiwei’s Divina Proportione and F Size

Divina Proportione and F Size are two giant, wooden buckyballs. I immediately thought of Buckminsterfullerene, but then again, I am a geeky engineer. I suppose the less geeky inclined might see soccer balls or geodesic domes. I have no idea how well they would roll, but yes, I would like to see them roll.

Ai Weiwei’s Forever

This is why China is having such horrible air pollution. People are having to take cars because Ai Weiwei has taken all the nice bicycles and used them for art. I was thoroughly impressed with how well he fit them together. Parts of the bicycles were cut off, and then they could be joined with bolts and nuts. The joints are really well done. Yes, clearly I am engineer as I was analyzing the construction method of this sculpture not what it means.

All of the above photos were taken by me. The Hirshhorn allowed non-flash photography for personal purposes. A few of my photos are slightly fuzzy because they were taken in low light without a flash and thus needed a longer shutter speed. I make no money off this blog, thus my understanding is this falls under personal use.

A Curtain Rod from Door Knobs and a Wooden Dowel

Posted on October 20, 2012 by geek

Here are my starting materials: two antique milk glass door knobs, a wooden dowel, two wall hooks, and silver paint. Not pictured are store bought curtain clip rings, Liquid Nails, and the curtain, which is actually a tablecloth.

I painted the dowel. Then I put the curtain rings on the dowel. I used Liquid Nails to glue the dowel into the two antique milkglass doorknobs, which conveniently I bought without the rods that attach them to the door mechanism. The only problem with the way I created this curtain rod is that the curtain rings are now permanently on the rod, unless I want to break the dowel to remove them.

After everything had dried and cured, I attached the rod to the wall using the wall hooks which simply screw into the drywall and studs. [Wooden dowels come in multiple diameters, so I picked the diameter that best fit into the door knobs. Similarly, I bought wall hooks that best fit snugly around the dowel.]

For the curtain, I used a hand painted piece of fabric that my sister gave me, which I think is from Bali. I am pretty sure it is supposed to be a tablecloth, but it fit my window perfectly, and it was too pretty to never have on display. Below is the finished window treatment that is pretty and VERY unique.

My Photographic Obsession with Philadelphia’s Comcast Center

Posted on October 19, 2012 by geek

I’m visiting Philadelphia for the week. Unfortunately it’s for work, and I have very little time to sightsee. I definitely plan to return someday as a tourist. In the meantime, I have developed a bit of an obsession with the Comcast Center here. It’s a beautiful, tall skyscraper seen below.

It’s top part has a unique cutout on the front, and the side has different glass on top which helps to call attention to the sloping sides.

Its lower section has an interesting set of “boxes” in front of it.

Mostly, I think part of it’s beauty is its simplicity which allows it to reflect its surroundings in beautiful ways. It becomes a near perfect mirror in the correct light. It also blends into the sky in gorgeous ways.

Then it reflects the clouds and sunset.

And possibly best of all, is the way it reflects nearby buildings, including Three Logan Square, photographed below.

Also here it reflects One Liberty Square. It kind of looks like One Liberty Square is at the end of this street, but it’s the reflection.

So, yes, I’m a bit obsessed, photographically speaking, with this building. I probably would have taken more photographs if I had not had to be in meetings all week.

Kitchen Tiles and Lights

Posted on August 14, 2012 by geek

All my tile has arrived, and I hope to tile the backsplash of my kitchen this weekend. I am very excited about getting this done. I will be using glass tile and stainless steel tile. Most of the tile will be the green glass 1 inch by 1 inch mosaic tile pictured below. It is Olive Green, Multi Color Clear Glass Mosaic (D007) from Vivagi Corp.

I plan to remove a few tiles from each 1 square foot section of the green glass tile, and substitute in a few stainless steel tiles pictured below. They are stainless steel (covering ceramic) mosaic tiles from Glass Tile Oasis.

I will also be using stainless steel tile to edge the backsplash. I am using liner stainless steel tile also from Glass Tile Oasis. The edging tile is pictured below.

Generally when tiling a backsplash you only really need edging tile for the vertical ends. I will also be using it on the bottom edge where the tile meets the granite countertop. The reason for this is that like pretty much every house out there, my walls are not completely straight or flat. While the granite was cut in a straight line, the wall is not, so the space between the wall and granite varies. The field tile is only about 0.25 inches think, so in some places, the tile does not cover the gap between the granite and the wall. Thus I am using the thick edging tile to make sure the gap is filled as demonstrated in the photo below.

I love adding unique pieces into my decorating. I love functional art. So for my kitchen I am using two different types of handmade, functional art. I will be using two different styles of handmade glass accent tiles. A few are cobalt blue with little silver squares, and the others are variated jade green which will pick up the lighter green in the green granite countertops. I bought these tiles from Uneek Glass Fusions which has absolutely fabulous glass functional art. The two types of accent tiles are pictured below.

I actually initially was looking at Uneek Glass Fusion because I was trying to find some unique pendant lights. I found the jade green tile above, and I asked if I could get a pendant light made with that same glass, since the owner does special orders. So I special ordered the pendant lights and then bought some tiles to match the lights. The glass pendant light covers are pictured below. I bought three. One will hang over the island, and two will hang over the peninsula.