Kevin takes us inside the 1920s building that was given to the city of Phoenix as an art center. Art classes, exhibitions and lectures are held at the facility. He’s going to check out the show “Materialize: 3D Printing & Rapid Prototyping,” which features the work of more than 20 artists from around the country.
He first shows one of his sculptures, Simple Planes With Aquamarine Stripe. Kevin explains that the stripe was probably the result of a flaw in the filament, but it turned out pretty cool.
Next he looks at a sculpture that is the opposite of his nearly 4 foot tall sculpture. Mixed Flight #1 by Mark Lee Koven is a series of very small figures made of 3D printed filament – Kevin’s 3D printer won’t even print anything that small.
Kevin’s next stop is at two figures by Donald Vance III that were printed in plaster. “I didn’t know they could do that,” says Kevin. The figures are from computer animation of a figure driving an automobile and another cleaning a plate. He says the figure may have been scanned in to allow the computer to play with the data, then printed.
Lyle London’s three fluid sculptures in plastic are intricate swirls reminiscent of seashells or space organisms that made Kevin think of work he created with a math-based CAD program into which you enter a formula into to get a shape.
Next, Kevin points out an ABS plastic, 3D printed shape and its companion birch plywood layered sculpture. The wooden sculpture is made of individual layers assembled with small screws. He says the sculpture may have been created on a CNC router, with which you design the shapes in CAD, then let a router cut it out.
Kevin then focuses on the work of Bill Westheimer, who got him involved in 3D printing. “It’s all his fault!” Kevin says. The first piece, Ascent, is a series of hands created in PLA plastic on a Makerbot 3D printer. The first hands are rough, but they get more and more refined. The final piece, in the center, is so detailed you can see the lines in the palm and the hand’s veins.
Westheimer’s other two pieces are books within books. The smaller one includes the complete works of William Shakespeare, an interesting contrast to the modern materials with which it was created.
Robert Michael Smith’s intricate sculptures used 3D printing to create wild, detailed pieces in ABS plastic. Kevin says it’s amazing to design something like this on a computer and then see it come to life.
Then Kevin shows two of his other pieces, SpiritHole Sunset and Holy Cannoli. SpiritHole Sunset was created in translucent PLA, then colored with acrylic paint that was dripped inside of the sculpture. Like Lyle London’s sculptures, Holy Cannoli was created using math. It’s a single-sided, three-dimensional form – if you follow it around, you end right back where you started. The detail is phenomenal in this acrylic sculpture, which was printed by a service bureau. Kevin printed the base on his own 3D printer out of ABS plastic.
Next, he shows a curving, translucent sculpture that looks almost like a colorful undersea creature, helping show the incredible range and complexity of 3D printed sculpture. “It’s so thin and delicate looking,” he says.
In the center’s gift shop, Kevin shows some of his smaller 3D printed sculptures and the jewelry he created using 3D printing.
Finally, Kevin shows something practical created with 3D printing: three beer tap handles! “If I only had a glass ….” he says.
Kevin thanks viewers for coming along and for watching his channel, and suggests that they might be interested in his blog, “A Sculptor’s Take on 3D Printing” at https://kevincaron.com/3dprint.
After the credits, he has the final word on what he does …..