3D printed sculpture shown in storied East Coast spotlight

After creating 3D-printed sculpture for more than 8 years, I’m always still educating people. So many of them aren’t familiar with the process or prepared for the size of my 3D-printed sculpture, currently the largest of which is 6 feet tall.

Usually education is best done by bringing a 3D printer with me to an event. As people watch it print, I get to see their eyes light up and often hear, “Now I understand it!” But even the opportunity to actually see the work in person provides insights. (People often ask if it is glass.)

Running a 3D printer usually happens in the metro Phoenix area where I live, though, so people on the East Coast aren’t really exposed to my artwork or process. (I’ve sold 3D-printed sculptures to people on the East Coast but only through online galleries or my Website.)

So when Rice Polak Gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts, agreed to exhibit and sell my work this season, I was really excited. Not only is Rice Polak one of the finest galleries in town – the best, if you ask me – I knew it would expose my 3D-printed sculpture to a very sophisticated art audience. Provincetown has been an art colony and destination since 1899 and has been part of the careers of many storied artists including Hans Hofmann, Helen Frankenthaler, Arshile Gorky, Max Ernst, Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner.

This spring, I shipped 3 smaller sculptures selected by gallery owner Marla Rice to see how people reacted to this radically new medium.

Finally, this June, I was able to visit the gallery in person. What a thrill! Not only did she light them beautifully – something especially critical with translucent artworks like these – she placed them right inside the front door of the gallery.

I know my sculptures Requiem, Foil and SeeThrough (Clear) got a fair look and hope that the art lovers who have seen the work at Rice Polak Gallery are thinking differently about what is possible artistically with this amazing technology.