2019 Was A Sculptural Year at GNW

My work over Jan - August at Great Northern Way this year brought me a variety of very interesting, unusual, and challenging projects, almost all of which had sculpture involved. From pipe-fitting PVC pipes to chainsawing styrofoam blocks, I had my hands on all sorts of  It was really fun and I learned some new skills along the way! 
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Never The Last - Delinquent Theatre: Set Designer Jenn Stewart

Never The Last from Delinquent Theatre on Vimeo.

For this set we cut styrofoam blocks with a specially built hot-wire, then glued the angular pieces to 4'x8' plywood sheets. After some filling, sanding, and layers of paint the walls came together as a trio of funky projection screens for this production. The show was nominated for 5 Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards, and won the award for Significant Artistic Achievement: Outstanding Interdisciplinary Collaboration.

Seeds of Hope: the Paper Shooter

Spring 2019 saw me building something for the realm of interactive art; two of them in fact. Working withTangible Interaction: a Vancouver-based art and design studio "dedicated to creating experiences and products that connect and inspire here and now", and with the talented staff at GNW Scene Shop, I was the lead builder and painter for this project. The idea was for the "spaceship" as we nicknamed it, was to have a little loading portal in the central tube where a person would set a seedpod, close the door, and then push a button to to shoot the seedpod up 40 feet, letting it flutter down into a net below with so many more seedpods.
The first one we made was installed at Chicago's WNDR Museum for 6 months, and the second one, built on an angle to make it just that bit more challenging (!) was installaed a Science World in Vancouver, BC for a month this summer. I didn't get to see either one on location but if I find a video I will put it here.

Falling Rollercoaster Props: Photo-Ops at the PNE

One of GNW's clients who do promotional events asked for some special props for a selfie station or photo booth at the PNE: to create the illusion that the wearer was on a falling ride. These are the props I made, with me modelling! I never saw them in action, I sure hope it was fun.

Fisher Price Commercials - Let's Be Kids

GNW did the scenic elements for these commercials, including the big props like the wagon & the bull-riding handle. I had a hand in a number of parts in these commercials, but my biggest contribution was carving the big rocks in the desert for "The Triangle."

The design for the ride-em handle on the "Bounce & Spin Puppy" was changed after I left to work on something else. This kind of thing goes through its own accelerated design & creation process. I was proud of the aging I did on the yellow leather strap - but it was CG'd out in the end. C'est la vie!

The Snow Maze for a Hallmark Christmas Movie

This project was also sculptural, in that it had to look like walls made of snow. The effect was created with styrofoam blocks 1' thick, carved and pitted using scraping tools and a light spray of acetone for that pitted look. We had such a quick turnaround on this set, there was only one day in the shop I recall, so I had a team of carvers and painters to do it. Each wall piece got assigned, sculpted, and a fast white & pale blue wash. It was installed the next day, shot the day after, and then was whisked off to a warehouse somewhere.