Archives: Projects

A meandering line of glass vitrines winding through the lobby, where students can participate in the curation and display of defunct objects, technologies, languages, and customs. The work encourages students to explore questions related to history and progress.

We are interested in blurring the distinction between the fabricated and the terrestrial; meaning the things that are manufactured by people versus those that are made by way of geological forces (e.g. rocks and landforms). We associate the former with the precision of industrial production, and the latter with the chance inherent in nature.

To make Secondhand Geology, we produced building blocks by way of an unprecedented process. Rather than making blocks with traditional stone or concrete, we worked with crushed stainless steel. The work reads as both irregular and highly refined. The crumpled blocks give the impression of an ad hoc stack when seen from the East, while from the West, the precise, planar cuts, made via industrial manufacturing processes, yield the strict geometric figure of an obelisk and the smooth surface of a geological core sample. They remind viewers of the processes at work on rock formations near Ellensburg. The texture of each block also contributes to the geology metaphor. The cut faces of each block were ground to a polished, reflective finish to highlight the formal differences in their sections. As a stack, the variation in their sectional qualities will reinforce their reading as being made of a distinct type of stone.

First, we compacted stainless steel in an industrial baling machine, and then stacked the blocks to form a column approximately 20’-6” tall. The shape of the column suggests a stone obelisk or a colossal geological core sample. We located the piece on the axis that runs parallel to the South side of the new science building and terminates at the center of Black Hall. This site respects the symmetry of Black Hall, reinforces the campus plan, and contributes to a reading of the sculpture as a kind of obelisk – a typology used historically to define points along an architectural axis.

The crumpled steel is a manifestation of the massive forces required to compact it. Each block is compacted with different material compositions that have different structural qualities. The shape of the individual piece of stock and the way it reacts when compacted produces different material densities.

We worked primarily with 304-grade stainless steel for the bales and plates, supported by 316L-grade stainless steel structural elements. This material is suitable for outdoor use; and it will resist corrosion as well as the effects of UV radiation. After baling and cutting the blocks, we removed sharp edges and loose parts, and then sandblasted them to produce a uniform finish that is smooth to the touch.

The blocks appear to be stacked atop one another; the plates in between producing a shadow line that accentuates their layering. We accomplished this by drilling four holes at the corners of each, pressing stainless steel round bars into them, and welding the bars to the interstitial plates. The blocks were then welded together into sections of four at the plate seams and “skewered” with a 1” diameter stainless steel tension rod, before being welded into one large assembly. The rod helps stabilize the structure, keeping it in tension and aiding in de/installation, but the majority of the work is done by the welded round bar and plates. The parts were fabricated and pre-assembled off-site and erected in Ellensburg with the help of a local crane contractor.

The scale and location of Secondhand Geology harmonize with the architecture and axial relationships between buildings on campus, while the unexpected approach to stainless steel stands out as a thoroughly contemporary statement.

Exploring our desire to alter a space with a minimal use of material, we employed a proprietary computational technique to yield the effect of ghostly three dimensional volumes hovering in the entryway.

Light Pillar will be both an iconic sculpture and a delicate shaft of color within the atrium that will continually change throughout the day. The work promises to transform a journey through the ship into an encounter between the everyday and the sublime. By way of sophisticated algorithmic computation combined with techniques borrowed from traditional methods of textile production and cell animation, Light Pillar’s intricate form will rival the complexity of natural phenomenon. Guests might compare its aesthetics to that of billowing mist in an evening sun.

Constructed from over 10,000 segments of brightly painted stainless steel ball chain, each one unique in length and location, it will be assembled to form an array of “catenaries.” Catenary is the mathematical term that describes the form of a chain hanging between two points. The catenaries will be suspended from thin cables that will be supported by the ceiling structure and guy wired to the walls for stability.

Light Pillar will not be comprehended from a single vantage point; it will appear to change with the viewer’s movement so that it is inherently linked to the trajectory of one’s journeys through the ship. From each level within the atrium it will appear differently to viewers. While the catenaries define Light Pillar, its transparent quality will be constructed from the negative space between the catenaries, which will allow sight to extend into and through the piece to the other side of the atrium: viewers will see people and the architecture of the ship through the artwork. As viewers move up and down the elevators it will also generate the perception that the piece itself is moving – each catenary will appear to shift in orientation relative to its neighbors to give a sense that it is twisting in space – an stroboscopic effect akin to what can be experienced when looking at a zoetrope or cell animation.

Likewise, the colors of the piece will blend and change according to one’s vantage point. Light Pillar might be understood as a composition of gestural volumes of color hovering within the array of catenaries. Like voluminous patterns on a translucent, three-dimensional tapestry, the colors will dissolve into washes then snap into clear geometry with one’s changing vantage point. Light Pillar will invite the visitor to explore its forms by way of movement.

The work will also transform in response to the play of light and changing orientation of the ship throughout the day. Shafts of light will take form within the array of catenaries as if cutting through mist. The reflective qualities of the ball chain, that form the catenaries, will act as miniature convex mirrors, capturing light from all corners of the atrium as well as reflections from the adjacent balls.

Our method of fabricating Light Pillar is akin to a 21st century application of Ikat, an Indonesian term for the ancient textile process of resist dye. A labor-intensive method, Ikat involves the application of vibrant colors to precise locations on individual yarns that, when woven, form a blurry edged pattern. Similarly, we will color our chains individually in precise locations with the aid of a computer controlled, programmable machine of our own design to yield a three dimensional pattern of color. Called the Instal-lator 3, the machine will help us assemble approximately 50 kilometers of chain and cut it to prescribed lengths determined by an integrated software system. The Instal-lator effortlessly performs and seamlessly unifies three distinct operations – measuring, cutting, and marking lengths of chain. It combines these seemingly disparate operations into one continuous sequence of procedures that would be extremely time consuming and tedious for a person to coordinate without its aid. To perfect this process required over six years of continuous research and development.

The shape of the thousands of hanging chains will be computed with a mathematical formula, however the piece will be assembled in our shop and installed in the ship by human hands.

This work references textile production, advanced technology and handcraft while generating effects suggestive of animation and natural light phenomena. Experiencing Light Pillar will be like looking into a gently shifting, colored atmosphere. It will capture the imagination of visitors of all ages and from all cultures.

Faraday Future, an innovative new car company in California, commissioned Ball-Nogues Studio to design the concept for a trade convention exhibit. The project was the backdrop the unveiling of their Zero1 prototype automobile at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January 2016. The exhibit needed to travel to other events and car shows around the world. Pinnacle Exhibits handled design development, fabrication and install.

Steel
Approximately 25″ x 38″ x 3″
First displayed as part of the ‘Constructions’ Exhibition at Edward Cella Art and Architecture, Los Angeles, CA

Proscenium, an installation comprised of thousands of sweeping lengths of tinted stainless steel ball chain hanging in catenary curve formations, is suspended in the three-story volume of Lincoln Performance Hall’s south atrium. The artwork was designed and fabricated by Ball-Nogues Studio. The project was commissioned through Oregon’s Percent for Art in Public Places Program, administered by the Oregon Arts Commission.

Lincoln Hall, on PSU’s urban Portland campus, was the first building the University occupied when it moved to the South Park Blocks in 1953. It is now the lively center of campus performing arts, housing the Schools of Music, and Theatre & Film, including Lincoln Recital Hall. Proscenium’s colors and forms take cues from theatrical curtain designs while the title refers to the proscenium theater typology with its “proscenium arch” or “fourth wall” separating audience and performer. Part of a series of works by Ball-Nogues entitled “Suspensions,” it is suggestive of the symbol of theatrical illusion – the curtain, while also performing through the activation of illusionistic light and moiré phenomena. The appearance of Proscenium is predicated on the changing qualities in the sky-lit atrium and the movement of the viewer around the piece. Like a gestural volume of color hovering in space, the work is suggestive of brush strokes on a translucent three dimensional canvas that dissolve into washes then resolve back into clear strokes with one’s changing perspective.

Orchard was installed in 2015 and it will fully mature over time.

Parks today are popularly associated with outdoor sports facilities and manufactured playscapes; they are primarily considered places for recreation. By way of landscape design and sculpture, our aim was to reframe El Cariso Park in the context of the agricultural history of the San Fernando Valley.  Orchard recalls Sylmar’s history of olive groves and olive oil production.

The features that define Orchard are a single olive tree set within a sculptural basin and surrounded by apparatuses that reference historic devices used in olive oil manufacturing. The basin is made of “ball-n-socket” pre-cast concrete bricks that nest to form a curving planter that follows the contours of the landscape. The apparatuses tell the story of the primary stages of olive oil production – picking, sorting, pressing, and grinding. Visitors to the park can see the sculpture as a source of food, a platform for education, a place of historical memory, or a landscape for climbing and play. By inviting different interpretations and interactions, Orchard helps familiarize visitors of all ages with the history of the region.