Katherine Stanek, Sculptor

Katherine Stanek is a New Jersey sculptor working in concrete and bronze. This is a video showing work from a recent exhibition in Philadelphia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP38NbVSbCE

Guardian, 2008, concrete with marble aggregate

Her own web site has more images:
http://www.katherinestanek.com/

Concrete Lace Tiles

Jethro Macey is a UK-based designer who works in a range of media and function, from wood stools to steel to tiles. His concrete tiles are inspired by traditional lace patterns.


Digital processes (e.g. CNC milling) were used to make the original tile, then silicone molds were made from that master to cast the tiles.
Macey's web site is here:
http://www.jethromacey.com/shop/home.php
You can also see more of his tiles at:
http://www.thethirdnature.co.uk/search.asp?types=yes&type=Concrete+Tiles

Concrete Dome, Nuclear Waste

This may not be art, but it's an interesting use of concrete. Or perhaps the art is unintentional?

The Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands of the Pacific contains one small island called Runit. Between 1977 and 1980 the U.S. government buried almost 85,000 cubic meters of radioactive debri from earlier nuclear tests. The debri was dumped into a crater on Runit left over from a 1958 blast—mixed with Portland cement—then covered with the concrete dome shown in the photograph. The dome is about 18" thick and 350 feet wide.

Credit: Defense Special Weapons Agency

Yes, those are people walking on the dome. More information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enewetak_Atoll

Soweto Concrete Sculpture

A young Soweto artist has been awarded an honour by having a concrete sculptor piece chosen for his President's residence. Lwandiso Njara, a third year student at Tshwane University of Technology, had just been named a runner-up in the Young Concrete Sculptor Awards. The sculptor portrays nine Metro bus drivers on a journey in aid of a wage increase.

http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=23424

The PPC Young Concrete Sculptor Awards has been running for 18 years and is one of South Africa's most prestigious art competitions. Young artists submit sculptures using concrete. It is open to anyone with or without formal training.

Lavassa Furniture: Peter Harrison

One of my favourite magazines is Dwell, a contemporary architecture magazine with an interesting bias towards both modernist and green design. At the back of the magazine I discovered an ad for a furniture designer who works near Saratoga Springs, NY. Peter Harrison uses combinations of concrete, wood and stainless steel.

I like that way that he uses concrete as simply another material in a vocabulary of materials. It seems entirely appropriate where it is used in each individual piece. Often designers seem to do one of two things with concrete: either disguise it—making it look like stone for example—or brag about its rough, urban appearance. Here it's just another material for constructing functional, simple but beautiful objects. It's made into shelves, columns and even corner connectors.


Harrison's work is at http://www.lavassa.com/.

Dwell magazine also has an extensive web site at http://www.dwell.com/.

Garden Sculptures: Pieter Doef

As a visitor on a recent studio tour around Merrickville, Ontario, I discovered the work of Pieter Doef. His human figures are about half life size, modelled in clay, then cast in concrete from a plaster mould of the form. Most of the sculptures in the gardens of his rural property are of people, but there are also some abstracts forms.

Pieter explained that he uses a simple mix: one half builder's sand and one half cement. He's also a prolific painter.

There are more images on a Facebook group started for him:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2889151170#/group.php?gid=2889151170

More on Green

Portland cement production is said to account for about 5% of greenhouse gas (CO2) production in the world. One company is working on a cement that actually absorbs greenhouse gases and emits less in its production.

Novacem (U.K.) won an award in January of this year, the Rushlight Award, for innovation and environmental benefits in the development of this new type of cement. Quoting from Novacem's press release:

"In contrast to Portland cement, the Novacem process causes minimal CO2 emissions. It then hardens by absorbing CO2 and so locks atmospheric CO2 into construction materials. This means that for every tonne of Portland cement replaced by Novacem cement, ~1 tonne of CO2 is captured and stored indefinitely. This will transform the cement industry from a significant emitter to a significant absorber of CO2."

The recyclable cement system is based on magnesium oxide and special mineral additives.

The sooner this product is in production, the sooner we can feel better about using cement, both in the construction industry and our own artwork.