Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon talks about how she uses 3D technology in her traditional sculpture studio. She shares her process of creating a monumental bronze for Evelyn’s Park in Bellaire, Texas and about her new book, 3D Technology In Fine Art and Craft: Exploring 3D Printing, Scanning , Sculpting and Milling, a number one new release on Amazon coming out Sept 2015. For more information visit http://www.creativesculpture.com www.digitalsculpture.net or the finding alice sculpture page on facebook. The park’s website is http://evelynspark.org/
Updates on Alice- Take a seat and get ready
Friend poses for the Mad Hatter. Hundreds of photographs are used as reference. Later, mom’s chair is scanned.
July 19, 2015
“Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
I reported in the last post on the Mad Hatter Tea party project that the project actually began 3 years ago. Things may look like they are now moving slowly in the studio, but, there is so much work going on by many people concerning this project from all over the World. In the overall picture we are way ahead of the game.
√ Digital designs approved by client
√ Photo sittings with Alice and the Mad Hatter
√ Collect other reference material.
√ Maquettes sculpted
√ Maquettes (small clay sculptures) scanned using the Next Engine laser scanner, revised in the computer and sent to CNC Milling Companies.
– IN PROGRESS
1. Maquettes enlarged- Updates on these very soon, they are at Synappys Digital Services in Oklahoma and Across the Board in Canada. They should start coming into the studio in about 7 days.
2. I am purchasing materials and get the studio ready. We may just have a very special company helping me to “set the table for the most creative dining experience.” More on this soon to come.
3. Hire on interns and get them ready.
Each character and the very large table will need a rolling base. Though this part is simple designing these bases so they are structurally sound is very important.
The studio will soon become very crowded. I can visualize how crowded by seeing the bases that are being built by my incredible son-in-law and resident handy man Bill Sizemore. I love that “family” energy is all over this project. Before anything can be sculpted- rolling bases must be made. Each of the pieces the table, the March Hare, Alice, The Mad Hatter, the pedestal and every bench must have a rolling base so that the I and my interns can roll them into place, work on them ,and then roll them to get them out of the way again. The studio is small and it will be close quarters as interns maneuver around art.
Welcome Johannes Huber to the team. Johannes is a digital artist using ZBrush. I’m going to count on Johannes a lot in the up and coming months. There are many different hidden objects that I have created or am creating digitally that will be in the scenes. I will count on Johannes, to either rough in a design or clean up my designs as I move through creating 150 elements in the scene. Most of those things will be for 3D printing. However, Johannes has a
Evan Lee of Super Solid 3D scanned both the baby and the chair using the Artec structured light scanners.
very big part of the project right now. He is helping me with the Mad Hatter’s chair. Remember I’m writing a book on the creating of the Alice Project. It is similar to my book 3D Technology in Fine Art and Craft: Exploring 3D Printing, Scanning, Sculpting and Milling
The Mad Hatter’s Chair.
Scan and obj from the Artec Scanner. This was scanned from Bridgette Mongeon’s sculpture of her granddaughter. She will take the sculpture, reduce it down and 3D print it to use it as one of the 150 hidden items in the story. The crying baby turns into a pig in the story of Alice in Wonderland.
As you can see in the original photo shoot of the mad hatter, the chair is tipped. I decided to use a chair that was my mother’s and have it scanned. Digital Designer Evan Lee from Super Solid 3D came to my studio and scanned my chair using a Artec Eva and Artec Spider structured light scanners as well as a few other things for the Alice project. Evan needed to try out the scanner as he is working with The Center for Advanced Computing and Data Systems (CACDS) at the University of Houston (UH). They use the Artec 3D scanners to work in collaboration with local museums and UH art historians for research into new data and computational techniques in the study of art. I was delighted that Evan wanted to try it out on the alice pieces. This scanner certainly will help the pieces change shape. I guess you can say in my story Alice and her friends change shape digitally instead of using alixers and mushrooms.
I have never seen this scanner work and it was good to get to see the results. Now we must make that scan workable and make it our own. Johannes will help me with the digital file. The chair will eventually go for CNC milling on A CarveWright Machine. I can’t wait to show this process, as I’m very intrigued with the CarveWright. I featured it in my previous book and am thrilled that it will become a major tutorial.
A feature in Culture Map Houston
Thanks Marcy De Luna and Culture Map for the wonderful article on the sculpture. “Down the rabbit hole: Evelyn’s Park goes mad for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland”
Jump Down the Rabbit Hole to Celebrate 150 Years of Alice in Wonderland
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jump Down the Rabbit Hole to Celebrate 150 years of ‘Alice in Wonderland’
Houston-Area Park to Receive Original Sculpture of Mad Hatter Tea Party
July 2, 2015 – HOUSTON –
Tea party for eight? No reservations necessary! As the world celebrates the 150th Anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” July 4th, Houstonians eagerly anticipate a monumental sculpture of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
The Jerry and Maury Rubenstein Foundation commissioned the sculpture, in honor of their mother, Evelyn. The scene will be larger than life and reside within Evelyn’s Park at 4400 Bellaire Boulevard (the former site of Teas Nursery) with an anticipated completion of late 2016.
Bridgette Mongeon, a local Houston artist, designed and titled the sculpture, “Move One Place On.” The title of the sculpture is what the Mad Hatter beckons at the tea party. Mongeon hopes visitors will develop a tradition of shouting the proclamation and change places at the bronze table as they visit the sculpture.
The characters in Mongeon’s maquettes, which are miniature sculptures, are now growing like Alice. Over the next few months, the small digital and clay designs will turn into a 10-foot table with eight-foot bronze characters hosting the fanciful feast. The artist is carefully crafting each character to interact with visitors at the table. She invites everyone to join her in her studio through the Finding Alice Sculpture Facebook page where the scene comes to life.
The sculpture will seat six-to-eight additional guests allowing families to bring a picnic and join the tea party. The monumental figures of Alice, the March Hare, Cheshire Cat, Dormouse and Mad Hatter are waiting for you and your family to complete the scene!
In honor of the sesquicentennial, Mongeon is also creating – and hiding – 150 different elements within the scene, inviting park visitors on an interactive journey. For example, if guests look carefully, they may find a small Humpty Dumpty hiding, and the waiting White Queen tucked into the bronze “bark” legs of the table and benches.
The sculpture and Evelyn’s Park, located in Bellaire, will be a “destination spot” for visitors to the Houston area and the fans of the endearing story of Alice in Wonderland. To follow the artist’s process, learn more about the treasure hunt and receive hints about the 150 hidden items in “Move One Place On,” visit the artist’s website at www.creativesculpture.com or follow the artists’s process on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FindingAliceSculpture.
Learn more about the sculpture from this YouTube Video https://youtu.be/P1J821vwkr8
Bridgette Mongeon is a Houston, Texas sculptor whose commissioned work is collected worldwide. She is also an author of a new book “3D Technology in Fine Art and Craft: Exploring 3D Printing, Scanning, Sculpting and Milling.” She looks forward to documenting her process of creating “Move One Place On” for a new book. Mongeon uses a mixture of traditional sculpting and digital technology such as 3D printing in her work. She enjoys encouraging others as a visiting speaker on creativity, technology and math using this famous literary work and her art.
Evelyn Park is made possible by land donated to the City of Bellaire by the Jerry and Maury Rubenstein Foundation to honor their mother, Evelyn, who valued nature, community and family. The Rubenstein brothers hope to create a special kind of curious adventure on this 5-acre site in the heart of Bellaire by maintaining a green space in the heart of the city. For more information about Evelyn’s Park, please visit www.evelynspark.org.
ABOUT EVELYN’S PARK CONSERVANCY Founded in 2011, Evelyn’s Park Conservancy is a nonprofit citizens’ organization dedicated to the stewardship and improvement of Evelyn’s Park. The land was donated to the City of Bellaire on the condition that it would be developed as a park; a beautiful, safe and quiet respite for it’s surrounding communities. EPC is committed to designing, developing and transforming the 5-acre historic former Teas Nursery site into a park that will enhance the health, safety and well being of the citizens of Bellaire, Texas and surrounding communities. For more information, please visit www.evelynspark.org. and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/Evelyn’sParkConservancy.
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For more information about this press release, please contact:
Bridgette Mongeon 713-540-3201
Bridgette@creativesculpture.com
IMAGES- Images for this press release are found at:
http://www.creativesculpture.com/alice_press_room_images.html
More information can be found on the Finding Alice Press Page
Bridgett invites the media to come and jump down the rabbit hole and watch the process of creating “Move One Place” on.