Relic and Reliquary

Nut

This piece is a personal piece made in honer of my grandmother who passed last year.

Relic & Reliquary - Altar for the Spirit of Nature

Materials - cherry wood, copper, brass rod, deer bones (pelvis, femur, ribs, coccyx), fox skull, stone

The bones and the stone all came from the woods at my parents' house in Greensboro. Those woods are a kind of sanctuary for me, and they provide a sense of serenity and solitude that I don't get here in Boone where the city has taken over. The physical relic in this piece is the fox skull, adorned with a headpiece of copper wire to give it an air of ceremony and spirituality. The carved arch provides a gateway into the spiritual realm of the forest, with the fox as gatekeeper and the bones of the deer barring the noise and hurry of the city from the sanctuary.

Steel Fabrication - Decay and Regeneration

The inspiration for this project is simple - the forms of decaying plants, usually cacti, where new plants have started to grow in the middle of the skeleton of the old plant.

Hand crafted rocking chair

This rocking chair was made as an exploration of traditional craft and carpentry skills. Every aspect of this work was handcrafted, down to the wooden dowels that hold everything together. This chair was made as a response to the idea that everything must be bought or mass manufactured. I take pride in the thought that there is only one of these chairs in the world, and I was the one responsible for making it.

Reliquary For Conscious Rap

Relic & Reliquary

Steel and Wood

     This piece conveys the skeletal structure (thorax and femur) as the relic and the 

surrounding skin as the false reliquary that contain the true internals. The materials used help reinforce this idea of structure vs. container. Wood has a lively aesthetic as it has a visible previous life, whereas steel is often seen only as structural. In this piece the steel is used to show the deception of external beauty when the skin is pulled back.

© William Seal

Relic and Reliquary

 In the spring of 2013, I went on a mission trip to Atlanta, GA, where I worked with homeless women and children who had once been victims of sex trafficking. It was important for me to create a project that reflected my new found awareness for sex trafficking and its consequences. I created the an  female form, made into an object from carved wood. She is lacking arms, legs and a head, which for me represents her lack of say and independence (relic). The system of sex trafficking would be the reliquary that holds her.

Steel Fabrication

 For this steel construction, I created an abstracted figure. The frame is made from 1/4 in steel rods that were bent with an oxy-acetylene torch. The rest of the body is welded sheet steel with, bent grated steel to add volume and movement.

Carving and Construction Project: Relic and Reliquary

For this assignment, we were supposed to create a relic and reliquary.  My idea was the relationship between the manufactured and the handmade.  For this piece, the top carved part represents the handmade and crafted, while the pedestal form represents the manufactured/disposable waste materials that are made haphazardly and then thrown away.  I truly believe that one day, the handmade will be cherished because it may be a lost art form.  Traditions of ceramics and wood carving are not necessarily going to be preserved, so the pieces that live on will become relics to the next generation

Steel Fabrication

The Galaxy

Steel Fabrication Project: Plane vs. Line

Investigation of Niche, 2013, Steel, Cotton Fabric, 36 x 18 x 36 inches

 This piece  incorporates planar forms and linear forms to create interesting shadow and contrast.  Fabric helps to bring the viewers eye into the open area of the form. 

Steel Fabrication: Keystone

Process Work:
Preliminary Sketches

                                                            © William Seal

key·stone  (kstn)

n.

1. Architecture The central wedge-shaped stone of an arch that locks its parts together. Also calledheadstone.

2. The central supporting element of a whole.

Artist Statement:

       The idea behind this project came from experimentation of natural vs. man-made form (yin and yang). As i sketched I found myself drawn to the form of arches. Arches in their own respect have paved the way for modern architecture and inovation. Man has a way of imitating and pulling inspiration from natural form. For example, the arch is the central structure the human skeleton (i.e. spine, rib cage, etc.). In order to tie this idea into the sculptural form I replicated a ribcage referenced from Stephen Peck's Atlas of the Human Anatomy for the Artist. The combination of natural (ribcage) and man-made (moorish arch) was intended to create a form reminiscent of the relationship between the two. "The Keystone."

-William Seal