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November 8, 2002
Art
Taking Shape
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Photo: Fred LeBlanc
Marianne
Doezema, Florence Finch Abbott Director of the Mount Holyoke
College Art Museum, and Joseph Smith, associate professor
of art, with the new bench he created
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Who
says a mathematician can't be an art critic, and bring his
or her own unique way of seeing—a certain angle, one might
say—to a work of art. At MHC's October faculty meeting,
Donal O'Shea, dean of faculty and Elizabeth T. Kennan Professor
of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, assessed, as
only a mathematician could, a new outdoor bench/sculpture designed
and built by Associate Professor of Art Joe Smith. Said O'Shea
of the work, which was recently installed in a specially designed
landscape on the side of the Art Building, "I especially
like [the bench] because the back appears to be a genuine ellipse,
as opposed to the still nice, but much more common, oval. However,
the ellipse is not oriented as you might think. Its major axis
is not parallel to the ground but tips slightly down from front
to back. Moreover, the plane of the seat cuts the back along a
chord, but one that unexpectedly is under the center of mass of
the ellipse that forms the back (but not so far under that the
right vertex is above the plane of the seat). The seat, again
I haven't had a chance to get too close, is another ellipse
(or possibly an oval)—the back meets it along a chord that
is not the major axis and, in fact, not quite parallel to the
semi-axis. As a result the vertex of the ellipse that makes up
the seat is considerably to the right of where the back meets
the seat. The result is very pleasing—slightly asymmetrical,
but with a deep sense of harmony, coming, I think, from the inherent
symmetries of the ellipses."
A smiling Smith acknowledged
that O'Shea got it just right, noting, "I use a lot
of ellipses in my work because it's a friendly piece of geometry."
Ellipses also, according to the artist, sit well in a landscape.
Unlike rectangles, he says, they seem to float and defy gravity,
a goal he had when creating the bench. Notes the artist, "Planar
geometry, and exploring ways to change shapes, plays a big role
in my work." The new bench, which is made of a tropical wood
called agathis and is coated with water-repellent oil, was designed
to be both sculptural and comfortable, according to its creator.
It took shape as a result of a competition offered by the Mount
Holyoke College Art Museum. The winner would receive a commission
to produce an outdoor sculpture that would ultimately be installed
on the side of the museum facing Pageant Green. The class of 2000
donated the funding for the project.
After receiving in
the winter of 2001 drawings of designs from a number of New York
and New England artists, an on-campus committee made up of art
museum staff and art department faculty representatives, in consultation
with a subcommittee of the art museum's national advisory
board, selected Smith's design based on a model he submitted.
"The model was a great means of presenting the design,"
says Marianne Doezema, Florence Finch Abbott Director of the Mount
Holyoke College Art Museum. "We liked Joe's material
and the way that the forms of the bench related to the architecture
of the Art Building." Not to be outdone by O'Shea, Doezema
noted that she particularly admires "the geometric shapes—the
curvilinear lines against the rectilinear structure of the building."
Smith worked with
Ellen Shukis, director of the Botanic Garden, and his wife, Nancy
Howard-Smith (who recently earned a degree in landscape architecture),
to select the site. He describes the chosen location, which has
a southern exposure, as a "warm microclimate" with a
wonderful view. The bench site features Goshen stone, crushed
granite, and grass, as well as plantings of bamboo, ornamental
grasses, and hydrangea. Chris Brown and Ron McMahon of Facilities
Management's grounds crew worked with Smith and Shukis on
the project from start to finish.
Trained at Rhode Island
School of Design, Smith was originally a cabinetmaker and carpenter.
While he continues to employ wood in his sculptural works—with
a particular affinity for "unsung" varieties like exterior-grade
yellow pine—Smith makes use of a range of materials to explore
landscape and architecture, as well as ideas of permanence and
impermanence. Widely shown and reviewed, Smith's work appeared
most recently at the Washington Art Association Gallery in Washington
Depot, Connecticut (2002); the First Street Gallery in New York
City (2001); the 55 Mercer Street Gallery in New York's Soho
neighborhood (2000, 1999); the Saul Kofler Gallery in Providence,
Rhode Island (2000); at Dartmouth College (2000); and over the
last three decades in galleries from Long Island to Los Angeles.
Smith earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville
and a master's degree in fine arts from Rhode Island School
of Design.
The
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2,575
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