The 3D relief print of St Aldhelm’s Head was made using solid freeform additive fabrication techniques or 3D printing, from a series of cross sections of the landscape. 3D printing or additive fabrication is the creation of a new form through an accumulation of layers. Such printers work by ‘printing’ successive layers to build-up a sculptural object. The print was produced at the Centre for Print Research – University of the West of England for 3D2D: Object and Illusion in Print, an exhibition at Edinburgh Printmakers in 2010. This exhibition investigated the dual possibilities of creatively engaging with digital software and hardware to produce data that can be printed in both 2D and 3D. To explore this new transition, a selection of artists currently working in the field were selected to produce printed images and related printed objects that reveal new insights into image and object making through print.
The dome relief prints are made from a hybrid process incorporating print, painting and sculpture. These models were made using solid freeform fabrication techniques or 3D printing. Using additive fabrication the printer lays down successive layers of powder made of starch and plaster, binder and flexible epoxy infiltrant to build up the landscape models from a series of cross sections. These layers are fused automatically to create the final shape. The model was de-powdered and then infiltrated with Z Bond 101 cyanoacrylate to prepare for painting. The location visible on the print displays the Purbeck monocline, a ridge of chalk that runs from Old Harry rocks in the east to Bat’s Head in the west.
Information for the landscape comes from LiDAR data (Light Detection and Ranging) recorded with optical remote sensing technology that can measure the distance to a set point using laser beams. Hand-painted by a model maker, around the mahogany base can be seen a colour coded spectrum: every time a new colour was mixed to create the topography, a strip was painted to record the fact. The model is displayed in a vitrine A glass dome gives the work a slightly surreal quality but most importantly it alerts us to something that is precious and fragile underneath, perhaps a metaphor for Britain’s natural environments which are under constant threat. In this artist’s hands both the heritage coastline and the piece of art become a prized object of great desire, worth keeping and showing off.
Catherine Mason
