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Stars and Stripers is a mixed-media sculpture featuring granite sea stars and aluminum striped bass inhabiting a rock cliff inside the Brick Marked building in Portsmouth /NH. The work was inspired by the well known marine biologist and writer Rachel Carson, who is honored with a carved stone book at the base of the sculpture, titled ‘The Sea Around Us’.
A carved book at the base of the ocean rock is a reference to the marine biologist and writer Rachel Carson.
The pedestal consists of a polished block of black granite.
The seven sea stars of the sculpture are carved from granite
Besides the sea stars and striped bass, there are limpet and periwinkle shells attached to the ocean rock.
The stripers are cast in aluminum. Three are attached to the ocean rock, another 6 are hanging from the ceiling.
Each of the 9 stripers has a slightly different appearance. I achieved this by shaping the individual wax copies before the casting in aluminum.
Brian Boucher is the master of wax work at the Green Foundry in Eliot, where my fish were cast.
The wax has been coated with a ceramic shell. After hardening of the shell the wax will be burned out and aluminum cast into these ceramic shell, which is afterwards broken and removed to expose the cast fish
Excess parts from the casting process are removed and parts that were cast separately have been welded on. My thanks go out to Jason Turgeon from the Green Foundry for his fine work!
A patina was applied over the entire cast, and in a second step partially removed
The sculpture ‘Stars and Stripers’ was commissioned for the Entrance area of the new Brick Market building in Portsmouth/NH. It consists of 7 sea stars and 9 striped bass surrounding an ocean rock, and a stone carving of a book by Rachel Carson, titled ‘The Sea Around Us’.
The striped bass are cast in aluminum, all remaining elements are carved in granite in my workshop. I created one striped bass in oilbased clay of which excellent casts were produced at the Green Foundry in Eliot/Maine.
