VMI Timberframing 2012

Sunday, April 8th, 2012 @ 10:13 pm

2012, architecture, build, engineer, massart, project, sculpture, structure, timber, timberframe, virginia, vmi, wood

The Virignia Military Institute conducted a timberframing project near their campus in Virginia, and members of our Sculpture department were lucky enough to participate.

Joints come together

We left on a Thursday morning, arriving just in time for dinner, and spent three full days working on the structure, scribing and marking, cutting and fitting the joinery, and parts-assembly and transporting the stuff to the site. We didn’t have time to see it raised, but it was an awesome time nonetheless.

The Structure Stands

I’ve grown a love of Timberframing since my experience in Poland, and though it’s not something I yearn for, every time I go on a project I’m reminded of how simple and pure and great life can be when we work hard together, and create something at the end of each day.

Woodworking has become a passion in many forms for me, from furniture to historic restoration, maybe because it’s nostalgic, historically important, but it’s also personally satisfying, and invigorating to make something with my own hands, to craft something that becomes part of someone’s existence. It’s interesting to see the shift of my attentions from entertaining people with my film/video work and into a more direct connection by making objects for them, and wanting to make change and do good through this process. I often wonder how it can make a real difference in lives already so full.