Client: North Carolina State University

Overview

Forging the Path, consisting of 7 lined wolves made of ~600 individual pieces, now greets the WolfPack culture at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Forging the path is located on a 60’x 30’ vertical of an atrium inside the new NCSU recreation facility. It’s represents a pack of wolves traveling through the snowy tundra working together as a team. It shifts the plane of perspective so the wolves appear to be walking up the wall. As you stand on the floor below them and look up, you become part of the pack. As you approach the sculpture from any of the four floors of the recreation facility the primary visual experience is the graphic representation of the shadows spread across the wall which becomes the snowy tundra. As you get closer to the sculpture the dimension of the individual wolves is realized and the perspective on the piece is shifted as wall surface becomes ground plane. This ’shift’ is a metaphor for how we see the world and how that can be changed by our experience.

Goals

Create a unique, site specific sculpture that captures the essence of the WolfPack culture at North Carolina State University.

Additional Information

Because of the ways in which wolves have evolved and the special demands of their way of life, wolves have become one of the most highly social of all carnivores. Like many human beings, wolves live in extended families - packs. Pack life insures the care and feeding of the young, and allows wolves to defend their common territory. Wolves live in packs because cooperation allows them to thrive. As the young wolves develop and become strong enough, they begin the “lone wolf howl” to find a mate and create a pack of their own. North Carolina State University carves the path for their Pack to thrive.