Client: Huntington Museum of Art

Overview

At 14′ 10″ tall, The Discovery barely fit into its new home in the main entrance to the Huntington Museum of Art. Fabricated from poplar and Carrara marble, it is the largest free-standing sculpture that I have created. I love the fact that it shares the space with an amazing Alexander Calder mobile.

Goals

This piece was originally sited at the main entrance so as to be a “gentle confrontation” to visitors. Incidentally, it proved to be the favorite work of all the school children visiting the museum.

Process

As aforementioned, Mr. Lenac was from Croatia. He grew up in the coastal region and had experience with boatbuilding techniques. Since I grew up in a coastal region of Florida and built boats with my father, we shared many common aesthetics and fabrication methods. All adhesives and joinery methods were borrowed directly from having built boats.