Client: Center of Bioethics and Humanities, Fulginiti Pavillion

Overview

Lost Wax Casting and Fabricated Steel. This work is a focal point of the Center of Bioethics and Humanities on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, CO. It hangs on a curved wall in the entrance of the building facing an open green space outdoors. Passing medical professionals and students are able to see the work through the glass front of the architecture. The flexibility of the work is highlighted by its placement on the curved interior wall of the space. Behind the curved wall is an auditorium – the gallery focuses on engagement of arts in medicine.

Goals

The Nipple Quilt was developed out of a desire to engage the community, document individuals in a cutting edge contemporary conceptual manner while placing a site specific work. The idea of documentation relating to the work can be best described as having attached to the work through ideas Miwon Kwon shares in the book: One Place After Another on site specifity. Incorporating both practical experience and a desire to document people, existence through people and things, guided this project. It is important to note, the work is not gender specific and contains representations of both men and women.
The quilt is a form of familial representation and a means of documenting. Ironically the finished work, also took on a bit of a specimen appearance that both play into its location and the representation of the individuals whom participated. The artist also intended the work to touch upon the responsibility women have assumed historically in the area of genealogy, family record keeping and burial records.

Created from the auspices of accomplishing a quilt made entirely out of metal the work was challenging. It also has the potential to grow into a larger project or develop into additional quilts.

Process

Each square represents a person. The representations where accomplished through life casts using the lost wax process. The artist worked with 48 participants to place this work collaboratively in the Fulginiti Pavilion. The project provides a unique means of engaging and documenting a community, crossing genders in an unorthodox manner. The process opened communication among the actual quilt participant's and also created a dialogue amongst the people of medical campus; highlighting how the human form within this work has been able to generate discussion from an artistic approach relating to many scientific disciplines and practices on the campus.

Additional Information

The Center of Bioethics and Humanities is dedicated to creating a dialogue through arts and medicine. The work as placed, would not have been possible without the commitment Dr.Tess Jones brings to the Fulginiti Pavilion to bring art and medicine together. The work is listed in the Public Art Archive maintained by WESTAF. Dimensions installed are 8 ft. by 9 ft.