UIS Visual Arts Gallery presents "Copy Shop", an exhibition of 3D printed & digitally fabricated objects

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery presents Copy Shop, and exhibition of 3D printed and digitally fabricated objects by Chicago-based artists Tom Burtonwood and Holly Holmes.

Working from a variety of sources, Burtonwood and Holmes create 3D printed modular works that borrow from natural systems of organization. The artists utilize simple mechanical connections to create novel and unique juxtapositions of forms and meanings that promote adaptability, contingency, variability and an open course philosophy.

The exhibition will open on Monday, November 3 and run through Thursday, November 28. A lecture and exhibition reception will take place on Thursday, November 6. The lecture will take place from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Sangamon Auditorium Lobby, located in the Public Affairs Center (PAC). The reception will take place in the Visual Arts Gallery, located in the Health Sciences Building (HSB 201), from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. The UIS Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speakers Series and the Statehouse Inn serve as sponsors for this lecture and exhibit. All events are free and open to the public.

As the sampler was to hip-hop so the 3D printer is to sculpture and designed objects. Open source 3D printing has paved the way for a revolution in making things. 3D printing and scanning combined are time machines. They reach back into the past and teleport objects of antiquity around the globe, reproducing and sharing them for everyone to touch and hold in their hands. Just as blogs disrupted publishing, and smart phones changed communications so 3D printing, scanning and modeling will transform the world of objects and the services that surround them.

A component of the exhibit will borrow from Springfield’s Dana Thomas House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and a showcase of his Prairie Style. The artists have created a 3D print of a fragment of the house that captures portions of pattern that exemplify the Prairie style. From that 3D print, the artists have created a mold that the audience can use on-site to create their own small-scale copy to take away. Design innovations of the past merge with contemporary design innovations through this process and product.

The UIS Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, room 201 (HSB 201). Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. For more information exhibition programming, please visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery, or contact the gallery at 217/ 206-6506 or alach3@uis.edu.