Project Statement


train: wheels traveling on parallel tracks enabled by intersecting linear elements

Create 10 drawings exhibiting a unified voice by exploring the Golden Ratio as found within a locomotive drivetrain. The graphite on paper works will be executed in the coming months based on photographs of a decapod steam engine taken by the artist in 2009 at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Salisbury.

The compositions will use rotation within the confines of strict frontal views, and employ only shadow and detailed material rendering to develop a sense of depth. The conversation between subject and composition will draw on the “idea” of train and the inverse notion of what might be seen if the train moved around the wheel.

All 10 pieces will be the same size, each containing some part of a wheel in order to ground the viewer within the abstraction, much the same as the role the wheels play as they ride the rails.

Progress Bar

Progress Bar
Progress Bar: Five drawings completed

Friday, August 3, 2012

Between Drawings: The Locomotive


I thought it might be interesting to post some information about the locomotive that I'm using as the subject for these drawings.

The North Carolina Transportation Museum is located in the town of Spenser, about 45 minutes drive north of Charlotte, NC. The museum has a great web site and I'd encourage you to check it out if you're at all interested in trains, planes or automobiles.

The following information about the steam locomotive I'm using for the Decapod Project comes from the NC Transportation Museum's web site.

© North Carolina Transportation Museum
Seaboard Air Line #544
"The locomotive was built by the American Locomotive Company in March 1918. This 2-10-0 Decapod was built for the Russian State Railroad, but never delivered due to the Revolution of 1917. Before the locomotive could be used in the U.S, wider tires had to be installed since the Russian Railroads used 5-foot gauge, instead of 4 feet 8 ½ inches. It then became the property of the United States Railroad Administration, begun in 1917 to control the shipment of vital war supplies during World War I. Decapods were employed on branch lines throughout the Seaboard system, being based in North Carolina at Hamlet and Raleigh. During the 1950s these decapods were transferred to the Gainesville Midland, a Seaboard subsidiary in Georgia. The 544 was placed on display in Atlanta in 1965 and later sold to the North Carolina Railroad Company in 1980, which donated the locomotive to the State of North Carolina. The 544 was cosmetically restored in 1996 for display in the Robert Julian Roundhouse."
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