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New appointment bolsters the artsTJ Becker Communications Atlanta sculptor Clark Ashton is wielding his metal magic at the Georgia Institute of Technology as its 1997/98 artist-in-residence. A joint appointment by the College of Architecture and the School of Mechanical Engineering, this newly created post reflects an effort to bolster arts on campus and strengthen ties across academic programs. “We believe this post will inject new energy and ideas to Georgia Tech,” says Thomas D. Galloway, dean of Architecture. “Having an artist-in-residence goes beyond teaching a class or producing artwork for the campus—the mere fact that a sculptor is working on campus on a daily basis raises awareness for visual arts and provides greater interaction opportunities for students, faculty and staff.” The relationship between art and engineering is not as tenuous as one might think, adds Ward O. Winer, chair of the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. “Art involves not only conception, but also fabrication and production. The artist-in-residence program gives us the opportunity to explore the synergism among art, design and engineering.” In many respects, the artist-in-residence program is a blast from the past. Atlanta artist Julian Hoke Harris graduated in architecture from Georgia Tech in 1928 and went on to embrace sculpture. He returned to Georgia Tech in 1936, where he taught and worked for nearly four decades. During this tenure, Harris created a number of works for the campus, including 10 corbeled heads in the Brittain Dining Hall and bronze gates in the Naval ROTC Armory. “We hope this program will revive and add to the legacy that Julian Harris began,” adds Dean Galloway. A one-year appointment, the new post will bring a variety of artists and media to the Georgia Tech campus. Ashton was a natural for the first year because of the kinetic and architectural aspect of his work. “I build mechanical towers,” says the 39-year-old sculptor. One of his sculptures has already been installed on campus in front of the Coon Mechanical Engineering Building on Cherry Street—a 17-foot tower of iron and steel that Ashton calls a “Sky Scratcher”. By cranking the handle, passersby activate a claw-like element at the top of the tower, moving it up and down. The sculpture symbolizes the ritual of communicating with a higher power, explains Ashton. Ashton hails from an eclectic background. He grew up in Augusta and was first exposed to welding in high school and later worked in an ironworks, building bridge beams and railroad cars. “But then I got tired of earning my living from welding,” explains Ashton. He headed to technical school to tudy industrial electricity, working as a telecommunications technician by day and playing in a band at night. Ashton returned to welding in 1989, but this time as a creative outlet: “I wanted to make metal men for my yard,” he explains. Embracing sculpture as a hobby coincided with Ashton’s enrollment at Georgia State University, where he completed a bachelor’s degree in anthropology followed by a master’s of fine arts in sculpture. His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions in the Southeast including: the 1997 Atlanta Biennial at the Nexus Contemporary Art Center in Atlanta; the LaGrange Biennial (1996) in LaGrange, Ga.; and the Florida National (1995) at the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts in Tallahassee, Fla. Praised for his attention to details, Ashton’s work is influenced by “social conditions and belief systems, particularly those that put individuals and cultures in conflict and change.” Take his front yard on North Druid Hills Road where Ashton has installed a drive-by sculpture gallery: • “Boundary” is a 55-foot site-specific work fabricated from steel and cast iron that “separates peaceful home space from the chaotic world of life and transit,” according to Ashton. In the middle of the sculpture is a “throne” where Ashton often sits, drinking coffee in the morning and interacting with rush hour traffic. “It’s a way to re-think community in a transient environment,” explains Ashton. “Thousands of people drive by my doorstep everyday. They don’t know me, I don’t know them, but I’m working on that.” • “Faith in Industry,” another work in Ashton’s front yard, features “a sky saw, control tower and sky stitcher” that the artist deems “a trinity of sculptures designed to solve all problems related to the great unknown.” “I try to reflect on the duality of things,” explains Ashton. “On one hand, rushing off to work each morning might be viewed as a futile exercise—materialistic pursuit of cookie-cutter consumer identities. On the other hand, rush hour traffic might signify a rewarding commitment to industriousness.” “There is no right or wrong with art. It’s all about subjectivity.You can make it what you want to make it,” says Ashton, underscoring one reason he believes art serves as an important outlet on an engineering campus. Response has already been strong for a metal-working studio class that Ashton is teaching during fall quarter. He hoped for five students to enroll, and 17 showed up. “People are dying to get their hands on more than a computer,” says Ashton.
And in turn, Ashton is anxious to get his hands on computers. The sculptor is attending a
computer modeling class, learning skills he hopes to use when working out preliminary ideas
for his art. “You never know where ideas will come from,” says Ashton.
Approved by the Office of External Affairs on 09/24/97
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