Morgan McAuslan is a mixed media artist whose installation in the Sheppard Arts Gallery was on display for the month of October. His exhibit included sculpture and sound. There were two windmill sculptures that stood in the middle of the exhibit, and an entire wall sculpture equip with motors that spun small corked hammers around to hit various metal containers.
McAuslan was in attendance at the exhibit to offer some of his thoughts going into the process of creating his works. He likes to use non-traditional item to create objects that are easily recognized. He said that he found a broken windmill near his home in Oregon, and rebuilt it entirely out of paper.
The piece of work that I found most interesting was the sound making sculpture. The motor spun around wires that created a chain reaction until the wire the cork on the end was slingshot back to hit the container. There was an assortment of different sizes of the containers, which made the room fill with various tones coming from the containers.
I think of this piece as recycled music. All the materials that McAuslan used were found materials that he recycled into art. The sounds coming from the sculpture are not quite music, because all the “instruments” are played at random. The sculpture makes out of rhythm tones, similar to that of wind chimes. You can also start and stop the motors at anytime, making the possibilities infinite for how many sound patterns can be made.
The aesthetic of the sculpture is also eye catching. It is very geometric, with colored glass squares concealing the motors, and the long constantly moving lines the circle the wall. The setup of the installation is very intriguing, and there is something to look at on every part of the wall. I like that every aspect of his project is something old that has been renewed, and he found a different use for these object other than what they were originally intended for.
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