Piece Description

“The first thought I had about creating a piece for the AAA study was ‘Unity,’” Dustin Moore says. “Kimray demonstrates how people working together can achieve a common vision for the company and the community. For me the best way to visually represent this idea was to have tiles representing the individual people that make up Kimray, and to connect all the tiles to form the image of the AAA valve, which represents the unified goal.

“The first step in this project was to create a 39-inch by 27-inch wooden frame that would be the form used to stage the slab of clay. I then employed my wife and toddler son to assist in rolling out slabs of clay. These smaller clay slabs were then connected into a large uniform slab within the wooden frame. I then ‘sketched’ the outline of the AAA valve’s silhouette into the clay.

“Next, I began building up a relief of the valve by pinching off pieces of clay and pushing them onto the slab using my thumbs. Once the clay was built up approximately half an inch, I began the process of sculpting the AAA valve. This was initiated by roughly marking the areas that I would need to take clay out to create shadows, which help provide the illusion of depth. Using various sculpting tools, I slowly roughed out the form of the valve. Next, I began adding the details of the valve and refining any areas where the light was not creating the desired shadow effect. I then carefully cut the clay slab into 24 individual tiles using a fillet knife. Once cut, I covered the piece in plastic to let it sit and dry slowly. A few weeks later I loaded the air-dried tiles into an electric kiln so that they could be bisque-fired.

“Afterwards, I laid the tiles out into the shape of the AAA valve so that I could begin painting the tiles with acrylic paint. The background was sealed with a matte finish and the AAA valve was sealed in a high gloss to help it pop. The tiles were then ‘stitched’ to one another using steel wire and secured to cross supports on the frame.”