Something Big Is Coming...
Pekich Park
Grand Rapids, Michigan
September 12 - October 3
No such Thing as scrap.
There is a popular saying in woodworking that there is no such thing as scrap, just pieces that haven't found their purpose yet. As a lifelong woodworker, I often use that concept in the furniture I create. For many years I have been designing and building my own furniture using reclaimed wood sourced anywhere from church pews to floor boards. I recently moved from Indiana to work for Joseph Jeup, a high-end designer furniture manufacturer located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I have been collecting large high-quality materials from scrap bins and raffles at work for over a year.
During ArtPrize I will be taking over Pekich Park with 100 wooden T-Rex puzzles using cutoffs from work. The puzzles stand between 5 inches and 5 feet tall! The dinosaurs will have integrated lighting that will illuminate the skeletal structure in shifting colors bringing the piece to life, especially at night.
THE DINOSAURS.
Dinosaurs have fascinated me for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I would visit The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and stand in awe beneath the towering brachiosaurs as it peered into the building. From one of the many visits to the museum, my parents got me a die-cut wooden puzzle of a brachiosaurus. Wooden dinosaur puzzles were mass produced throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. The T-Rex was one of the most iconic puzzles in the series and are still sold by various manufacturers today.
With my ArtPrize entry, I aim to recreate the same feeling of awe I experienced as a child whenever I visited the museum. The concept is simple: take the iconic T-Rex puzzle and scale it up using plywood and make as many little ones as I can using MDF. Each T-Rex is made using scrap materials that would have otherwise gone into a landfill. I hope the dinosaurs bring a sense of wonder and nostalgia to the event and am excited to see everyone interact with the display.
lARGEST:
61” Tall
112” Long
100 DINOSAURS
THE SCALE.
2,700 Pieces
The Process.
LARGE SCALE PUZZLES
Each T-Rex contains 27 pieces that fit together just like the dinosaur puzzle I had as a kid. The original scan was based on a smaller scale and started to see problems as I scaled up. I created a CAD model to simulate and correct the issues that occurred during this project.
Rapid replication
I used a 4’x'4’ CNC router and a 55W laser cutter to cut thousands of complex puzzle pieces with near perfect replication. The laser is used to quickly cut through thin MDF to make small dinosaurs; while the CNC is used to make large dinosaurs from plywood reaching over 5 feet tall!
Applying Finish
Since the dinosaurs will be living outdoors for a few weeks, I coated each dinosaur with spar urethane. The small ones were dipped into a gallon of urethane and hung to dry. The large and medium size ones were sprayed with a spray gun or rolled on with a roller.
Little Dinos,
Big Impact.
Small 5” - 7” dinosaurs make up most of the 100 T-Rex puzzles in the installation. At the end of ArtPrize, I will be auctioning them off to raise money for charity. Learn more about the Dino Drive here.