On the Wing

Mike Roig, Sculpture

On the Wing

A commissioned sculpture for Automation Direct

in Cumming, Ga.

Early January 2018

2018 begins with me thinking about a commissioned sculpture I will be making over the course

of the first half of the year for Automation Direct, a company in Cumming, Georgia. It has my brain working

overtime as this will be the largest shape I've yet made of these hollow bodied stainless steel forms.

The maquette, pictured above, will enlarge to a form measuring a little over

11 feet across at the tips, and sit atop a pedestal designed by the architect of

Automation Direct's new facility, Jim Lord.

Gradually I have been gathering various parts and materials in anticipation of this sculpture.

The 5' x 10' stainless steel sheets at the bottom of this stack of material fresh from the

supplier will eventually be transformed into the main surfaces of the sculpture. Simply stowing

them away in the rack was my first taste of the strategies I'll need to develop as I handle these

larger pieces. Practice is good as the process of turning raw materials into art is always a directional

flow during which your manipulation of material needs to become more and more skilled as the forms and

surfaces become invested with qualities that you want to see treated with TLC.

One of these axles and hubs will go into the sculpture itself, while the second will be used in the

work-stand during fabrication.

The last few days have centered around building this expanded version of the sheet rolling machine

needed to make a piece like On the Wing. With a working width of about 10.5 feet,

it will allow me to curve the planes of the shape before assembly. There will no doubt be further

refinements to come, but in its first test it rolled the 4' wide sheet successfully.

As always, these pages are designed to both keep those who have a vested interest in the sculpture

informed as to how the work is proceeding and to share a process of creation with anyone who is

interested in seeing how I go about making a particular sculpture. Check in from time to time as

the work moves toward its intended installation this summer.