Pollitt Studio | Up Draft

Sculpted mobius ribbon

It took me over a year to figure out the “architecture” for this dream-delivered, fully defined, sculpted mobius ribbon.

Dreams are an important aspect of my art. When an element of one of my pieces presents me with difficulty, I leave it alone for a while and inevitably some form of solution comes to me in dream state. Many times, I see shapes flashing on the screen of my subconscious like a slide show.

Occasionally a vivid dream encompasses full, definable objects. One night I dreamed about a pile of ribbon being lifted vertically by hot air. It was a fluid movement like lava being shot up from a volcano.

The dream ended. There was an instantaneous flashback, a single moment in which the object became a frozen picture. And then a name appeared – Up Draft.

UP DRAFT

2′-0″ H X 1’-2″ Dia.

COLLECTED

Creating this piece

As I said earlier, it took me over a year to figure out the “architecture” for Up Draft. While I sculpted other pieces, my left brain worked on how to make this dream-state-waif hold herself together, how to make something that looked and felt ethereal remain structurally sound.

Once I mentally solved the substance of it, I set about capturing it.

I laminated 11 pieces of 1 ¾” thick linde wood into a solid mass in order to sculpt Up Draft because, at the time, my wood supply was restricted by what came “stock” from the sawmill.

My wife, Gaye, and I were living in Switzerland and I was without access to my “wood pantry” here in the States. Because of the number of visible lamination “joints,” many people argued (forcefully) that I created Up Draft by bending and joining the pieces of wood, not sculpting it from a solid block. I assure you, the process entailed absolutely no steaming or bending.

Up Draft, two views of Harry Pollitt's ribbon sculpture in wood while in process.

There’s something extra.

Up Draft is a mobius band 32’-0″ long. What’s that you ask? Read my own description of what mathematicians describe as “a non-orientable two-dimensional surface with only one side when embedded in three-dimensional Euclidean space.” Right!!! Down Force is also a mobius.