Plexiglas Relief for the Great Southwest Industrial Park, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.

Leonurab,Vol. 2 ,pp. 171-173. Pergamon Press 1969. Printedi n GreatBritain PLEXIGLAS RELIEF FOR THE GREAT SOUTHWEST INDUSTRIAL PARK, ATLANTA, QEORGIA, U.S.A. Dorothy Dehner* Afewmileswest of Atlanta, Georgia,U.S.A., a very largeIndustrialPark hasbeen cut out of the wilderness and is being developed with miles of roads, elaboratelandscapingand, surprisingly,it is graced by many large sculptures. Instead of an industrial slum, growingjust anywhere, deteriorating even as it isborn,theIndustrialParkisconceivedasacentre ofindustryintermsofreasonandbeauty.Itbecomes a place to be admired rather than an unsightly complexto be avoided. Not many buildingsare up so far (about t h i r t y )but expansionis rapid and the site is planned to accommodate over two thousand buildings. My own commissionto make a sculpturefor this project was given to me with littleceremony. I was asked to make something ...material and subject unspecsed. I would have a surface about 25 feet longand 18feethighagainstwhichtoplacemywork. It could be a standingpiece as largeor as smallas I chose or it could be a wall sculpture. I was not providedwithablueprintora layoutofthesite,both of which I could have used. Most commissionsare so heavily supervised by architects and other interested parties that the sculptor or painter is hemmed in on all sides and a lack of spontaneity results. This was definitely not so with the Great Southwest Company's Park in Georgia where the art directoris Douglas McAgy. After a little reflection I decided to make a wall sculpture; a relief. Up to that time all my sculpture had been cast in bronze which for such a sizeable piecewould have been too cumbersomeand expensive . I alsofelt a new materialwith variouscolours should be used in that setting. I therefore decided to use red, black and whitePlexiglas(Perspex). The formsofmyreliefweretobelargebecauseIhadbeen toldthattherewerenosidewalksalongtheroadsand that the workerswould approachthe factory buildingsby car. Theworkhad to be bold to be seenand absorbedeasilyand quickly. When a 1/12 scalemodel I made was accepted,it remained to €ind out how to approach the actual m a k i n g of sucha piece. Theworkw a sto consistof fourteenpiecesattachedt oapinkisbtan brick wall. - -&tiat at 33 Fifth A=., New York, N.Y. 10003, USA. (lkmivd23 Novanbcr 1968.) All of the shapes were simple geometrical ones except the largest piece, therefore easily enlarged. Imadeafull-scaledrawingofthelargestpiece,which was 7 feet high by 11 feet long. I made full-size templates of heavy wrapping paper of all shapes accordingto which the 1.5 inch-thick Plexiglaswas cut. The firm that did that ordinarily made large signs for buildings and large Plexiglas shapes for architecturaluse. Theyhad neverbeforeworkedfor a sculptor. Their work was accurate, the cut edges were finally polished and the heavy gummed paper whichcoversthePlexiglasasitcomesfromthefactory was left intact to protect the surface and prevent scratching. (Plexiglas is rather soft and scratches easily.) Wall brackt All dimensions in inches All parts of aluminium %rbdts L 'b 4 3'/I Connecting attachment betweenPlexiglas and wan U-chmmel section ' / I Bolt attachment t o Plaxiglar Glued\ rn Fig. 1. Attachment design (all parts made o f aluminium). 171 172 Dorothy Dehner I had been assured that Plexiglaswould withstand the wide range of summer-winter temperatures and other climatic conditions prevailing in Georgia-that it had been tested out of doors for over thirty years without showingseriousdeterioration . To ~IX the Plexiglas pieces of the design to the brick wall specialattachments were designed by my husband, Ferdinand Mann, who has had long experience with plastic materials. The attachments were made of aluminium and, in addition to being adequatelystrongand invisiblefrom the front, had to allow for expansion of the Plexiglas with temperature. In Fig. 1.the design of the attachment is shown. The distance of the Plexiglas pieces varied in distancefromthe wall from2 to 8 in. The mounting of the relief was carried out without difficulty and without my supervisionaccordingto sketchesI provided . The completed relief is shown in Fig. 2. I would now like to make Plexiglasreliefs involving more complicated shapes of the pieces in a relief, for I have learned that the material readily lends itself to being cut and shaped. Notes: Plexiglas Relieffor the Great Southwest Industrial Park, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. 173 ...