2021

14 x 30 x 10 inches

Wood sculpture, canvas, rubber cement, clay, hemp rope

When I was a child, my brother and I would make things out of mud in the backyard. We loved to tinker and build with sticks and dirt. We would mimic being stranded and having to create a fire and 'shelter.' One of the things we were fascinated with was primitive fire-starting techniques. The original pump drill was designed by the American Native Hopi Pueblo people, which uses a twisting string and flywheel to create friction; however, it was most likely to bore holes. 

Leonardo da Vinci’s design for an Aerial Screw was a precursor model for  the modern helicopter, and first proposed that centripetal force on an object could create vertical lift. The original proposal involved 300 lbs of material and four people to operate, deeming it futile through manual operation alone. I applied this futility and mechanics to the pump drill, an ode to my past childlike realization.