How I Got Started: Reflections on a Decade of Artmaking
Hey everyone, Jacques here. Between hours of rendering and late night installs, a whole decade working in the arts has somehow flown by. To celebrate this milestone of sorts, I thought I would reflect on some apprenticeships early in my career that shaped my approach and style as a professional artist. Design thrives in community and collaboration. I wouldn’t be half the artist or designer I am today without the guidance of talented artists and architects who were willing to mentor me, and who invited me to participate in the teams making their designs real.
As a graduate student at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), I found myself in need of both money to cover living expenses, and experience to better hone my design skills. I apprenticed continually throughout my three year program for professional artists and award winning architecture firms in Los Angeles. Some of my fondest apprenticeship memories are with renowned art studio Poetic Kinetics.
Below is a recap of the Poetic Kinetics projects that I had the good fortune to participate in. Working alongside professional artists taught me invaluable lessons about designing and building large format art. I’m forever indebted to Patrick Shearn and his team for an apprenticeship that served as the foundation of my art career.
ESCAPE VELOCITY (aka COACHELLA ASTRONAUT) – POETIC KINETICS
Created by Patrick Shearn at Poetic Kinetics, Escape Velocity is a gigantic robotic astronaut with radio-controlled animatronics that articulate its life-like gestures. It made its debut at the 2014 Coachella Music festival and immediately went viral. The visor in Escape Velocity is equipped with video projection mapping, allowing for recorded content to be streamed to the audience. This allows participants to interact with the sculpture and have their faces appear on the visor as it traverses the festival grounds.
Escape Velocity is currently on display at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
Source: Poetic Kinetics
CATERPILLAR’S LONGING – POETIC KINETICS
Caterpillar's Longing encompasses two pieces, Papilio Merraculous (the caterpillar), and Desiderium Eruca (the butterfly). It was produced for Coachella 2015 by Poetic Kinetics.
Source: Poetic Kinetics
ELECTRIC DAISY – POETIC KINETICS
The Electric Daisy was designed for Insomniac Events and debuted at the 2012 Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas. The sculpture stands 140’ tall at full extension and features 45,000 programmable LEDs.
