This week a group of faculty and technology leaders from campus will be in Washington, D.C. to explore the future of 3D printing in the arts. The Smithsonian X 3D event will include representatives from the Department of Art & Design and from the Maker Lab, sharing the process of digitizing Jacob’s Dream.
The 34-foot-tall bronze was dedicated in 2006 as part of the university’s Centennial Celebration and became an instant campus icon. ACU art and design professor Jack Maxwell and a team of students, engineers, and construction and landscaping specialists worked for two years to plan and produce the towering project.
Jack sat down with us last month to talk about the process of digitizing the 8-foot maquette.
The project was led by Jordan Williams, ACU graduate and co-founder of Captured Dimensions in Dallas, who will also be a part of the Smithsonian event. Jordan’s team scanned the scale model last summer, providing a digital record of this one-of-kind of piece, along with the ability to reproduce Jacob’s Dream at sizes beyond the reach of traditional methods.
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Maker Stories
This is one of two stories we produced this semester about ACU faculty and alumni actively working with new maker technologies. Last month we shared the story of Dallas artist and alum Rolando Diaz and his collaboration with ACU faculty and staff in the Maker Lab on a mixed-media project combining 3D modeling and precision laser cutting in the final piece.
We’re thankful to Ro and to Jack for sharing their experience connecting emerging tech with artistic vision.
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