Monumental Sculpture and 3D Scanning

FROM THE ARTIST’S STUDIO
Is it possible to recreate the exact sculpture without the artist having to sculpt it physically? This process could be done with laser scanning of the art and 3D printing the sculpture to size for direct casting. The artist wrote about this in her book, but more than that, she has used these processes to create her artwork. In September of 2018, Intertek scanning services came to sculptor Bridgette Mongeon’s sculpture of Alice in Wonderland’s Mad Hatter tea party in Evelyn’s Park and did this very thing. Lots of dots were put on the sculpture. These dots are used as registration. The blue light scanner sends light from the scanner to the art and measures the distance. She explains the process in this blog post.  http://alicesculpture.com/scanning-in-the-park-part-1/   The reason the artist needed these scans is that Alice and her friends are going to get small. Just like in the stories of Alice in Wonderland, however, in Mongeon’s studio, they do so with digital technology. Of course, permission would need to be received from the university to 3D scan the sculpture at Tuskegee, and we have to know if the sculpture is copyrighted. (See post on copyright.) Here is a video on the Alice in Wonderland project and you can fast forward to 5:00 to see the parts on 3D scanning.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axtRhxhEZvk]

QUESTIONS

Have you seen 3D printing or 3D scanning?

TEACHER RESOURCES

Teachers who are interested can find educational resources on 3D scanning and lessons plans at CyArk. “CyArk is a non profit organization founded in 2003 to digitally record, archive and share the world’s most significant cultural heritage and ensure that these places continue to inspire wonder and curiosity for decades to come.”

Author Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon

https://www.instagram.com/bridgettemongeon/
https://www.facebook.com/BridgetteMongeonSculptor/
https://twitter.com/sculptorwriter