Observatory A

17’ 2” x 13’ 4” x 7’ 3”

Fabricated steel, cast iron

2015

2015 Hot Metal Artist/Coordinator

Artist Statement

Araan Schmidt’s practice involves a direct confrontation with stubborn materials, resulting in forms like this cast iron tube, which weighs 1500 pounds and was created in a 20,000-pound sand mold. Observatory A is both an observation telescope to the heavens and a marker of time. Each year on August 8 at 4 pm, the sun aligns with the telescope and marks a circle of light in the shadow of the sculpture.

The Harris Project 

27’ x 42’ x 15’

Steel, cable, rubber tubing, canvas heating duct

2011

2011 Open Studio Fellow

Artist Statement

This sculpture is comprised of materials donated from the abandoned manufacturing company Harris Machinery in Minneapolis, MN. The Harris Machinery Company made many industrial products over the span of 100 years, including military canvas heating ducts used in the Korean War.

In his practice, sculptor Araan Schmidt considers how the impersonal nature of industrial production might meet our human connection to objects. Here the canvas heating ducts, which form the main visual element of the sculpture, are arranged to amplify the twisted and torn movement of the splayed industrial organ.

Araan Schmidt

Born: Iowa City, IA, USA, 1982

Resides: Alfred, NY, USA

Education

BFA, Kansas City Art Institute

MFA, University of Minnesota