Musical Art Project

"Cool Clarinet"

The restrained abstract version of the clarinet is an
attempt to capture the "cool
jazz" character of the clarinet
with reference to its sleek
light design, yet complexity
that is for the musician to
master resulting in solid, gratifying, sounds.

When I first received a phone call regarding the scholarship fund raising effort, I immediately knew that, as a recently semi-retired engineer and recently turned full-time artist I wanted to contribute, somehow, to this worthy cause. However, I really had no idea what I would create – my artistic medium of choice is that of abstract fabricated metal sculptures, something I've been involved in for ten years now but the question was, what do I create? I remembered sketching some instruments inspired by all that jazz I prefer to listen to, and I had a sketch of a wild version of a clarinet, along with other instruments. Added to this, the wife of a friend of mine at work happens to play the clarinet in the local orchestra, so I thought; why not the clarinet? My friend brought the instrument to work so I could photograph it and take basic
measurements, as my knowledge of the clarinet, or other instruments, was very limited.

The next challenge was having a target audience, as all my work is normally done to my own theme, taste and sense of abstraction. I needed to tone it down somewhat so that it would appeal to a wider audience. I sought to capture the sleek, light design of the instrument
yet indicate, in a minimalist way, that it is complex and can product solid tones. You will find the overall
dimensions of this piece closely mimic that of the real instrument, and that the piece is unique, as I don't duplicate any of my work (sometimes much to the comfort of others). The raw materials for this piece amount to my usual source; the scrap buckets at Greenheck Fan Corporation, where I work as a manufacturing engineer in
advanced methods of manufacturing (now part-time).

Pat Plunkett

plunkett@dwave.net

For most of my life, art has been simply a hobby or an interest. But sometime around 1997 I decided to make it a larger part of my life, and set about finding the best way to express myself. After a year of searching, I started tinkering with metal sculpture. Since then, I have continued to capture my ideas in sculpture while continuing to work, and have even become interested in combining my sculptures and photography.