It's All in Your Head; The Circle of Life
     
I have been using the computer since the early 80's to record the visual data of body language and the subtle differences among the genders in communicating with each other. I used video to capture the movement of dancers, which I then transferred to the computer to change the forms or patterns on the surfaces. Later, I used three dimensional modeling programs to design the work. As rapid prototyping became a more viable form of production, it allowed me to create forms that could not be constructed by other methods. The complexity of the forms and their interconnections became a choreographed movement in the software that only rapid prototyping could complete. In the "Circle of Life," nine female forms are suspended in a cylindrical form, creating a centered viewpoint or an instrument of observation. The plane curves with each figure, equidistant from a given fixed point. At the center, it implies a process that finishes at its starting point or continuously repeats itself: a cycle. A series ending where it begins, and repeating itself neverceasing; continuing forever through the bodies of women. The ability to recompose, add, and delete forms immediately is an important change in my way of working. My collection of rituals and gestures can be viewed in any number of variations and easily accessed. This ability to create a virtual reality has caused me to develop a more interactive relationship between the viewer and their encounter with my work. I am no longer interested in controlling the viewpoint as much as I am interested in creating an interaction for the viewer in the virtual, as well as, real world space.


  

Professor Mary Visser teaches sculpture and computer modeling at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Ms. Visser has completed several large-scale public and private commissions for such entities as the City of Austin, Sprint Inc., and public building such as the Telex Relay System for the Deaf in Texas. Her work has been included in several multimedia and video presentations here and in Europe (e.g. The Computer: A Tool for Sculptors PBS, U.S.A., Clay Artists, America's Best, France, Texas Artists in Clay, London, England, Clay U.S.A., Boston and Atlanta). Her work has also been featured in Texas Monthly, Artspace, Ceramics Monthly, Sculpture International and in the book, A Comprehensive Guide to Outdoor Sculpture in Texas by Carol Morris Little. Visser's work has been included in over 108 international, national, and regional juried exhibitions. Her work has received numerous awards, among which she received the "1990 Design Excellence Award" from the City of Austin Design Commission for her sculpture "Color At Play", a Mellon Technology Fellowship in 1998 for her work in multimedia, and a Mundy Fellowship for rapid prototyping in 2002, where she completed a Partnership in Stereo Modeling with PRISM Labs, Inc. at Arizona State University.

Visser organized one of the first juried national digital art exhibitions for the Brown Symposium in the early 80's and has published several articles on women artists. Her most recent publication is entitled "Perspectives: The Interface: Computers, 3-D Modeling and Women Sculptors" for the International Sculpture Center web special at the url http://www.sculpture.org/documents/webspec/visser/women.htm. She has given numerous workshops on modeling digital sculpture and organized the rapid prototyping workshop for the 2000 International Sculpture Symposium in Houston, Texas. Ms. Visser was one of the curators for the International Rapid Prototyping Sculpture exhibition that has been touring since 2003. This exhibition has also been shown around the world and has appeared in the Zoller Gallery at Pennsylvania State University in 2005 and in 2006 in the DAAP Gallery at the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, University of Cincinnati and in May 2006 at The Robert v. Fullerton Art Museum at California State University in San Bernardino, California. She has had her work shown in France, Turkey, England, New Zealand, and Australia. Most recently, Visser received a Cullen grant to work with Accelerated Technologies to produce large-scale rapid prototyped works of her sculptures in polycarbonate and bronze materials. Visser served as a juror for the International juried sculpture competition, I N T E R S C U L P T in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2006.