Derek Keenan - "Blue Sky"

Blue Sky is an all-wooden, wall-mounted geometric sculpture piece composed of 10 large and 32 smaller tetrahedrons arranged in an alternating groupings creating a 3D pattern. My process to create this piece started out with concept sketches on paper. Once I had an idea that I liked, I modeled that idea on a computer with 3D software. Through this process, I'm able to work out all the geometry to make sure everything will be a precise fit. The next step is to create the individual tetrahedrons. To do this, I laser-cut all of the individual flat plane triangle shapes that make up the tetrahedrons out of 1/8" thick plywood. I then set the table on a bandsaw at an angle and trim the edges of each triangle so that where the edges of the triangle come together they form a seamless fit. I go over all of the seams with wood filler and a lot of sanding. Once I have all of the individual tetrahedrons made, I lay them out in a pattern and nail them all to a backing board. I repeat the steps of filling seams with wood filler and sanding until the individual components look like one seamless piece. I follow this with several applications of primer, lots of sanding, and paint.