A rock is suspended in space, tilted at an angle that defies gravitational pull. A delicate trellis of plastic enables the rock to hold its precarious position. This is “support material,” the dregs of 3D plastic printing, meant to be removed and discarded. I found a beauty in this generated material, it is the missing link, the vehicle which transports a digital file back into the physical. Without this trellis, your 3D print would fail, succumbing to gravity. In some of these pieces, I’ve transformed the support material into porcelain, to become the focal point. Within the firing process, this porcelain structure itself gives in to gravity.

The support material holds a thin veneer that hugs the rock, so form fitting in areas that the two materials seemingly become one. I want to initiate a conversation between the digital element and the source of the digital element. I want to see the natural meet the unnatural and to see a new relationship formed.  As the digital element pushes this rock into an unfamiliar orientation, there seems to be an embrace, or a meeting between synthetic and natural. Here there is a hint of communication between the rock and the support material, between the digital and physical.