MassArt Announces Rainfield, the First Site-Specific Installation in the New Design and Media Center

Rainfield (Concept Rendering), 2016. Glass, steel wire. 59' x 46' x 22', Rendering by Jeremy Mallo.

Large-scale sculpture of 9,000 glass “raindrops” created by Visiting Professor, sculptor, Daniel Clayman and MassArt students from a variety of majors.

Boston, MA, November 3, 2016 ---- MassArt announces the first site-specific installation in the College’s new Design and Media Center. The 60’ long sculpture, titled Rainfield, was conceptualized by renowned New England sculptor Daniel Clayman, Visiting Professor this semester for the interdisciplinary class, Structured Light, and created in partnership with his 18 students. Since the beginning of the term in September, the class has been fabricating the components of the piece and working through logistics of installation, which will take place November through December, when it will be unveiled to the public. Rainfield will be on view through 2017.

The idea for Rainfield came to Clayman in a flash as he walked through a rainstorm in downtown Providence, RI. Based on the sensual, poetic moodiness of a rainstorm, while tapping into a visceral memory of the sound of rain on a copper roof, Rainfield is a continuation of Clayman’s exploration of the landscape sited in interior spaces. A nod to Pointillism, Clayman has produced a visual statement where the thousands of elements combine to make a singular moment, prompting the viewer to embrace the beauty of the gathering storm. The installation is a direct reference to the architecture of the great European cathedrals and a captured moment in a time of great visual wonder. The 9,000 unique, hand-formed glass raindrops will be installed to a 60’ x 50’ truss on the ceiling of the 6,000 square foot Design and Media Center Atrium.

The interdisciplinary course, Structured Light, engages students in the process of creating large scale, site-specific sculptures. Students develop transferable skills required to bring a public art piece from conception to fruition such as the business of developing proposals to the technical aspects of installing a large-scale work. Enrolled this semester are students at the sophomore, junior and senior levels, from a variety of majors, including glass, industrial design, architectural design, art education, ceramics, and sculpture.

Under the guidance of Visiting Professor Daniel Clayman, the students are helping to create his proposed work, Rainfield, and install it in the Design and Media Center Atrium. The students have an integral role in the production of Rainfield: creating the glass raindrops in the hot shop, sourcing and testing the wire harnesses, assembling the pieces, contributing to the overall design of the sculpture, and installing the final work.

Students are also creating theoretical proposals for site-specific installations at the Prudential Center. The proposals include the components for a real installation including artwork, budgets, and engineering data. Representatives from Boston Properties will critique the final proposals at the end of the semester.

Plan Your Visit

Location
MassArt Design and Media Center
621 Huntington Avenue (Avenue of the Arts), Boston

Hours
Rainfield on view starting January 2017
Design and Media Center open daily 7:00am-7:00pm

Public transportation
MBTA Green Line E Train (Longwood Medical Area stop)
Route 39 MBTA bus (Huntington Ave @ Longwood Ave stop)

About the Design and Media Center

The Design and Media Center, designed by Susan T. Rodriguez of Ennead Architects, opened in January 2016 as the new front door to the MassArt campus. The first purpose-built academic space on campus, the Design and Media Center was carefully designed to establish a new, interdisciplinary flexible space model that would meet the rapidly evolving standards in art and design education and match contemporary studio practice. The space offers new opportunities for collaboration among disciplines and collaboration with external partners to better prepare graduates for their careers. The course Structured Light, and the culminating installation, Rainfield, exemplifies the purpose of the new interdisciplinary building and the real-world experiences that this new space affords MassArt students. Learn more about the Design and Media Center.

About Daniel Clayman

Daniel Clayman is a sculptor, born in 1957 in Lynn, MA. Always the tinkerer, Daniel had planned a career as a theater lighting designer, studying in the Theater and Dance Department at Connecticut College, eventually dropping out to work in the professional theater, dance and opera world. A chance class in 1980 introduced the artist to using glass as a sculptural material. He received his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and has maintained a studio in East Providence, RI since 1986.

His interests in engineering, the behavior of light, and the memory of experience, act as an impetus for much of the work. In the end, Clayman’s sculpture is a “manifestation of a moment of thought.” Working large and small, he employs technology from the simplest hand tool to the latest three-dimensional modeling and production tools.

An artist/educator, Daniel has taught both here in the U.S. and abroad. He has been a Visiting Critic at the Rhode Island School of Design and Artist in Residence at Tyler School of Art and Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He teaches at Penland School of Crafts, Pilchuck and The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, among others. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor in the 3D Department at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

About MassArt

Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) is one of the top colleges of its kind in the United States. Founded in 1873, MassArt has a legacy of leadership as the only freestanding public college of art and design in the country and the nation’s first art school to grant a degree. The College offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate and graduate degrees in art and design, all taught by world-class faculty, along with continuing education and youth programs designed to encourage individual creativity. The College educates more than 2,000 students each year. Graduates of MassArt help to enrich the creative economy in Massachusetts, which accounts for 45,000 jobs and contributes almost $2.1 billion to the state’s economy. Whether at home in Boston or on the other side of the globe, the artists, designers, and art educators of MassArt are dedicated to making a difference in their communities and around the world. MassArt recently received the prestigious 2015 Community Engagement Classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for its dedication to community engagement through public programming and curricular opportunities. For more information, visit massart.edu. Follow MassArt on social media: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Media contact

Hanna Hecke
541.778.1568
MassArt@inkhouse.com

Susie Stockwell
617.879.7066
sstockwell@massart.edu