Sampson Wilcox: June 2012

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Progressive Archaeology at The Ivy Corset Building

Over the past week I installed a mural in the Ivy Corset Building in Worcester Massachusetts. This project was done with generous support from Steve Rothschild of Applied Interactive, with lighting design by Access Fixtures. The Ivy Corset Building is a current project of Mr. Rothschild, renovating the historic factory space to provide a creative and communal atmosphere for progressive minded companies like Skyscope Creative, Snap Grow, Earl Gray Entertainment, K12 Kit, and Applied Interactive, some of the current businesses in the building.

The inspiration and process behind this piece coincides with my recent body of work dealing with concepts surrounding the post-industrial atmosphere of the city of Worcester. I tried to examine the layering that occurs through the history of the building and reflect it in the aesthetics of the piece. The original composition of the piece used the basic structure of a post-apocalyptic seascape, with a radiant, nuclear-orange sky and dark blue ocean. Off of this central theme I worked the piece into the depth of character that the room and building itself have from the years of activity. I call the piece ‘Progressive Archaeology,’ because through Steve’s vision of the project and my own response as an artist, I think we've created something new and interesting while preserving and examining a piece of Worcester’s history.