Isabel teaches Sculpture at Kent State University. She originally installed the work in 1999 at Aquarena Springs. But, alas, Aquarena Springs is about to deconstructed. So the Art Department arranged to have her come down and rework the piece.
The sculpture is a stainless steel framework. Handmade glass beads and cast concrete beads climb up the stainless rods. With stainless houses mounted on top.
Isabel had to make several polyurethane molds using Polygel RTV rubber so that she could recast a couple of the original glass beads that had broken. She cast a type of concrete that I had never used before, called Duracal supplied by USG. It is a type III portland cement with some gypsum, so that it sets extremely fast and strong. Duracal can be cast straight or mixed with an aggregate if need be. She used pigments from Douglas and Sturgess.
