Graphite Boulder begins with precision-machined silicon-graphite connector plugs, which I reduce by hand using traditional stone-carving techniques with a handsaw, hammer, and chisel to shape them into crude boulder forms. The original plugs were components in steel-refinery electrodes, later submitted for precision certification of the pitch angles of their threads. Following certification, they entered a recycling stream, from which I acquired approximately half a ton as a test lot. I use mechanically crude means to reverse the precision of their original manufacture, removing the exact geometry through sawing, striking, and chiseling until the forms approximate geological objects. The original connector and altered boulder are shown together with the resulting debitage, making the transformation visible. The work moves a material from precision machining and metrological certification back toward crude mechanical production, replacing controlled tolerances with fracture, irregularity, and the accumulated evidence of hand work.
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TITLE: Graphite Boulder
DATE: 2026
MATERIALS: Silicon graphite block
SCALE: Sculpture
DIMENSIONS: 15"x13"x14"
STATUS: complete
OFFERING: Contact with enquiries
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forthcoming