Art of Power


 

Abstract



The Proposal: Models of Power is an art exhibition of 3D industrial models of power technologies. The show will include sections of gigantic, colorful plexiglas engineering models of power plants (primarily nuclear and fossil fuel) as well as photographs of the models. The exhibit will celebrate an undocumented period in the history of industrial design.

The Context: New York MOMA's Machine Art show of 1934 forever altered the public's perception of Fine Art by exhibiting familiar industrial objects, including a plane propeller and a ball bearing-as art. It also created a modernist machine aesthetic of singular objects with smooth, sleek bodies that continue to influence product design today. 

The Aesthetic: Models of Power will introduce a new machine aesthetic of incredible visual density, expressed as a complex layering and interweaving of colorful tubular forms. The exhibit will enhance the wonder and excitement generated by these awe-inspiring infrastructures of technologies the viewing public might never have the opportunity to see otherwise.

Social Goal: Insofar as CAD technology has superceded model-building as the primary design tool, these industrial models reinforce the value of hand-crafted labor that is fast disappearing in our increasingly computer-generated world. These large-scale 'miniatures' will evoke the monumentality of the sites they represent. 

Advantages to Utility Companies: The models are beautiful and touchable.
Experiencing their visual power and the precision required to build them will put a human face on the nuclear industry for the viewing public for whom art is a natural bridge to the wonders of technology.



Engineering Models


Nuclear Power Plant



Nuclear Power 1



Nuclear Power 2



Nuclear Power 3



Nuclear Power 4



Nucular Power 5


Fossil Fuel Plant


Fossil Fuel Plant 1


Fossil Fuel Plant 2


Study for Overhead Crane


Study for Overhead Crane 1



Study for Overhead Crane 2


Mining and Metallurgical Plant



Mining and Metallurgical Plant 1



Mining and Metallurgical Plant 2


Orthene Expansion



Orthene Expansion 1



Orthene Expansion 2



Orthene Expansion 3




Biography




Diana Chace, art collector and industrial model builder, holds an interdisciplinary degree from Vassar College in Art History, Anthropology, and Theatre Set Design.

After college, Ms. Chace apprenticed at Architectural Models, Inc. in San Francisco, building plexi-glass presentation models, including studies for solar-paneled homes. She then worked in-house at HOK Architects and at Bullfield, Volkmann, Stockwell, making board and paper models of office buildings. At Bechtel Power she expanded her practice to include industrial design, where she refined her craft by constructing models of nuclear power and fossil fuel plants. She then worked for Chevron and Kaiser, continuing to build check-design models of large industrial sites, including a Mining and Metallurgical and an Orthene plant. Chace capped her fifteen-year model-building career by constructing one of the first architectural miniatures of George Lucas's Skywalker ranch.

During the late 1980's Chace turned her attention to art. Working closely with the Asian Art Museum, she became a formidable collector of Southeast Asian and Indonesian art and artifacts. On her frequent trips to Asia she also took photographs of pagodas, palaces, ritual tools, and people at work. These ethnographic studies became the basis of a film she made in 1990 that provides viewers of her collection with a moving cultural record of the sources of her interest in eastern art. Chace frequently gives public tours of her artworks, as well as informal talks.

Her dual career as an industrial model builder and Asian art collector has inspired Ms. Chace to produce a large-scale museum exhibition of industrial models of power technologies. Her hands-on experience with these models has given her a unique understanding for a significant period in the history of industrial design.



Contact

If you have knowledge of industrial models (nuclear, electric, fossil fuel, solar, wind, etc),  particularly of large industrial sites built in the latter half of the twentieth century, please contact: 


 

Diana Chace ~ dchace-at-comcast-dot-net