Renowned Australian sculptor Emily Floyd, graduated in sculpture from RMIT University in 1999. She is one of Australia’s most famous contemporary artists. From Australia’s National Gallery to London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, it is found in the collections of various institutions with extremely rich concepts, visually dramatic and often text-based creations, and pedagogically inspired works that combine formal concerns with an interest in the legacies of modernism.
Her work encompasses a wide range of disciplines and works, including public art and social activities, design and format, literary and cultural studies, community participation and public education, and various political ideologies. To achieve similarities between educational models and contemporary art,
Among her great creations are; the imposing steel sculpture of a black bird and a bright yellow worm on the side of the Eastlink Highway.
The artist not long ago invited Brisbane UAP public art makers to produce an art edition of five sculptural parrots. This work, called Poll, was done using advanced manufacturing technology, including a six-axis Kuka robotic arm.
The sculpture is a parrot based on a piece of literature from Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe character naming. The measuring height is 1.4 meters and consists of 18 different parts. The external structure of the parrot is black, 6 colors were applied adding greater intensity to its beak, tail and wings. This is the first of five “literary” parrots. They are made by combining Freud’s traditional hand-carving techniques with advanced manufacturing techniques.
This process makes her work ideal for advanced manufacturing processes, starting with a digitization of the Floyd’s Poll model. The UAP combines Emily’s traditional hand-carving technology with advanced manufacturing technology. It uses a 3D scanner and automatic mechanical engraving machine to interpret the artist’s wooden model and enlarge it to create a combination of painted and cast aluminum parrot sculpture.
Kuka’s six-axis robotic arm uses blocks of compressed sand to cut molds from this digital model. The manufacturer then molds each aluminum piece of the sculpture using sand molds in the UAP workshop.
Floyd commented: On the positive impact of advanced technology on her sculpture process, “He can make more decisions than an artist and he can make them very quickly.” Thousands of decisions were made at once, including decisions about the surface, how to cut it, and how to smooth it. “Robots are not a substitute for handcrafted ones, but they can help manufacturers achieve greater precision.”
“It turns out that this is a very high quality production, yes, yes. I did well. This is a real achievement. I am very proud of it.”
