The Voice

Issue date: 1/16/07 Section: Inside WCC

Media Credit: Matthew Shlian

Clay, bronze, marble… these are the materials one usually thinks of when creating a sculpture, but what about paper?

In "Misfold," an exhibit running until the end of February at WCC's Gallery One, artist and WCC instructor Matthew Shlian hopes to open the eyes of students and staff to the medium of paper folding with his interactive sculptures inspired by tiny biological forms such as virus structures.

Shlian will create eight of the interactive nine foot tall structures for the gallery. The artist originally created similar structures as part of his master's thesis in print media at Cranbrook Academy of Art. The structures will begin to appear as a flat stack of paper, but when an observer pulls a string they will begin to unfold into life-size sculptures.

The sculptures are inspired by certain aspects of molecular biology, "[The structures are] like Alzheimer's when the proteins misfold" said Shlian.

"All my work is a form of curiosity," said Shlian when asked why he creates these sculptures. "Listen to it and let the work find you."

Shlian also teaches a class on Three-Dimensional Design and expressed positively about the current semester at WCC, saying, "I've got a great group of students."

Those on Gallery One's mailing list got an additional treat with the announcement of the new exhibit: a small sheet of paper with perforations and folds that served as an example of Shlian's work.

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