December 2021 - EG Structural

Monthly Archives: December 2021

a large public art display on a plaza in Milwaukee

Empower Your Community With Public Art

Whether you’re interested in public art or not, it’s hard to ignore its effects on your community. It provides a high level of engagement for residents and tourists alike, not to mention it can be a powerful beautifying tool for public spaces.

Whether you’re a community space or a company, we believe you have a story. At EG Structural, it is our mission to bring it to life. We’re founded on the principle that functional public art can exhibit the incredible identity behind the communities and commercial properties where they stand. Read our article below to learn how art can play an important role in enriching our communities.

Public Art Promotes Interaction in Public Spaces

Public spaces provide many opportunities for people to meet and welcome their neighbors. One way city planners, architects, and city administrators are promoting social interaction is by creating spaces that offer a welcoming environment they can engage in. Oftentimes this involves enlisting the assistance of a public artist to collaborate with architects, landscape architects, engineers, and city planners in designing public spaces that resonate with the community.

Look at public art installations like The Cloud Gate in Chicago or the LOVE sculpture in Philadelphia. These installations are highly interactive in the fact that they attract locals and tourists to engage with them. If you ever visit these incredible sculpture pieces, you’ll see thousands of people a day taking photos of the art, tour guides explaining their meaning, and admiring its sheer magnificence.

Public Art Has a Way of Connecting With The Youth

Another way public art installations play a critical role in our community’s empowerment is by connecting with the youth. Art has a way of engaging with them. In fact, it allows them to feel as though they are meaningful contributors in the social and economic aspects of community buildings.

An added benefit to this is how it brings more adults into the picture. Research in civic engagement by the League of Women Voters shows the factor most likely to get people more involved in their community is how it would improve conditions for the youth.

Public Art is for Everyone

It comes as no surprise that public art is designed to be for everyone. It should be easily accessible to almost all community members and passersby. It enables people to experience art in their daily lives and drives people to engage with it. According to Americans for the Arts, it even encourages people to pay attention and perceive their environment more deeply. It’s also worth noting that public art stimulates learning and thoughts about our society and what it means to be a part of a community.

Collaboration Builds Stronger Art and Communities

An additional benefit to how public art empowers communities is how it promotes collaboration. When designing a public art piece, it typically involves the artist collaborating with many community members throughout the project’s development. This includes meeting with city officials, various architects, and holding town hall meetings with residents to gauge the level of interest towards ideas.

As a result, it builds a sense of shared ownership and collective connection to the sculpture piece. It becomes more than just a piece of art, it becomes a community energizer, something the community can feel proud to have.

EG Structural Builds Art Installations That Resonate With Communities

EG Structural develops public art that embodies a community and attracts individuals to the landmark. Moreover, our work will grab the attention of out-of-towners and generate a new source of tourism dollars. We have a passion for public art, and fully believe it can set your city apart from the rest. Contact EG Structural today to learn how our founder and artist, Eric Garcia can help beautify your city.

EG Structural's Eric Garcia standing in front of his Tulsa Route 66 sign

Concepts to Design: How Eric Garcia Turns Ideas into Public Art

The foundation of every large-scale art project is the desire to tell a story. That’s what every public artist strives to do in every one of their projects. Eric Garcia, EG Structural’s founder and artist, believes creating large-scale art pieces is a truly rewarding experience, especially for communities who invest in installations to beautify their properties.

EG Structural constructs public art installations that invoke a response. We capture the unique qualities of a community and memorialize them through fine art. In partnership with custom fabrication professionals, Eric is happy to highlight your identity with an intricate design. Learn how he brings ideas and concepts to life through attractive installation pieces.

Everything Begins with Planning

Just like with any art piece, planning ensures the project goes off without a hitch. It is during this stage that EG identifies key components of your brand and what exactly you are looking for in your large-scale art commission.

We conduct extensive research into your brand; looking into your history, location, local amenities, and other unique characteristics of your community. Once we compile these details, we hand them off to Eric to work his magic.

It’s not uncommon for us to have a concept already in mind for certain projects. But to truly connect with your brand, we use our research to help us add elements associated with your community.

Eric Garcia Understands Proportion and Scale

One of the basic principles of constructing sculpture pieces is utilizing proportions and size. Sometimes it’s necessary to adapt the proportions of the piece to suit its position to the viewer. Imagine looking at a sculpture high on a building. The piece will likely be made large on the upper part of the structure to ensure it reduces foreshortening.

Additionally, the scale of the sculpture needs to be considered in relation to its surroundings. When it’s located inside a building, it needs to fit the area it resides in. When it comes to open-air sculptures (art installations that are located outside), you need to take into account that they’ll appear less massive than in the studio.

Once We Have Something Conceptualized, Eric Will Seek Feedback

After Eric has finished conceptualizing the art installation, he’ll present it to you and your community to gauge if it fits what you are looking for. This is extremely important to us, as we strive to create public art pieces that resonate with everyone. So, every bit of feedback helps create something worthwhile for you.

For example, when we were creating our Roswell, New Mexico signs, we heavily encouraged city officials and residents to give us their opinion during town hall meetings. Because of this, we were able to identify elements that needed tweaking and gain a better understanding of what people would like to see as they enter the town. This allowed us to create something that would truly resonate with anyone who stops to admire the Welcome signs.

EG Structural is Open for Corporate and Government Commission Projects

At EG Structural we have a passion for creating projects that inspire. For over 25 years, Eric Garcia has provided strong conceptual design to develop timeless public art projects that embody the spirit of our clients. Whether they’re a corporate entity or a municipality, we see what makes them special and design a sculpture that highlights their exceptionality.

If your organization is looking for a private commission sculpture piece, contact EG Structural today and we’ll be in touch with you as soon as possible!

A fabrication professional metalworking a piece for a public art display

What is the Difference Between Welding and Fabrication?

If you’re even remotely involved in the metalworking industry, you often hear terms like welding and fabrication. Many people use them interchangeably, but there’s actually a bit of a difference between the two areas of metalwork. But, what exactly are those differences?

EG Structural is looking to change how people perceive public art by creating incredible art installations and brand identities that excite the public. However, our mission would amount to nothing without the strong expertise of the custom fabrication professionals we partner with. Read our blog post below to learn what exactly is the difference between welding and fabrication.

What Exactly is Welding?

Welding is a process by which two or more parts are fused together using heat, pressure, or both to join the pieces as they cool. Welding is usually used on metals and thermoplastics, but can also be used on wood.

Some materials require the use of specific processes and techniques, especially for certain tasks.

Joining metals: Involves heating parts at high temperatures to form a pool of molten material that cools as it connects to another piece of metal.
Joining plastics: Plastic welding also involves heating the materials to join them together.
Joining wood: But, wood welding uses heat generated from friction to join materials together. These materials are subjected to a great deal of pressure before a linear friction movement creates heat to bond pieces together.

But, What is Fabrication?

Metal fabrication is a broad term that encompasses the entire process of building anything from raw metal materials. This means everything from cutting and shaping to the final assembly. But, to create a piece that meets your structural needs, you need custom fabrication services to truly make it your own.

We’re not exaggerating when saying that they can pretty much create anything. Whether you’re looking to build beautiful railings for your staircase or construction equipment parts for your project, it’s the right solution for the job. Custom fabrication professionals can stretch metal materials to meet the dimensions of your project. Additionally, they can use sectional metals such as I-beams, Z shapes, hollow structural sections, and bars and rods for each unique project.

So, What’s the Difference Between Welding and Custom Fabrication?

The biggest difference between the two involves what tools and processes are used in these activities. For example, metal fabrication often involves tools you wouldn’t see welders use like:

Abrasives
Adjustable wrenches
Benders
Chipping hammers
Consumable electrodes
Cylinders with custom carts
Electrode holders
Hand file
Soapstone
Tungsten inert gas (TIG) consumables
Vice and vice grips
Welding clamps

While welding is a metal forming technique and goes hand-in-hand with fabrication, they use similar processes to assemble and bend materials. However, metal fabrication is an overarching process and involves many different procedures to create custom metalworks, such as:

Die-cutting
Finishing
Hydroforming
Roll forming
Shrinking
Spinning
Stamping
Stretching

EG Structural Works with Industry Professionals to Create Public Art Installations

EG Structural is fortunate to have partnered with several wonderful individuals to design public art that highlights their unique communities. We combine intense research, strong conceptual design, custom fabrication, and engineering expertise to develop landmarks that inspire engagement. We help build an identity that exhibits what it means to be a part of a community.