FINAL: Piterson Completes a Half-Skeleton

Piterson began to feel the effects of senioritis as winter gave way to spring.  He was visiting his skeleton less frequently, so he saw his sculpting progress begin to slow.  He was cognizant of this change, too, for he spoke of it during one of his many check-ins with the IP faculty.  "OK," the team responded.  "What do you feel like you still need to accomplish while here? How do you want to leave?"

This moment of guided self-reflection proved the necessary component to spur Piterson.  Immediately following this conversation, he renegotiated his IP work schedule in order to grant himself time to visit his skeleton every day.  Soon we saw very little of him at all, for he began to spend several hours of the morning as well as the entire afternoon in "The Makers' Space."

Piterson made tremendous strides with his newfound discipline.  At one point during the spring, he approached the IP team because he was having difficulties with the smoothness of a portion of the pelvis (although he did not know the name of the bone, he was referring to the lilac fossa).  We suggested posterboard material, but Piterson configured an inventive (and more aesthetic) workaround using a variety of materials.  He bent supple twigs gradually in order to form a curved frame; using this piece as an outline, he then mapped and cut plywood to form the lilac fossa.  He glued this to the outline and repeated the process for the second half of the pelvis.

Throughout his process, Piterson launched intensive research with a heightened sense of precision. He evinced exemplary visual acuity and engineering by translating a 2D image into a 3D piece.  Perhaps he best applied these skills while wrestling with the textures of the spine.  Using various computer programs to project and rotate images on a large flatscreen TV, he noticed that the posterior view revealed two different shapes.  Although he did not know the names "cervical vertebrae" and "thoracic vertebrae," he concluded that the top bones (the former) were flatter and more rectangular while the bottom bones (the latter) were shaped almost like "W's" or teeth.  The top bones, too, appeared darker for their close approximity to one another.  Piterson therefore went about creating these two bones, using a dull cardboard for the top bones and a lighter plywood for the bottom.  He produced and connected his spine to the pelvis, creating a piece that startled the IP team for its beauty.


Piterson strove to complete the skeleton before he left.  The year ran out before he could target the skull, however, so he was only able to complete half of the skeleton.  True, he did not finish the project that he set for himself.  However, that fact does not, of course, invalidate the project that he did create or the process in which he engaged.  As the IP faculty and students cleaned up "The Makers' Space" at year-end, we happened to put together the parts of Piterson's skeleton in order to approximate its shape.  The finished piece was even more awe-inspiring than we had anticipated.  In that moment, as this humanoid figure taller than 6 feet was erected before us, faculty and students alike grasped Piterson's true progress.  These products transcended the definition of the "models" as which they were originally conceived; they now constituted true works of art. No less importantly, although Piterson did not know the names of every bone he handled, he nevertheless came to understand them - their shape, their relationship to the bones around them - for having fashioned them himself.

Piterson created a multi-faceted sculpture, but he also laid the groundwork for an anatomical knowledge that he will inevitably call upon as he pursues personal training in the future.  We are proud of his progress and maturation this year, and we invite you to celebrate his work with us by posting in the comments section below.

Description of images:  All photos taken by the IP faculty.

Piterson: The Legs Emerge

After focusing exclusively on aquarium management for a time, Piterson realized that he had inadvertently abandoned his wooden skeleton.  He spoke with the IP faculty, who in turn suggested that he bring his work into "The Makers' Space":  the upstairs, art-meets-IP studio in the IP building. If Piterson positioned himself in a workspace, we explained, perhaps he might see new routes for his project.

Since this move, Piterson has admirably regained momentum.  He began to gather sticks in earnest from the woods surrounding Kildonan.  He also received the support of the entire community in acquiring a saw table; the cleanness of his creations immediately improved due to the clamps and equipment that came with this tool.  He blew up pictures of the leg and projected them upon a giant flatscreen TV in the studio, rotating 3D models  of bones using software on his computer.  Ultimately, he moved forward using a combination of the visual and kinesthetic:  adding to his skeleton using the saw table, studying an image, spinning it, finding another, studying that, and continuing to build.

All of this diligent work allowed Piterson to present a surprise to the IP team:  two finished legs (upper, lower, feet, and toes).  He should feel proud of his creations, for they are not only beautiful works of art but also the products of an emerging understanding of the human body.  And...where will he go next? He is already traveling up the body to consider the construction of the pelvis.

Have a thought to share? Please post in the comments section below.

Description of the image:  Piterson holding his skeleton's legs.  Photo taken by IP faculty.

Piterson: Aquarium Management &​ "The Sunny"

Piterson has been developing lines of inquiry that allow him to explore two separate interests.  On one hand, he continues to research personal training.  He has completed work on a wooden representation of the human leg, and now he is beginning to craft the ankle and the foot.

On the other hand, Piterson is researching aquarium management and freshwater fish.  Earlier this year, he proposed that the IP community take advantage of an abandoned tank located on-campus and bring some fish to the building.  The IP team consented, and not long afterward, Piterson transported various aquarium equipment to his corner niche:  a tank, a filter, an oxygenator/​air pump, etc.  He then returned from an hour of fishing with several freshwater sunfish.  Most of these proved too big for the tank, but one found it a perfect fit:  "The Sunny."

The IP community has lovingly adopted "The Sunny" as a kind of mascot for the program (which begs the question:  between our Blogtopuses and "The Sunny," might the IP community be fascinated or even obsessed with marine life?).  And yet, though several iPeople and IP advisers assist in caring for the fish, no one has taken greater care of "The Sunny" than Piterson.  He has performed a staggering number of tasks to ensure a quality life for the animal.  He is regularly replacing the water and applying algicide so as to ensure that the living environment is clean.  He feeds "The Sunny" multiple times a day using earthworms, meal worms, and minnows, and he directs a close eye toward the quality of the filter, on the biological aesthetic of the tank, and on the oxygenation and temperature of the water.  With the assistance of other iPeople, he even nurtured "The Sunny" back to health after a misfeeding AND rescued three other fish:  two goldfish and an Oscar.

And how has he done this? He has researched the biological facts of the sunfish:  its lifespan, its diet, the ideal temperature of the water that it inhabits, the flora typically found in its natural habitat, aquarium management, proper filter and air pump maintenance, and bait companies.  No less importantly, he approaches "The Sunny" not only with an intellectual eye but with a refined compassion and humanitarian concern.

What do you think of Piterson's second branch in IP? Do you have any advice for him? Please post in the comments section below.

Description of 1st image:  "The Sunny," as photographed on January 28, 2015.  Photo taken by Mr. Jonathan Bisson.

Description of 2nd image:  A freshwater sunfish.  Photo located at www.freshwater-fishing-news.com.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over this picture.

Piterson: Personal Training

Piterson: Wooden Sculptures and Andres San Millan

Athletic and fit, Piterson is studying personal training.  He aspires to enroll in a college with such a program and to earn his certification at the end of this school year.  He has wisely commenced this process by examining the skeletal make-up of the leg.  From here, he plans to "flesh it out," or to understand its layers of muscle and tissue, before branching out to other body parts.  He retains information, in part, by using three-dimensional and manipulative representations of ideas,  so might there be a way for him to concretize his ongoing explorations?

The answer, of course, is yes.  Piterson has begun to collect sticks in the hopes of constructing a wooden sculpture of the human body.  As he commences this work, he is examining the pieces created by Andres San Millan.  A resident and artist of Rhinebeck, NY, San Millan is perhaps best known for his work with Cocoon Theatre - a youth theater organization based out of Rhinebeck until only this past fall - and for his provocative MAN sculpture (formerly installed at Taste Budds in Red Hook, NY).

Lynn Woods of the Hudson Valley Almanac Weekly interviewed San Millan in January, 2013 and had this to say of MAN:

Based loosely on a small clay sculpture, MAN reflects San Millan’s classical training with the figure as much as his feeling for nature. Unlike most colossi, which tend to be monumental, MAN is sprightly, inherently active. Knit out of driftwood sticks that resemble lines, loose strokes that describe forceful movements through space, he is energy anthropomorphized. The body is carefully articulated, the tension of the muscles palpable. Balanced on the toes of his flexed right foot and his left forefinger, he seems to spring from the earth, even as his left foot is planted firmly on the ground. The left arm thrusts downward, muscles tensed and the hand spread, with forceful, pointing fingers, expressive as a Broadway dancer’s. The aquiline nose and full lips, formed from carved pieces of driftwood, resemble the features of an ancient Greek warrior, jutting from an armature of sticks that suggests an Attic helmet.

From seemingly mundane objects "springs" life.  What will Piterson create with his own sticks? How will he choose to render the human body?

For Andres San Millan's figureartscape, please click on the following link:  http://www.figureartscape.com.  For Lynn Wood's article concerning MAN, please follow this next URL:  http:/​/​www.hudsonvalleyalmanacweekly.com/​2013/​01/​04/​andressan-millans-man-on-the-move/​.

(MAN, pictured above, with San Millan leading the procession at bottom right.  This photo was located at San Millan's figureartscape.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over the above image.)