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Proof that a wood floor can certainly be a work of art, Brent Sommerhauser created "Curl" and displayed it at Seattle's Greg Kucera Gallery. The floorboards used in the 8½-by-11-foot installation are not actually floorboards at all but a kind of three-ply engineered wood plank Sommerhauser made himself. All three layers are plywood bender board, and the top layer was stained and sealed. To create the bent planks, Sommerhauser first glued together the bottom two layers; then he placed them in a self-constructed form that has the same curve as "Curl," clamping the pieces in place. The glue dried and the two layers held the curve of the form. Next he added the face veneer in the same fashion, gluing it to the already-curved bottom two layers and clamping all three layers in place. The middle layer is offset, giving each plank a tongue and groove, which holds the entire installation together. Making the planks, Sommerhauser admits, required "a lot of trial and error." In the future, Sommerhauser wants to create a version of "Curl" that is actually installed as true flooring, "with the curled portion quite far from the entry, so that a viewer could walk a ways through the site" before realizing they've been walking on the sculpture.
Additional photos from this wood flooring artwork: