Engineering
In mid November, 2008, I left my 10 year career as a structural engineer to pursue my art career full time and work as a part time consulting engineer. I am very proud, and lucky, to have worked for some exceptional consulting firms during that time. The last 5 years of my time as an engineer was spent as a part of the family at Robert Silman Associates (RSA), one of the most prestigious and interesting structural engineering firms in the country. I was invited to join the firm in September of 2003 by Kirk Mettam, the principal in charge of Silman’s Washington DC office.
Among the many incredible projects Robert Silman Associates has been involved with are the historic preservation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water and The Guggenheim Museum in NYC, Ellis Island, The Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials and the United States Supreme Court building. The list of fascinating new construction and restoration projects is too long to list here so a link to RSA’s web page is provided:
During my years at Silman my separate lives as an engineer and an artist blended more cohesively into one. To that effect, my past work as a structural engineer informs and strengthens my sculptural work. At this point I am able to approach my sculpture with an understanding of its structural properties and behaviors, as well as an understanding of any effects works may have upon the surroundings in which they are installed. I routinely provide structural consultation to fellow artists with regard to the placing of works and to material properties.
Alas, by the end of 2008 the demands upon my time which both careers required became too great and I had to make a difficult choice. So in the midst of the most ‘interesting’ economy since The Great Depression I decided to leave my secure, lovely career and go into the luxury item market by dedicating my life to the creation of sculpture.
Cheers! Michael
PS: I have provided images of a few projects in which I have been involved. I hope you find them interesting. The Tivoli Theater, a historic vaudeville theater in N.W. Washington DC, was a fascinating renovation project I did the structural design for. The Connelly School in Potomac, MD was a challenging job I worked on which included several structural systems. These particular projects were completed during my time with Wolfman & Associates and Smislova, Kehemui Associates, two of the exceptional structural engineering firms in the DC region which I worked for in my years prior to my joining RSA. I expect to change the images in this section from time to time for fun.
