John James Marshall thesis.pdf - OpenAIR @ RGU - Robert Gordon ...

Open Call 5. ‘Coded Ornament’ (2006) by Falmouth-based Justin Marshall 106
consists of plaster mouldings that integrate digital design technologies with
traditional manufacturing skills developed through collaboration with Hayles &
Howe (a manufacturer of architectural ornamental plasterwork). Marshall's
practice spans sculpture, installation and design. He is Research Fellow in 3D
digital production at University College, Falmouth.
Figure 64: ‘Morse’, 2006. Justin Marshall
Two works were included in the exhibition. ‘Morse’ (Figure 64) makes reference
to the binary nature of digital information. The work is based on two plaster
units that reference the ‘dot’ and ‘dash’ of Morse code 107 . The moulds for these
units were developed in CAD from profiles based on text and were CNC milled.
The message which is coded in the piece reads “What hath God wrought” 108 .
‘Penrose Strapping 1’ (Figure 65) is a contemporary example of traditional
architectural strapwork arranged as scrolls, arabesques, and loops installed on a
temporary wall constructed for the exhibition. A Penrose aperiodic tiling
system (discovered by Roger Penrose in 1973) was used as the basis for this
plaster design. This type of tiling allows complex non-repeating tessellations to
be produced from only two units. The system also allows an infinite variety of
different designs to be produced from just these basic units.
106 http://www.justinmarshall.co.uk
107 A method for transmitting telegraphic information, using standardised sequences of short (dot) and long (dash)
elements to represent the letters of a message.
108 The text of the first telegraph message ever transmitted by Samuel F.B. Morse on May 24, 1844. The message is
a Biblical quotation from Numbers 23:23.
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