Catching a Dream in Midair

Rainbows shimmer and interleave in Dream Weaver, the recently completed work of art by sculptor Robert Perless for the Howell Cheney Technical High School in Manchester, Connecticut. Established in 1912 by the Cheney family, the school was founded to educate the workers in their silk ribbon mills.

What started as a vision of ribbons floating in the air developed into a holographic representation of the unseen dimensions of string theory. At over 150 feet long and thirty feet wide, Dream Weaver visually pierces the front wall of the building, leading the eye inward in its celebration of light and movement.

Comments Perless, “I view Dream Weaver as a teaching tool for these students and teachers who are learning about engineering, physics, welding and philosophy, getting them to have this work of art in their own environment as part of their daily life, so that art is no longer a rarefied and remote experience.”

Perless used Graphite™ CAD software to conceptualize, develop, produce and install Dream Weaver, just as he has many of his other sculptures around the country. He says about Graphite:

It gives me the control to produce an explicit, precise drawing when I have to, and when I don’t, it gives me the ability to be creative and lateral, and just dream about where I’m going with the particular concept.

He particularly likes Graphite’s accuracy and ease of use. “I didn’t have to struggle with how I was going to have the die made. Ashlar-Vellum Graphite CAD software gave me all the tools. It was accurate right down to 1/1000th of an inch. When they built the final part it was absolutely correct and that means a lot.”

Learn More

See more designs by Robert among those in these Galleries:

See more of Robert’s work on his website.