Sculptor of 'Bound Tetrahedron' here Thursday for dedication

California artist Roger Berry will be on the Oberlin College campus Thursday, April 22, at 11:30 a.m., for the dedication of his sculpture "Bound Tetrahedron," outside the William and Anabel Perlik Commons at the Science Center.

Berry, who has worked on installations with other science institutions around the country, designed the 8-foot twisting bronze sculpture as a representation of a tetrahedron, a basic structure in many scientific fields. The work was designed using AutoCAD, a 3-D graphics modeling application.

"Using a computer to design my work allows me to build more complex structures than what I can imagine in my own mind," Berry said. "I can build and delete the piece until I get it right." However, the artist's journeyman background was very important; without his early, hands-on experience of designing and building sculptures, Berry says, making computer models would be impossible.

Though "Bound Tetrahedron" was built at the artist's studio in California, it was structurally designed to withstand bleak Ohio winters. The sculpture's surface will evolve, however, and that is just what Berry wants.

"Bronze is a very live material," he said, "and its patina changes over time. I want this piece to wear its environment. As a public sculpture, that's very important."