The Golden Flight
Rachel Herring
Listen to the audio track description.
The Golden Flight sculpture is inspired by the Golden Spiral. The Golden Spiral is a logarithmic spiral whose growth factor is φ, the golden ratio. The spiral gets wider (or further from its origin) by a factor of φ for every quarter turn it makes. Many objects in nature appear with the golden spiral. Some examples are the shell of a nautilus, the rotations of hurricanes, the growth pattern of leaves on succulents, and the design in which sunflower seeds grow within a sunflower.
The main part of the sculpture consists of 10 pieces of stainless steel bands formed into the shape of the Golden Spiral. Once in place, the spirals create the impression of different pieces of nature, from a wave, to shells, and most notably, wings.
About the artist
Rachel Herring has been designing and creating for as long as she can remember. When she was little, she was never without a crayon or marker in her hand. Continuing through school, Rachel took all the art classes she could and created t-shirts and set designs for dances in high school. Knowing she wanted to major in a design field, Rachel graduated with a degree in Interior Design and another in Business Administration from Auburn University. While in school, she learned how to use Adobe Creative Suite, and it ignited a desire to do graphic design.
Rachel moved to Birmingham for an internship and remained there after graduation. Still having a major interest in graphic design, she started Herring Design Co. to design custom invitations for people. The business grew by word of mouth, and so did the products she offered.
Rachel has always loved working with her hands, so after a kitchen renovation, she had leftover wood that she knew couldn't go to waste. Her first string art creations were made from these pieces. Shortly after, she grew her tool collection, and set her mind to having a career as an artist. Business grew quickly after sharing these pieces, and in addition to art shows, she got her artwork into stores in the area.
After seven years in Birmingham, AL, Rachel moved to Santa Rosa Beach, FL. The surroundings at the beach have influenced the subject matter of her artwork from the beautiful blues and greens from the Emerald Coast waters to the spectacular sunsets.
Rachel is no stranger to the CAA’s Art in Public Spaces program with two more of her sculptures (The Grayt Pineapple and Flamingle) residing in the Underwater Museum of Art located off the coast of nearby Grayton Beach State Park along Scenic Highway 30A.
https://www.herringdesignco.com/
