3Doodler 3D Printing Pen Allows One Artist to Create a Masterpiece Like Nothing Seen Before

Rachel Goldsmith’s Masterpiece

New forms of visual arts do not come about very often. Let’s just stop and think about it for a moment. Painting, sculpting, and drawing have pretty much been around since the beginning of man. There are new forms of art that have come about due to new technologies such as computer graphics, but it’s not too often that technology brings forth an entirely new tool for creating art. The 3Doodler 3D printing pen is an exception though, debuting just over a year ago when the initial Kickstarter backers began receiving their first units. Since then, there have been many copycats and WobbleWorks LLC., the company behind the pen, has just recently unveiled their next generation of the 3Doodler with the 3Doodler 2.0.

Over the past year or so, we have seen many incredible and unique works of art, thanks to this new tool for artists. However, none may be quite as impressive and “interesting” as a piece that was recently created by artist Rachel Goldsmith.

Was this ice on concrete subconsciously the inspiration for Goldsmith’s work?

Goldsmith is not your typical artist, so you certainly wouldn’t expect her to come up with typical pieces of art. You may recall that we covered some work done by Goldsmith back in December, and if you read that article you probably foresaw her releasing more extraordinary pieces in the future.

“I am inspired by the contrast in my environment between man-made and nature, and the contrast between the control I have over the materials and what the materials naturally do when they interact on their own,” Goldsmith tells 3DPrint.com. “I notice, and am inspired by things like vines wrapped about fences, ice growing on cement walls, trees growing out of the cement box in which they are planted.”

Goldsmith was turned on to the 3Doodler pen after a close friend and her father sent her the Kickstarter link back in March of 2014. Her father purchased the pen for her as a gift, and ever since, she has been obsessed with the potential that it unleashes.

Goldsmith, who has been a full-time artist for the past two and a half years, tells us that she has been creating things her entire life. The former NYC visual arts middle school teacher holds a BA in Mass Communications and a BFA in Graphic Design, but she has never taken any painting classes in her life. However, when she first touched the 3Doodler she began creating works of art like nothing we have seen before.

“When I begin most pieces, I do not have a final product in mind; rather the work grows and transforms,” Goldsmith tells us. “I visualize my process like a staircase: I work (in a flow state) during the vertical (2-8 hours), and then I react on the horizontal, I take time to look at the work and make decisions about what’s next (as long as several weeks, but with this piece each horizontal has been about 24-48 hours). I love how the material can be so solid in some places and can also be pulled into a fragile string-like form – it is a contrast as bold as that between black and white.”

Perhaps she’s a bit deeper than many of us can quite understand, but this is also the most important quality that allows her to be such a unique artist. As you can see in her recent piece, there really is no explanation for what it is, but one could stare at it for hours on end, trying to understand what exactly was going on in Goldsmith’s mind at the time of its creation.

The creation, which she herself doesn’t even have an explanation for, is what she calls a “visual record of the repetitive.”

“Almost meditative — flow state, movements of my hand, wrist, arm… (kind of like the contrails left behind an airplane),” she explains. “It is fine art created with PLA plastic extruded through a 3Doodler. To me, this feels like a completely new fine-art form. My drawings and paintings, which are created with the same “staircase” process, are literally growing out of the 2D world that they’ve lived in for the last 34 years. The possibilities are endless — and I wish my hands could work as fast as my brain to get all of my ideas and experiments out.”

Coincident or not? “The first image (above) is a screenshot of my phone… the ice, this 3Doodled piece, and a watercolor and spray paint piece — all look so similar to me! – Rachel Goldsmith

This art piece was not something that she threw together in a matter of minutes. It took her a staggering 30 hours of “doodling” to complete, and used approximately 200 strands of plastic in the process.

Something tells me that not only is this the beginning of an art career for Goldsmith, utilizing a technology very few are even familiar with, but it may be a whole new category of art that we begin to see more and more artist flock to in the coming months and years ahead. Perhaps the next Pablo Picasso or Leonardo da Vinci won’t be a painter or a sculptor at all, but will be a 3Doodling genius. Perhaps that next famous artist will be in the form of Ms. Rachel Goldsmith.

What do you think of Goldsmith’s latest creation? Do you think that 3Doodling will end up becoming a mainstream art form? Discuss in the Rachel Goldsmith forum thread on 3DPB.com.