John Crane, Inc., a global manufacturer of industrial seals, needed artwork for various plant and publication purposes. Upon seeing the work that the studio had done for gearmaker Winzeler Gear at its Harwood Heights facility, Ellen Sieminski of the Marketing Department expressed an interest in doing similar projects involving seals and their components.
After visiting the plant in Morton Grove, a number of seal parts and measurement instruments were taken back to the studio to create a series of visual ideas. Once low res jpegs had been emailed, a direction was chosen and the work of creating finished pieces began.
Etched rings 3, shown above, and Etched Sprirals, shown below, were created from studio photography of the highly polished and patterned seal components. Digital postproduction imparted the rich colors and layering.
A suite of five initial pieces were delivered as large digital files for John Crane's printing vendors to make into finished mural prints. New images for more components arre currently in production.
