MAC Gallery

WVC MAC Gallery

May 1—June 26

Nik Penny and Scotty Broberg, local artists and team on the ArtsWA Public Art Roster, blend computerized industrial design tools, large datasets, and traditional woodworking processes to create a compelling suite of wood sculptures representing starscapes visible at locations around the globe. The process translates celestial data into a tactile, spatial language, with visual effects that emerge as viewers shift their positions—drawing them from the beauty of the natural wooden surfaces to an experience of the heavens and back again.

Along with the installation in the gallery, for the June First Friday, the MAC Gallery presents an immersive listening experience by acclaimed nature sound recordist Nick McMahan in the MAC Grove Recital Hall.  Bamboo Tapestry on Maui features recordings captured deep within a bamboo forest on Maui. As night falls, listeners hear the gradual unfolding of this rich and atmospheric soundscape from a truly remarkable location. The sounds were recorded while assessing the sonic characteristics of Haleakala National Park for Quiet Parks International.

Scotty Broberg and Nik Penny utilize digital and traditional fabrication techniques, and work with both engineered and natural materials, as they give form to concepts which hold respect for the intended environment. They think deeply about their projects, developing meaningful narratives that stimulate emotions while being mindful of the importance of the relationships between a space and an installation. By encoding consequential data into material, they develop sculptural systems that embody and communicate meaning.

Their combined knowledge and skillsets give them experiences with a wide variety of materials and processes, and their collaborative and complementary approach to problem solving integrates technical rigor with conceptual depth.

Broberg develops unique systems using tools he often designs himself, including a pressurized steam oven and a 3D matrix system. He builds bent wood sculptural forms that emit light, which are simultaneously precise and expressive. Penny draws on his experience in painting, programing digital looms and knitting machines, and creating computer algorithms that generate structures based on real-world data sets. Together, they seek to bridge the digital and tactile, working with materials that shift perception and activate space.

Through sculpture, they aim to make hidden systems visible—and their implied meanings are translated into physical installations. Their work positions data not only as information, but as material and metaphor.