Poetry in motion
| Can a machine shop double as an art gallery? |
Can a machine shop double as an art gallery? One Port Allen facility comes close, thanks to the work of Marie Constantin, a photographer who saw beauty in the shop's inner workings.
One of Constantin's specialties is what she calls “industrial art,” which involves close-up photography of machines, parts and other items in a given workplace. The form is just emerging, she says, and this marks the first time a company has used her industrial images on its walls.
“Nobody hires you to do this,” says Constantin, who also takes photographs for Business Report, “because they don't know about it.”
About two years ago, Industrial Parts Specialties enlisted Constantin to shoot staff photos. While there, she snapped a few impromptu pictures of some machinery.
“They weren't paying me for that,” she says, “it was just cool.”
Last year, when sales manager Joe DuBoulay wanted to replace the artwork in the company's headquarters, he sought Constantin. She says she showed him the equipment photos she had taken before, and “he got it immediately. Joe was cool and open-minded.”
DuBoulay commissioned 20 photographs of the company's machinery to replace the duck pictures that had adorned the building since its opening in 2001.
“He said, ‘Why do we have ducks on our walls? We don't sell ducks,'” Constantin says.
The images, each of which measures 20 inches by 24 inches, hang in the hallways, conference room and boss's office. DuBoulay says he is “totally blown away” by how the pictures turned out.
“Our boss is happy, and everyone who comes in loves it,” he says. “It brings a touch of class.”
The son of an artist, DuBoulay has a special eye for aesthetics.
“Most don't see art in a drill bit, but we can.” The images, he says, “reflect a love for what we do. We're here because we want to be. It's not just a job, but a vocation.”
