Three Fold Manifestation II

Alice Aycock

Sally, Keira, Ethan, Ana

• Born on November 20, 1946 in Pennsylvania• Graduated from Douglass College with a Bachelor of Arts

degree in 1968• Studied for Masters at Hunter College until 1971• Represented by the John Weber Gallery in New York City from

1976 to 2001• Work featured in many galleries across the world, including

multiple countries in Europe, as well as Japan

Alice Aycock's early sculptures were mainly crafted from wood and stone; it wasn't until about 1980 that she began to incorporate steel into her work. There may be a connection between Aycock's location and what she used to create her masterpieces. Aycock grew up in Pennsylvania, and the move to New York City could have inspired to her to turn to more urban-looking materials, rather than her original building blocks. Threefold Manifestation II, which consists of steel and aluminum, was made in 1987, after the artist had been in New York for many years.

Threefold Manifestation II, 1987Untitled Shanty (Medieval Wheel House), 1978

In “Three fold Manifestation II” there are three sections of spiraling circles creating an appearance of amphitheater. The spirals almost create a sense of confusion and the only straight figures in the piece are the two parallel poles going through the three sections. In a sense of disarray both literally and fugitively the poles provide structure. Also, going back to the piece looking like a theater, the poles going through the “seats” are realistic in the fact that in most theaters there are always seats blocked out by poles.

As you can see here the straight pole runs through the entire sculpture of circles and spirals

Three fold Manifestation II is a sculpture made by Alice Aycock, a modern artist who focuses on spirals. Her sculpture is broken into sections and put together in abstract ways. This sculpture is put on top of a hill at Storm King, and from far away it looks like stairs spiraling upward. Our group discussed that perhaps it was placed on top of the hill because the sculpture looks like stairs which you would have to climb up, and to get to the sculpture you must climb up a big hill.

Alice Aycock seems interested in exploring the concept of theater like shapes and steps that are spiraling upward. This piece can be interpreted in many different ways by different people, but we feel she was interested in making the viewer rethink their views of steps. Most people don’t have much of an opinion or think about steps much at all, but by putting them so clearly in a piece of art it makes you think about them more and maybe form an opinion about them.