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There’s art in gaskets ... literally!
Why would a renowned artist and a gasket manufacturer do business together?
The manufacturer is Interstate Specialty Products Company of Sutton, Mass., which supplies fabricated materials to media, technology and industrial companies anywhere in the world. The artist is Stephen Knapp of Worcester, Mass., who creates "lightpaintings" which can be found in museums, galleries and public and private collections.
Lightpaintings are made of glass through which light is projected. The creation of a lightpainting starts by applying reflective metallic coatings on glass. The glass is then shaped and polished in his studio in Worcester and then the pieces are mounted on brackets strategically placed so that a "painting" or "sculpture" is formed when white light is applied. Positioning the pieces of glass in exactly the right place is critical to the finished work. To hold the glass firmly in place, Knapp uses an L-shaped stainless steel bracket and an adhesive backed gasket to assure that the glass doesn't move or crack.
Knapp was cutting his gaskets by hand, using a hand press to make the holes. When a friend saw this, he referred him to Interstate Specialty Products which could custom design and produce the gaskets by the hundreds. A meeting was arranged with Steve Giza, operations manager of Interstate. When Knapp saw gaskets being made with a CNC dieless knife cutter with the ability to tweak dimensions instantly, he was sold on the process and has been using Interstate’s adhesive gaskets ever since.
You can find Knapp's work in the Chrysler Museum, Naples Museum of Art, Tampa City Hall, Boise Art Museum, and many other locations. Lightpaintings can be seen as movable wall mounted panels, or as spectacular large-scale architectural installations.
Knapp is meticulous in finding vendors that support his extraordinary work. He searched high and low before finding the right kind of producers of the glass that is so integral in his designs. The glass is cut and polished in Knapp’s own studio in Worcester. Even the foam blocks that hold the various shapes of cut glass are a special order item specified by Knapp. He did the same kind of searching to find metal fabricating companies that could supply the L-shaped brackets. And it all pays off in his amazing creations.
John Savickas, president of Interstate, said, "I have a deep appreciation of art and am thrilled that Interstate is a supplier of an essential part of Stephen Knapp's extraordinary work." Interstate's tagline is "Where Innovation Takes Shape". Stephen Knapp's innovative artwork takes shape, thanks in part to the shapes supplied by Interstate Specialty Products.
Interstate Specialty Products is a leading converter and distributor of custom solutions for Science and Industry. Interstate specializes in precision die cutting and fabrication of plastics, filter media, specialty elastomers and custom gaskets from a multitude of materials.
Artist Stephen Knapp adjusting lightpainting (Photo: Business Wire)
