Vivian Beer (American, b. 1977)
Machined Nature: Anchored Candy no. 9, 2017
Stainless steel, steel and automotive finish
Gift of Joseph P. Logan ’77
My first reaction when I spotted this work was surprise: amidst the green, wooded landscape is an unnatural pop of shiny red. My logical, order-based brain immediately noticed this eye-catching mystery and alerted me that something was quite obviously different here. In fact, that ‘difference’ is Vivian Beer’s Machined Nature: Anchored Candy no. 9, and its odd-one-out nature seems to be, in itself, the whole point.
A sculptor and furniture designer from Bar Harbor, ME, Vivian Beer (b. 1977) began her artistic career after graduating from the Maine College of Art with a BFA in Sculpture and the Cranbrook Academy of Art with an MFA in metalsmithing. She now runs a studio based in New England, where she gathers inspiration from the natural environment, the human body, and American cultural artifacts like muscle cars, fashion, and industrial architecture. On her website, she describes her work as “sleek, abstracted metal and concrete furniture [that] combines the aesthetic sensibilities of contemporary design, craft, and sculpture to create furniture that alters expectations of and interfaces with the domestic landscape.”
Beer’s bench at Davidson certainly interacts with the landscape, adding an element of human-made to the natural space and attracting interest by introducing the unexpected. The sleek, almost playful shape of the work with its artificial color and smooth curves draws on popular culture, particularly ‘70s cars and cosmetics. Anchored into the ground, the sculpture embeds itself into the hill it sits upon, becoming part of the environment while retaining its uniqueness (it’s nature, but machined). Perhaps this juxtaposition of materials can be applied to the very campus it’s found on, and not just because the metallic red matches our school colors: coming to Davidson means relating to the atmosphere of the school and adapting to its values, while retaining individuality and personality amongst the crowd.
As a female working with metal in a male-dominated field, Vivian Beer defies traditional gender dynamics and incorporates these concepts into her works, from the Anchored Candy selections to her Streamliner and Infrastructure series. Machined Nature: Anchored Candy no. 9, both bench and work of fine art, promotes ideas of being two distinct concepts at once (e.g., natural and manufactured, sculpture and furniture, female and metalworker), in harmony. From its bright red sheen like a piece of chewy, overly-sweet candy, to its thoughtfully-designed metal slopes reminiscent of American cars, this elegant, striking facet of the Davidson College campus supports dualities that both draw upon each other and make each other better.
-Gaby Sanclimenti ‘25
Want to learn more about Vivian Beer or other featured sculptors on campus? Visit the library guide!