To mark Women’s History month this March, 3D printing company HP is highlighting an ongoing collaboration with artist Amy Karle. Karle, who is known for her future-oriented projects, has adopted 3D printing as a medium, using the technology and its design capabilities to reimagine art and create boundary-pushing pieces. HP is supporting the artist’s work through its 3D Printing & Digital Manufacturing organization and HP Labs.
Amy Karle has been on our radar for some time now. Indeed, her works have generated a lot of interest in the 3D printing world. In 2017, for instance, she created a bioprinted hand with real skin on it. More recently, she has undertaken projects with high-profile partners like the Smithsonian Institution. Much of her recent work has incorporated elements made using HP’s 3D printing technology.
“I love the exploration and development that 3D printing offers: a new opportunity for thinking, a new way to reshape what we create, and a completely new approach to expression in which digital, physical and biological systems are interwoven,” Karle explained. “HP 3D Printing enables me to bring this vision to life by opening up new artistic possibilities not achievable before.”
Working with the Smithsonian Institution, Karle created the “Regeneration Through Technology” sculpture series. In the project Karle used the museum’s 3D scan data of a fossilized Triceratops to create innovative 3D printed pieces that draw links between the prehistoric past and our present. The main piece in the collection was based on Hatcher, a 66-million-year-old Triceratops skeleton housed in the National Museum of Natural History—also the first dinosaur to be digitized. Karle created a new dimension for Hatcher’s legacy by representing the dinosaur using innovative design tools and 3D printing.
In another project, entitled “The Heart of Evolution,” Karle created a sculpture that represents what heart vasculature could look and how it could function with enhanced design. The piece, which is now on display at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, consists of a 3D printed heart-shaped structure housed in a scientific bioreactor. The thought-provoking artwork brings into focus how our bodies and technologies can be merged and makes people think about how new technologies like generative design, 3D printing and bioprinting can enhance humanity.
Driving all of Karle’s project is her mission to positively impact people and raise consciousness about social, political and technical developments. The artist uses many technologies and processes in her work, including HP’s Jet Fusion 5200 and 580 printers.
