This piece is inspired by the dancing of Rita Moreno in West Side Story – and the power and self-confidence often found in Latin American dancing.  The mix of representational and abstract elements aids in conveying this power.  The piece is more than life-size.

Rita’s creation was an intensive 3 months of effort.  It started with the sculpting a 24” tall wax model to capture the body movements.  The model was then scanned to create a 3D “mesh” file.  Further exploration was done digitally to tryout ways of slicing the figure and different geometric arrays to capture the power and motion of her dance.  Machine files were then created to guide a computerized routing machine – a CNC machine.  The pieces were then assembled and finished.  The whole process took an elapsed 5 months with more than 90 full-time days of effort.   You can see videos of the process on Braitman’s website https://jackiebraitman.com

“Rita” is made of marine mahogany plywood and construction techniques fully amenable to outdoor display.  If displayed outdoors the wood will eventually weather to a silver gray – this should take several years. 

If you’re interested in more information about this artwork, please fill in the form, below.