3D Printing Pen Meets Paint: Artist Barbara Taylor Harris uses the 3Doodler on her canvases

Nov 27, 2015 | By Tess

Throughout history, the art world has been marked by various shifts and emerging styles, with artists going against the styles of their predecessors, or incorporating new technologies into their work. Moments such as the recognition of the Dadaists’ collage as fine art, or Marcel Duchamp’s readymade found object sculptures have stood out as turning points in art history, suggesting that art at its core is about redefinition and innovation. One contemporary artist, UK based Barbara Taylor Harris, known for her mixed media pieces, has recently developed an innovative style of her own, which incorporates 3Doodler’s 3D printing pen into more classical mediums such as painting or sculpture.

Barbara Taylor Harris first took up painting when she retired ten years ago. Since then she has expanded her artistic horizons by dabbling in other creative media, making various mixed media pieces and sculpted canvasses. A big part of her artistic success has come from her incorporation of the 3Doodler 3D printed pen in her work, which she first started working with over a year ago.

Spirit of the Wind

Harris initially bought the 3Doodler when she saw its sculptural potentials, though ultimately struggled to create the pieces she wanted to with the 3D printing pen. She explains in an interview with 3Doodler, “I bought [the 3Doodler] originally to make sculpture, but when I started making linear designs I found that the plastic was quite fragile and it wouldn’t stand up. So I gave up on that at first and began to use it on paintings.”

Sprite Conversation

The result of her mixed media artwork that combines the 3D printed pen with acrylic paintings is astonishing, as the 3Doodler provides a unique texture and 3 dimensional aspect to the paintings.

Using the 3Doodler on the paintings wasn’t as easy as all that either, as Harris had to find the most suitable paint and material to get the plastic filament to stick. She realized finally that the melted plastic extruded from the 3Doodler stuck quite well to acrylic paints, meaning that she could “paint” over her base painting with layers of the plastic. Harris explains her technique of building up a relief on her paintings, “All of the latest of series Everglades are built up with a layer of acrylic paint, then a layer of plastic, followed by another acrylic layer, and so it goes on as it builds up into a 3D relief.”

She has even found that by simply painting over oil paint with an acrylic coat she could easily use the 3Doodler as well.

From the series Willow Dream

Since mastering painting with the 3Doodler, Harris has also found her footing with sculpting with it, as she has made several astonishing sculptural pieces using the 3D printing pen. With a little experience using the pen, Harris found that she could get the effect she wanted for her sculptures with it and preferred working with plastic over other materials such as stone or plaster.

From the series Everglades

She says, “[The 3Doodler] offers you the capacity to do things that you can’t do with any other material, for me that’s a huge boost to creativity…It is possible to create sculptures with the 3D pen that would be difficult to create in other materials. You have to learn a lot about it to get thickness and stability. You need to explore and work with it as a medium.”

Barbara Taylor Harris is currently working on a series called Willow-Dream, inspired by her local flora. Typically, Harris will work on a particular theme – recent ones have been Energy, Wind-Energy, and Wind and Mist – for about half a year, displaying her works at various group shows and the occasional solo show. She is also currently working on using the 3Doodler to create more fluid sculptural pieces, such as Balanced Fluidity which uses long strands of filament to capture a certain flow.

Balanced Fluidity

Barbara Taylor Harris has big expectations for the 3Doodler beyond her own work, as she says, “The 3Doodler still has huge untapped potential for development in schools with children, and as a natural medium for artists.”

Who knows, perhaps years from now all visual artists will be using 3D printing pens in their work!