A circular, low-relief sculpture sits on a black cardboard base. Crumpled silver and copper foils form torn ridges and sharp edges. Steel wool and chicken wire create tangled cavities. Gravel and sand are embedded throughout. Charcoal darkens recessed areas, and mirror fragments catch light within fractured metallic layers.
A circular, low-relief sculpture sits on a black cardboard base. Crumpled silver and copper foils form torn ridges and sharp edges. Steel wool and chicken wire create tangled cavities. Gravel and sand are embedded throughout. Charcoal darkens recessed areas, and mirror fragments catch light within fractured metallic layers.
A circular, low-relief sculpture sits on a black cardboard base. Crumpled silver and copper foils form torn ridges and sharp edges. Steel wool and chicken wire create tangled cavities. Gravel and sand are embedded throughout. Charcoal darkens recessed areas, and mirror fragments catch light within fractured metallic layers.
A circular, low-relief sculpture sits on a black cardboard base. Crumpled silver and copper foils form torn ridges and sharp edges. Steel wool and chicken wire create tangled cavities. Gravel and sand are embedded throughout. Charcoal darkens recessed areas, and mirror fragments catch light within fractured metallic layers.
A circular, low-relief sculpture sits on a black cardboard base. Crumpled silver and copper foils form torn ridges and sharp edges. Steel wool and chicken wire create tangled cavities. Gravel and sand are embedded throughout. Charcoal darkens recessed areas, and mirror fragments catch light within fractured metallic layers.
A circular, low-relief sculpture sits on a black cardboard base. Crumpled silver and copper foils form torn ridges and sharp edges. Steel wool and chicken wire create tangled cavities. Gravel and sand are embedded throughout. Charcoal darkens recessed areas, and mirror fragments catch light within fractured metallic layers.
A circular, low-relief sculpture sits on a black cardboard base. Crumpled silver and copper foils form torn ridges and sharp edges. Steel wool and chicken wire create tangled cavities. Gravel and sand are embedded throughout. Charcoal darkens recessed areas, and mirror fragments catch light within fractured metallic layers.
A circular, low-relief sculpture sits on a black cardboard base. Crumpled silver and copper foils form torn ridges and sharp edges. Steel wool and chicken wire create tangled cavities. Gravel and sand are embedded throughout. Charcoal darkens recessed areas, and mirror fragments catch light within fractured metallic layers.
A circular, low-relief sculpture sits on a black cardboard base. Crumpled silver and copper foils form torn ridges and sharp edges. Steel wool and chicken wire create tangled cavities. Gravel and sand are embedded throughout. Charcoal darkens recessed areas, and mirror fragments catch light within fractured metallic layers.
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Specimen (16 Psyche)

Addison Mayhew

April 20th, 2026

Major: New Media Design

Genre/Medium: Abstract Sculpture (cardboard, aluminum foil, steel wool, chicken wire, copper leaf, silver leaf, black acrylic paint, rocks, gravel, sand, mirror/glass shards)

About the Work:

Specimen (16 Psyche) is an abstract, materially driven exploration of the asteroid 16 Psyche. While the work visually represents the asteroid, it does so without spectacle or polish. At first glance, it may resemble a compressed pile of industrial debris—foil, wire, grit, and fractured surfaces. This ambiguity is intentional.

Psyche exists millions of miles away, known only through remote sensing and evolving scientific hypothesis. Current research suggests it is not a solid metal core as once believed, but a porous composite body composed of iron-nickel metal, silicate rock, and carbonaceous material. Rather than illustrating these findings, I translated them into physical behavior at a human scale.

The sculpture is constructed from accessible materials: chicken wire, steel wool, gravel, sand, rocks, aluminum foil, copper and silver foil, charcoal, mirror fragments, and painted cardboard. These are ordinary, tactile substances—things that can be held, torn, pressed, and broken. By working with materials that are familiar and inexpensive, I collapse the distance between a distant asteroid and the human body. Imitation here is not about accuracy; it is about access.

The piece was built through force and guesswork. Layers were compressed, fractured, and allowed to fail. I worked without a predetermined image, trusting material response over visual control. This was my first fully abstract work, and the uncertainty of that process mirrors the way Psyche itself is understood—through incomplete data and revision.

During construction, I cut my hand on the wire and metal. A bandage wrapper remains embedded beneath the surface, an unseen layer within the structure. Physical labor, impact, and vulnerability are not metaphors in this work; they are present in its construction.

Making Psyche at a human scale matters. It transforms something astronomically distant and conceptually abstract into something that can be physically confronted. What we cannot touch directly can still be approached through imitation. In compressing metal, grit, and void into a single accessible object, the sculpture invites viewers to reconsider how knowledge of the unfamiliar is built—through translation, material, and the body.

Specimen (16 Psyche) is not a replica. It is an approximation shaped by force, labor, and accessibility—a reminder that even the most foreign bodies can be understood through human means.

View the Full Project

Date Added: 04-09-2026
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Addison Mayhew - Psyche Inspired

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