Lawrence T. Zhang

The following pieces of artwork were made by me during my four years in high school.  Please click on the link "2011" under Blog Archive at the right to view all of my artwork.

Protein Model - ATP Synthase

Follow this link to view a video of the model: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7mehChuzYE&feature=youtu.be

This is a functioning model of ATP Synthase, found in the mitochondria of cells. The top half rotates, picking up and dropping off marbles. This turns and protein subunit that acts like a shaft which causes conformational changes in the bottom portion of the molecule. These changes bring the ADP molecule and the phosphate group together to form ATP. The marbles represent hydrogen ions. 

Protein Model - Kruppel like factor 4

This model won 5th place in the New Jersey Science Olympiad Protein Modeling State Competition in 2011 

Protein Model - Homeobox protein NANOG

This model won 6th place in the New Jersey Science Olympiad Protein Modeling State Competition in 2010 

Protein Model - Hemaglutinin

This model won 3rd place in the New Jersey Science Olympiad Protein Modeling Regional Competition in 2010 

Protein Model - Oct1 transcription factor

This model won 1st place in the New Jersey Science Olympiad Protein Modeling Regional Competition in 2011 

Life and Death

This sculpture shows two connected figures; one represents man (left), the other represents the hooded figure of death (right).  The two characters' arms and legs form complete circles, representing the cycle of life and death.  It is made from red clay and glazed with one color.  This sculpture won a second place award in China in 2011 for the Gold Mantis International Exhibition on Interior Design and Arts. It was originally known as “Friendship – Red Clay”.

Dragon Fruit

This hollow sculpture was made from white clay and glazed with two colors.  It is about as big as a human head. 

Eight Trigrams of Yi Ching - Candle Holder

The sides of the sculpture have four of the Eight Trigrams of Yi Ching crved into them.  When a lit candle is placed in the center, the cutouts are projected onto nearby walls. Along the top rim are Chinese characters that correspond to each of the Eight Trigrams. The shadows it casts are faint so I had to hold a piece of paper up to it to see the shadows clearly. It is made of white clay. 

Harmony - Candle Holder

This bowl has many geometric cut-outs.  One of the cut-outs is in the shape of the Chinese character for "harmony".  Like the previous candle holder, when a lit candle is placed in the center of the bowl, images will be projected onto nearby walls.  It is made out of white clay and is glazed with one color.  The white and black spots were made with flecks of paint. 

Inverse Mobile

This sculpture is a stabile, which is similar to a mobile except that it is rooted to the ground.  My inspiration for this piece was to take a mobile and invert it.  Thus, the arms of the structure are curving upwards instead of down.  It is constructed from foam board and construction paper. 

Rube Goldberg Machine

Video of machine in action can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOCSLxHrWnM

This machine was designed to do a simple task (raising a balloon) in a complex way. The steps are as follows:

1. A quarter is dropped through a tube, activating a mouse trap
2. The mouse trap pulls a piece of wood out from under a heavy lock which is attached to a pulley system
3. The lock falls down and pulls a block of Lego's up
4. The Lego's hit a golf ball which rolls down two platforms and falls through a white tube and onto a second mouse trap
5. The mouse trap activates and pulls five pins out from under five wooden blocks
6. The blocks fall and stack on top of each other, pushing one side of a lever down
7. The other side of the lever pulls a pin out of a block, releasing the balloon 

Modular Origami

Over the years, I have made many pieces of origami.  These structures are known as modular origami.  They are formed by interlocking identical sub-units of paper to create larger geometric structures. 

Natural Origami

These are origami models of objects found in nature, such as mushrooms, seashells, flowers and animals.

Pine Wood and Metal Table

This table is constructed out of pine wood and the legs are made from iron.  The wood was then finished with oil and the legs were painted gray.

Hand-Carved Wood Cane

This cane's shaft is made from oak wood and the handle is cherry wood. The whole cane is finished with oil.