<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><item href="/issues/2018-fall/creature-artist.html" dsn="news"><item_date>09/28/2018 12:00:00 AM</item_date><category_header/><title>Creature Artist</title><subheader/><description>UNT alumna Kate Sorrells uses art degree to design playground equipment.</description><author/><photographer> </photographer><image> <img src="/sites/default/files/kate-sorrells-working.png" width="600" height="370" alt="Kate Sorrells wearing safety glasses an operating a large drill"/></image><taxonomy-story-type>Culture</taxonomy-story-type><taxonomy-cultural-story-category>Visual Arts</taxonomy-cultural-story-category><taxonomy-news-sections/><taxonomy-college-department>College of Visual Arts and Design</taxonomy-college-department><taxonomy-tags>Visual Arts and Design</taxonomy-tags><type>story</type><categories/><relationships/><main-content>
    
    
  
    
      
      
        Kate Sorrells' ('14) (Photo by Jacob Dominguez.)      
    
    Kate Sorrells' ('14) job is to oversee dinosaurs, bears and other creatures, as they change from foam blocks to big, painted, beautiful sculptures. Sorrells uses her metalsmithing and jewelry degree as mechanical operator for Worlds of Wow, a Denton-based company that designs and manufactures playground equipment for children.
She takes a design -- such as a 6-foot bear -- and uses 3D software to cut it into slices so it will fit into the computer numerical control machine, which carves out the pieces to be assembled into the bear.
She says the staff, which includes sculpture major Jacob Dominguez ('15), reminds her of her classmates in the metals lab.
"We're nerds, we're goofy, we're bright and we're friendly," she says. "I didn't imagine that I would ever find a place like this."  

    
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