David has rarely used gears in his kinetic sculptures because wooden gears are just too inefficient. In fact I can only recollect two sculptures - Anticipation from 1976 and Cadence from 1978 - that used meshing gears. That said I love gears, collect gears and have used them in my early sculpture work and even as subjects of paintings and drawings. (I am going back to the 70's here!). I bring up gears because a collector of David's work recently sent in the link to this YouTube video of gear studies noting that he thought we would relate to it.
This is a fascinating set of odd gear pairings. I wouldn't expect David to ever use them in his work but I can imagine a giant series on our front lawn!
A link to another fascinating example of combining motion and music arrived in my in box the other day along with the following note:
I am a long-time admirer of your work (owner of JESTER). This made me think of you..........marcia;-)
and it included a link to Jim Bumgardner's online software toy "Whitney Music Box". Go here to experience "a musical realization of the motion graphics of John Whitney as described in his book "digital harmony". The site is a flash site begging for online interaction. Enjoy. I did!
While there follow the links back to krazydad.com. You'll find a treasure trove of software toys and puzzles that should make you smile.
Here is a new idea for an affordable kinetic sculpture (but human power is required)! This link appeared on Dug North's blog and it definitely made me smile! It takes a little while before you get to view the motion in the movie but it is a great card concept. Not appropriate for all card occassions though!
For years Marji and I have discussed the large outdoor sculptures we'd like to build. We never had the time. Last year, as we were discussing vacation plans Marji suggested taking a week off, staying home, no "real" work allowed, and building a sculpture. It was one of our best vacations. We decided to turn it into an annual tradition.
We spent the past year collecting and discussing ideas. A few months ago I worked up some 3D sketches with my new favorite 3D program Strata Design 3D. We showed the drawings to our kids and others, made many changes and arrived at a "plan." I put plan in quotes because one of the best parts of this collaborative project are the changes that happen as we start actually building the piece and have to "think on our feet."
The original inspiration was a photo of a sculpture by Elias Wakan. We liked the geometric feel of the sculpture and the way it moved in 3D space and connected back to itself.
We decided to try something like it using 3 inch plastic pipe rather than wood. This was mainly for practical reasons. The pipe is relatively cheap and easy to work but also is impervious to weather elements. We were thinking large in scale and definitely an outdoor sculpture. We also thought plastic pipe would add some flexibility so we could define long curves - more on that in a minute.
The final concept was quite different from the original inspiration as you can see in this animation.
It includes about 120 segments, each 12 inches long bolted together side to side but offset by 1 inch.
Our daughter Karen volunteered to join us on vacation and help with assembly. Work progressed nicely. I designed jigs for cutting and drilling the segments. It was important that the holes lined up precisely and for the most part they did. We assembled 6 foot segments in the shop and then moved to the yard for final assembly. Almost immediately we realized that these were far more flexible than planned. We all realized that in fact this was a wonderful feature, not a problem at all. A new sculpture concept was formed.
We joined all the segments into a 35 foot long chain and started playing as you can see in the video below
The final form for now is shown in the photo series on Flickr. In reality the beauty of this piece is in its flexibility. We can rearrange it on the hillside whenever. I'm sure we'll see lots of variations as time goes by.
Arthur Ganson is a kinetic sculptor based in the Boston area. He creates kinetic art with a sense of humor. According to the write up on the MIT Museum site Ganson's "contraptions [are] composed of a range of materials from delicate wire to welded steel and concrete. Most are viewer-activated or driven by electric motors." If you are ever in Boston, a stop at the MIT Museum is always fun. Many of his works are on display there. (Be sure to get good directions because it is a challenging building to find!)
Both his YouTube page and his website have a lot of great examples of his work. Check out his work and leave a comment here letting us know what you think. Don't forget to comment on the artist's page also!
