Music and Motion

All are invited to an open house at the Wood That Works Studio and Gallery to experience first hand the mesmerizing and relaxing ambiance created by David's two new designs - Silver Symphony and Silver Song. The peaceful effect of these two designs is so calming that it has inspired David to open the studio for the first time in 15 years so others can enjoy the experience. The experience of being in a room filled with kinetic sculptures is well worth the trip!

By far the most complicated sculpture to emerge from David's design sabbatical is Silver Symphony (above).   It combines kinetic motion and the deep, beautiful sound of Woodstock Percussion Chimes of Apollo tubes tuned to an ancient Chinese pentatonic scale.  David has designed a mechanism that powers a subtle yet deeply satisfying random series of musical sequences.  The top portion of the sculpture is a visually fascinating celestial dance transferring the entertainment from audio to visual while regulating and randomizing the audio experience.

David designed Silver Symphony without regard to size or cost, he just followed a dream.  Realizing that dreams aren't very practical, but loving the sound and effect, David took what he had learned and started work on a smaller wall mounted version.  The result is Silver Song, a wall mounted kinetic chime using Woodstock Percussion Olympos Chime tubes that are tuned to an an ancient Greek pentatonic scale. It provides a similar relaxing ambiance to help the listener unwind and enjoy, but with a more practical space requirement!

This design borrows elements from Chime Carillon of 1988 and combines it with twenty years of added experience in improving and fine tuning the design, construction of the mechanism and control of the sound. There is extensive information about both designs at David's web site at www.woodthatworks.com.

Comments

[David Roy]

These kinetic sculptures are inspirationally beautiful! I love the confluence of craftsmanship, engineering and artistic design. They are fascinating, soothing, intriguing, ...meditative.

Having viewed many of the videos, the one thing I find missing is an clear explanation of exactly how these mechanisms are driven. Perhaps this is somewhat of a trade secret for the artist, but I think he could at least show more close ups of the mechanics. I simply find this interesting and would like to know more.
Posted @ Thursday, January 06, 2011 5:23 AM by Geo geowrightconner@yahoo.com

[David Roy]

Reply from Marji: David does talk about putting together a basic video on how to use escapements to power kinetic sculptures. It is just that new ideas keep popping up and he gets side tracked. It is on the "to do" list but that is a very long list! Stay tuned. Some day it will show up here first.
Posted @ Friday, January 07, 2011 9:00 AM by David Roy woodthatworks@gmail.com