We have been keeping a blog since 2008. It is a chronological listing of many topics related to Wood that Works. You will find information about sculptures, inspirations, other artists, day to day life in the shop. The topics are many and fascinating. If you are an avid follower of David's work we encourage you to subscribe to this blog to receive the regular updates.
I recently saw the kinetic work of seventy year old sculptor Bob Potts online. He had training in metal working but also exposure to the music world and George Rhoads according to an interview by Daniel Busby published here. Not only was I impressed by his sculpture but also the beautiful animated gifs showing his work on Colossal here.
He, like David, has been captivated by the motion of flight although his sculptures key in on the working of wings. David's flight studies have centered on the soaring aspect. Bob Potts worked with George Rhoads for 20 years before gaining enough confidence to create works of his own design. Here is a video well worth watching. The details are beautiful.
Do you remember the first rolling ball kinetic sculpture you experienced? I know the first time I viewed one. We (David and I) were captivated and stayed watching every ball for a very long time. I am sure it was a George Rhoades creation but I am not sure if it was the one in the United terminal at Logan Airport in Boston or the one at the Boston Science Museum. We visited both many times over the years. The art of rolling ball sculptures has come a very long way yet many of the initial actions from those early designs keep reappearing. This week the blog world is alive witih the recently shared work of Swiss sculptor Paul Grunbacher.
Videos of seven wonderful, entertaining and beautifully crafted wooden marble machines have been posted for all of us to enjoy.
Regenschiff (Rain Ship) - 2009
These videos where assembled for a March 17th article in Woodgears which is a woodworking site for engineers. I know there are many engineers that follow my work and you might want to journey over to that site for some interesting exploring.
Archimedis - 2012
Mr. Grundbacher shares that he doesn't work from plans or even advanced planning. He builds by tinkering. He "plans" directly in wood most of which is ash, maple and linden firewood from a local factory.
Etagen ( Floors) -2010 - Inspired by the videos shared by Denha
Quatro- 2010 - Quatro was inspired by the work of Brad Litwin.
Fischtreppe ( Fish Ladder) - 2010
Lift- 2009 Based on a design by M. Wandel
Chaos - 2009 - This is Paul's first design and he used many ideas he'd gathered from around the web including an article at Woodgears that includes 12 construction videos for tutorials.
Recently we shared with you the work of a fellow kinetic sculpture Mark Brzeszkiewicz on a blog post here. Mark was competing in the Kinetic Art Organizations Kinetic Art Competition in Boyton Beach, Florida and we asked him to share photos of the event with us. He hooked us up with photographer Mark Beers who has created extremely beautiful photographs that are works of art in their own right. These are photos of some of the kinetic sculptures completed by Mark Brzeszkiewiz.
Absolutely stunning! Here are some links for additional information:
Check out this entertaining mechanical bank with exposed workings. This ingenious device by artist Christopher Blasius came to my attention recently from Dug North's Automata Blog.
It is operated by a hand crank and does a fascinating directional change from circular motion to linear action. The artist is selling plans here and has uploaded an extensive YouTube video showing both the operation and assembly instructions. Worth a view. I'll be adding a link to David's links page for those people always looking for mechanically oriented plans.
Last week David received an email from Mark Brzeszkiewicz who was inspired by David's work (Sun Dance) and went about designing and building his own kinetic sculptures. He sent a link to one of his designs currently submitted to the KAO International Kinetic Symposium in Boyton Beach, Floridia. This symposium runs this weekend (Feb. 8-10, 2013) and if you are in Florida you might want to check it out. There are many outside kinetic sculptures on display and three venues with inside sculptures as well.
And if you you can't travel there, you can still enjoy Mark's Kinetic sculpture via YouTube.
Friday, March 29, 2013 at 3:13PM 
