Organic Mechanic • Blair Somerville

I definitely would like to take a little trip to New Zealand and Australia. That has always been on my bucket list. This video pushed it higher up on the list. Here is a kindred tinkerer with whom, I expect, I could have some interesting conversations.  

Image source: Colossall

Blair Somerville lives and creates on the South Island of New Zealand. There he operates the Lost Gypsy Gallery in a converted old school bus.

Image source: Inka Parei

And he whiles away the hours creating kinetic sculpture and automata from found materials. His style and mine are worlds apart but it is all in the mechanics....making it work.  What fun.

Images source: Colossall

Images source: Colossall

He doesn't have a website that I could find but was recently featured in this beautifully crafted and whimsical video by Joey Bania. It is a very entertaining, motion filled wonderland. Enjoy.

I love the part where he tries to assign words to what he does. His choices - Rustic Automata, Organic Mechanic, Tinkerer all creating Fine Acts of Junk! 

 via Colossall

MAD Museum • Mechanical Art & Design

Do you live in, near or are traveling to Stratford Upon the Avon in the UK soon? If so you might want to put the MAD Museum on you must see list.  They have just moved/expanded and reopened on 4/5 Henley Street. They have included one of my sculptures, Swoop, in their exhibit along with an extensive collection of other kinetic art.

They sent a series of photos from opening week.

Looks like a place I could easily spend an afternoon! 

For those that can't visit, online info is a little basic at this point.  Not a lot of photos or videos of the work in the museum.  They do have and extensive resource list of kinetic artists on their site here which should provide all of us with hours of online exploration and entertainment!

Searching for Sculptures Across America

It has been quite awhile since I've posted on the blog and for good reason. Marji and I have just returned from a 7 week road trip exploring America. We left on September 5th with few specific plans but several broad goals. One of those goals was to experience any sculpture parks we traveled near. Some folks collect baseball parks, others national parks. We collect sculpture parks.  The quest was inspired by our frequent visits to both Storm King Art Center (Mountationville, NY) and Grounds for Sculpture (Hamilton, NJ).

We started with a Google search that ended at a Wikipedia article listing sculpture parks around the world. We concentrated on the USA for this trip! The first park to cross our path was the Scandaga River Sculpture Park in Wells, NY. It was in a remote area near the Adirondacks and we had our doubts as we followed the GPS. But it led us to the beautiful garden of artist John Van Alstine and his studio. It was our lucky day because the artist was home. We had a delightful visit.

Sculpture and Photo credit • John Vanalstine

John told us of a recently published book by Francesca Cigola titled Art Parks: A Tour of America's Sculpture Parks and Gardens, and recommended it as a resource for our travels. We located it on Amazon and had it waiting for us at a friend's home as we passed near Pittsburgh.We used it extensively and adjusted routes to view the parks shared in this book. It directed us to a wide range of parks and wonderful sculpture across America. We saw very little new kinetic work (more info later), but many exciting sculptures.   

The book was helpful in locating some extremely interesting parks. Be sure to cross reference things with online resources because some have restricted viewing. Of note, the northeast has the highest concentration of sculpture parks by far and we never knew about a host of them. We didn't visit any of those because we can see them as day trips from home. We have some interesting weekend trips ahead!

Here is a quick overview of a few of our discoveries.

Normade by Plensa at PapaJohn Sculpture Park Des Moines, Iowa

Sequences by Richard Serra at Cantor Art Center, Stanford University

A Flock of Signs by Kim Beck at 100 Acres in Indianapolis, IN

Our trip was exciting on many levels but especially because of the art we saw, both natural and man made.  I will continue to share additional information about the various sculptures parks we visited across America in future blog posts. Check back regularly. You might discover a place you need to visit!

Vollis Simpson • Whirligigs and Whatnots

At age 93, Vollis Simpson has a few years on me but we've both been creating kinetic art for over thirty years. His style, materials and approach are very different from mine but I am fairly sure we'd have a lot of common interests to discuss if we ever meet.

Photo Credit Jeremy Lange for New York Times

Mr. Simpson was a machinist and, after he retired, he put his skills to use creating a farm full of whimsical whirligigs. His acrege in Lucama, NC has become an unofficial tourist attraction as people travel to experience the crop of kinetic sculptures growing in his yard. 

Photo Credit Jeremy Lange for New York Times 

The New York Times did a special article about him in 2010. In it, they refer to him as a "self-taught practitioner, now known by the dressed up names of outsider art or visionary art." Hmmm. Is that how they'd catagorize me?

The nearby town of Wilson, NC is working to create an in-town sculpture park for Mr. Simpson's sculptures.  An organization has been set-up to maintain the work and park for others to enjoy. 

Marji and I plan to go on a USA roadtrip sometime in the next year. Together we bicycled across the country back in 1972 and have wanted to revisit so much of it. We are researching sculpture parks and other sites of kinetic interest for us to explore. I expect we'll swing through Wilson and Lacama, NC and try to meet up with Mr. Simpson for a conversation.

Photo Credit: Big Bang Studio

Cognition Kinetic Sculpture in NYC

Yesterday, David and I delivered his large, mesmerizing, free-standing sculpture, Cognition to An American Craftsman Gallery in New York City.

An American Craftsman has been displaying David's work in NYC for 20 years but recently landed some additional gallery space right next door to the Whitney Museum of American Art on Madison Avenue.

If you live in the NYC area and missed the open house at David's studio you can visit the gallery to see this unique one-of-a-kind sculpture in motion. The gallery is located at 940 Madsion Ave. just above 74th Street.  Cognition is on display in the front window and because it operates for 24 hours on a single winding, will be moving through the night. That is important in the city that never sleeps!

The gallery had a great selection of fine American crafts in wood, ceramic, glass and metal in addition to David's work.

If you decide to visit NYC and the gallery, stop back here and let us know about your visit.  Just a heads up though - there is on street packing on the opposite side- 2 hours and empty on Saturday AM.  It is regulated with those charge card meter boxes on the corner and if you don't get back to your car quickly with your receipt in hand, you will get a ticket- voice of experience here!