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.
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 4:11PM
Here are a couple of You-Tube videos sent to me by follower Dwight Souder showing a pair of water-powered clocks. The creator, Nigel Loller, has done an excellent job describing the unique parts of his clocks and their escapement mechanisms. These videos will intrigue those of you that follow my work because of a love of mechanisms. Enjoy!
Thanks, Dwight!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:07AM Peter Rand, a woodturner and author, has just published an extensive and interesting aritcle in the February edition of American Woodturner magazine about motion in turned wood objects. He has featured Fiesta, one of David's sculptures, in the article along with many of his own scultpures.
The article "Turning to the Next Dimension • Real Movement in Turned Objects" discusses movement as an element in art in general as well as providing a brief history of kinetics in sculpture. The article has been reproduced on Rand's website here.
Rand writes the following about the effects of movement in art:
"Movement of or within a piece of art is irresistibly attention-getting. It produces a unique perceptual and emotional response. Art that moves is rich in possibilities: It can be unexpected, amusing, soothing or disturbing, thoughtful or perplexing. For some, a constantly moving piece would be disturbing. A similar reaction is possible to color, or shape, or design. My experience with movement is that with time, the movement becomes elemental to the piece. Disturbance then arises when the movement stops, as when the pendulum of a grandfather clock stops moving or a clock stops ticking."
I appreciate his listing of rich possibilities. We love observing viewers respondes to David's work because of the multitude of reactions. I tend to disagree with Rand's observation that disturbance arises when movement stops. Change arises when movement stops but as David designs sculptures he always considers the visual impact of a sculpture at rest to be critical. It needs to be visually balanced at rest as well as while in motion.
Rand's kinetic work falls into several different styles that he has explored over the years. He is especialy drawn to motion that is subtle and "so slow that change is imperceptible". The "cats" shown below have embedded microcontrollers which cause them to turn and react to each other creating a dance of negative space between them. He has fine-tuned the programming to imply conversation between them.
Peter Rand, Kinetic Trytych, 2008, Maple burl, dye, 18" tallest form
Rand also included an informative side-bar on some of the mechanisms he has used for creating motion in his work. This part of the article is especially helpful to others that may want to explore adding motion to their own work. He provides resources for different electronic solutions. His artcle is well worth reading and filled with connections to additional resources. The article isn't web based and the links aren't active but he does provide online sources for additional information.
In addition to kinetic work Rand has some beautifully crafted pieces in his Femisphere collection. Worth a visit as well.
Some links of Interest:
Monday, January 16, 2012 at 6:22PM Want to smile? Then take a minute and watch this video. It is a real life Rube Goldberg machine in action.
Rube Goldberg although a sculptor, was most known for his cartoon drawings of impossible yet humorous contraptions. Every Sunday paper had one included the color funnies section when we were kids. The brilliance of this one is that it is believable although one never knows with video.
This video (which has gone viral - over 3.4 million views to date) was created by Joseph Herschner of Brooklyn, NY and he was the subject of a fun New York Times article on Jan 6, 2012. According to the article he has another Rube-ish video called "Creme That Egg". This is a wonderful example of kinetic sculpture, video and performance art merging into one experience.
If you are fascinated by this type of contraption, visit the official Rube Goldberg Website. There are contests scheduled. It could be fun to be in the audience and watch.
Enjoy.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 4:03PM
When I think of kinetic furniture rocking chairs, swings, rocking horses all come to mind. I don't generally imagine a table with motion elements but here are two that certainly are kinetic.
The first is a marble maze, not your ordinary marble maze but a truly humongous one.
Tracks are routed into all the components creating a race track for wonderful dinner time competitions.
It all starts at the top of the table and runs its course out onto the floor. What fun!
Watch it in action with this video.
Thanks to Marjoke from The Netherlands for providing additional information about the creators of this table. It is by the Dutch design team ontwerpduo (which translatesinto Design-Duo in English). The team includes a dreamer and a mathematician working together. They described the table as "a new type of functional woodcarving that invites you to play..."
Design student Alex Mecker designed a coffee table that incorporates a kinetic sculpture. It is an automaton and requires hand-cranking. He made it in a furniture design class while at Purdue.
It is created out of 298 pieces including laser cut wood, dowels. o-rings and conduit. You can see the influence of Theo Jasen and Reuben Margolin in his design as noted in his description.
He has put together a stunning and extensive presentation about the design and construction process on his Issuu site. Worth a visit.
via laughingsquid
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 3:10PM
Those of us that love kinetic sculpture always spend hours mesmerized by rolling ball machines. If memory serves me correctly the first one I saw was the George Rhoads installation at Logan Airport in Boston. Imagine if you could view a rolling ball machine from ball's eye view! It was that thought that made me love this video shared by SwissMiss from Laughing Squid
The route of a bag from your hands at an airport and back into your hands at your destination is much like being the ball in a roling ball machine. And Delta made a video of it using six cameras installed in a suitcase. Fun to watch!