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.
A very few of David's sculptures contain color accents including Pulsar and Variation Surf.
David's sculptures don't lend themselves to vibrant colors. Bright colors take away from the beauty and complexity of the motion that his pieces create. Natural wood tones have complemented his pieces from the very beginning. That doesn't mean inspiration isn't found in other artist's colorful creations.
Husband and wife team Gus & Lina Ocamposilva create colorful abstract sculptures
inspired by the colors and shapes of the world. The "Ocamposilvas' art works are an interpretation of the world where they were raised; the Andes and the Tropic, a world filled with a great diversity of colors. They want to show, in their works, the passion for life, colors, magic and poetry." (Source)
To see more of their colorful pieces head over here.
Some of our favorite places to visit are sculpture gardens including Storm King in NY State. We have started collecting ideas of other places to visit through recommendations and web searching. This is how we stumbled upon The Singing Ringing Tree in England.
This award-winning sculpture is a fascinating combination of man-made metals and nature's breath - the wind. It stands just under 10 feet high in the Pennine Mountains looking over Burnley, in Lancashire, England. This sculpture was enginered by the British architecture firm Tonkin Liu. It is made of glavanized steel tubes that harness the wind to send low melodic tones over the land. Here is an excellent YouTube video about the process of developing and making the sculpture:
Someday when we make our way back to Europe this will certainly be on our list of places to visit. Have you seen The Singing Ringing Tree in person? What were your thoughts?
Inventor Released is the second wall-mounted kinetic sculpture designed by David. He created it immediately following B.W. Cornwallis in the spring of 1976 (Link to post about B.W.) He recognized the inefficiencies in B. W. and was trying to improve upon them.
This sculpture, like its predecessor, is an escapement mechanism. Escapements have been used for centuries in clock making and can be used to measure regulated increments of time. David has always modified escapements, not worrying about their time keeping characteristics but instead working to maximize motion. It has allowed for a creative freedom that has always impacted his work. Compare the very visual motion in Inventor Release to the amount of motion you see in a clock.
In Inventor Released, David added an arm connected to the rotating wheel with a string. This allowed for some degree of adjustment by varying the string length. This is a great sculpture to study because it is one of the simplest and most revealing of David's designs. Basically, the weight is attached but can't descend because it is being held in place by the wooden ratchet. The pendulum wheel spins in one direction shortening the string and lifting the arm which causes the ratchet to release allowing the weight to drop just one notch before re- engaging.
The power from the release is transferred back through the arm giving it a needed push.
It now has enough energy to cause the main wheel to wind in the opposite direction, again shortening the string and again releasing the ratchet to repeat the process.
David's early pieces were all powered by descending weights. This is also similar to many early clocks. Inventor Released had the one descending weight and the higher you mounted the piece, the longer it would run. The limited factor was always that you needed to be able to reach the sculpture to wind it up again!
In the early years the inevitable question was, "Is it perpetual motion?" Clearly not. It requires the viewer to keep winding it up.
As you listen to the video you will hear the very loud and rhythmic click. David knew that a loud noise is the result of an inefficient mechanism. (It was also truly annoying to live with!). It was an effort to try and reduce the noise that kept David designing. A trend in David's work has always been that new designs evolved as he tried to solve things he didn't like about previous ones. Much inspiration came from his own work.
Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí painted amazing paintings of dripping clocks. His most famous work, The Persistence of Memory, depicts his dripping clocks perfectly. Artist Phillippe Guillerm takes a similar approach to his spring instrument sculpture by removing the usual rigidity of the instruments.
According to Guillerm's website, "Guillerm began his professional life in Paris, France the city where he was born in 1959 and lived for twenty years... Guillerm's music-inspired sculptures are whimsical and curvaceous string instruments, he uses the theme as a way of expressing human nature and needs, you see an instrument, he sees an attitude."
These are some pretty inpresive pieces carved from various exotic and local wood such as Mahogany, aspen, Jacaranda, poplar, wengue, purple heart, and walnut.
Stone can be used to create small delicate sculptures and colosal pieces that tower over the Earth. Chris Booth is an artist that creates the latter.
Bukker Tillibul. 2002 Swinburne University of Technology, Lilydale, Victoria, Australia.
In an article written by John K. Grande at Sclupture.org, artist Chris Booth was "[b]orn in Kerikeri, New Zealand, in 1948, [and] has pursued sculpture associated with the land, earth forms, and indigenous peoples of the regions where he has worked. He received his initial education at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and then branched out to study with various sculptors in Europe..."
Booth creates using slab and boulder stone often combining the two to create beautiful sculptures on varying landscapes. Here are some samples of his work:
Untitled, 2010 - 2011. Rotoroa Island, Hauraki Gulf, NZ
Nikau. 1996 Botanic Gardens, Christchurch, New Zealand.
More images and information about his work can be found at his website.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 11:30AM 
