David just released the video and photographs of his second new sculpture edition for 2012. It is the birth of a butterfly, not because David designed a butterfly, but because that is what viewers see now that it is a reality. People often "see" things represented in David's work.
Check out the YouTube video to see the motion of this mesmerizing kinetic sculpture.
In this design, David decided to make the mechanism very visible. He opened up the front and put all the parts right there for you to see. Those of you that have been studying David's work for years can really observe an escapement mechanism in action in this design.
Monarch Technical Details:
Limited Edition of 95 - Signed and numbered
Size: 34"H x 34"w x 7" d
Power source: Constant Force Spring
Approximate Runtime per winding: 7.5 hours
Monarch is on display in David's studio/gallery. Click here for more information on visiting the gallery by appointment.
He will be crafting the first group during June and they will be ready for shipping at the beginning of July. He is taking orders now. Click here for more information on ordering.
The combination of Rube Goldberg ingenuity, video, the Internet and sharing has continued to produce entertaining mechanisms. The following is one such kinetic creation from the design studio HeyHeyHey. It is a clever contraption that completes a task in the most inefficient method possible.
via Colossal
This video follows a much, much more elaborate contraption from the Melvin series, Melvin the Magical Mixed Media Machine.
This is how we whittle away time during our coffee breaks! Enjoy!
A fellow creator recently sent me this video of a fascinating escapement mechanism he has designed and constructed in wood. It incorporates oscillating gears and creates a wonderfully rhythmic sound.
This neat structure is created by Dolf Perenti. He has incorporated an adjustable pedulum in the design to allow for fine tuning of the mechanism.
My work is also based on creative applications of escapement mechanism design. This example is an excellent and clear demonstration of the parts of an escapement and good viewing for those people trying to understand the concept.
Thanks for sharing, Dolf!
Labyrinth was my most recent kinetic sculpture introduction and it was well received. That translates into a lot of work in the studio constructing the sculptures that were ordered. A working shop is visually an interesting place and I have started photographing some of the views I see on a regular basis. (Yes, I love the new and improved camera in the latest iPhone.) I have been creating a visual journal and decided to share some of the photos here.
Bearings by the bucketful....
Parts set for assembly into more complex parts.
Carrying brackets lined up for finishing.
Wheels drying after being finished.
Parts creating visual patterns.
More complex parts coming together and being stacked.
Multiple wheel assemblies being tested.
Building the winding mechanism.
Lots of tiny pieces get added along the way.
Power source (constant force spring) is added.
Base units getting assembled.
Interesting angle of parts waiting for assembly.
A line of bases on the wall with drive wheels added.
The first level of the patterning wheel is added.
That is a far in the process as my photography takes us. I am enjoying recording the process photographically. Often the compositions of the photographics are artistic unto themselves. But as you can see, there is still much work to be done before I can ship. Back to the studio!
One of the questions asked most frequently before purchasing one of David's kinetic sculptures is, "How tricky is it to install?". Here is a video of kinetic artist Andrew Smith installing one of his whimsical sculptures and it could cause you concern.
via Dug North
The installation of David's sculptures is nothing like the above experience. David has developed techniques for helping people install his sculptures easily. Several years ago we created a video showing David installing Crescent. While that sculpture is long gone, the technique shown is similar to all of his wall pieces. Much easier than the Andrew Smith piece!
According to Dug North, automata basically means "self-moving". That is interestesting because, using that definition, technically David's sculptures are automata. However, there seems to be a difference in contemporary sculpture between automata and kinetic sculpture. I found myself wondering if there is a distiction, and if so, where is the line drawn. Take a minute and watch this video which shows not only the incredible automata created by Dug North, but also his home and workshop in a renovated industrial space in Lowell, MA.
To me, automata has always brought to mind the hand-powered mechanical pieces, generally of definable subject matter, i.e. people, animals, things depicted in a scene. North's beautifully constructed work reflects that understanding. Doing a little research I found some information in the book, Directions in Kinetic Sculpture by Peter Selz (Univerity of California, Berkley, University Art Museum). He states that the action in automata is always repeated but kinetic sculpture incorporates motion that is not predetermined but, instead is random. Given that further elaboration, some of David's sculptures would fall on the automata side of the line and others on the kinetic sculpture side. Interesting. But as in all things art do the terms really matter? Is it art, or craft, or sculpture? What matters is, do you like it?
Imagine having a walk-in safe in your home? What fun!
I just have to share this with you here on David's blog. I expect you folks will appreciate the complexity and humor of this incredible machine.
Yesterday, I got drawn into the Automata Blog by Dug North yet again (visit if you never have - great stuff!) and he had a post about this entertaining machine by artist Rob Higgs. It is the most elaborate (and heavy) corkscrew you will ever encounter and the mechancial aspects are marvelous. OneofOne.org in the UK has created an interesting video of it in action including interviews with the artist (who lives in an old boat) here but there are also several quicker YouTube versions showng the machine in action as well.
David continues to make kinetic sculptures with the sole function of entertaining the viewer through motion with an appreciation of simplicity in mechanical design. This corkscrew is directly opposite David's work in that it is an over-complex machine to perform a specific task. And it does so admirably well.
Certainly makes me smile! Enjoy.
I’m often asked how long it takes to design a sculpture. My normal answer is that it varies, it can be days, months or even years. I think Labyrinth holds the record for length of time from conception to final execution.
I started working on it in 2007. The inspiration came from an animation I found online showing an interesting optical effect created when multiple parallel straight lines are rotated in opposite directions. (Unfortunately I can no longer find the animation.) I loved the dynamic patterns created and started a set of animation studies of my own. I wanted to see if I could extend the concept to wooden wheels. The practical constraints were different of course. Wood lines have to have a certain thickness and they need to be tied together with a hub and a bearing system. I played with dozens of different designs, drawing in Adobe Illustrator and animating in After Effects. I found that if I curved the lines and tied them together at the rim I could retain elements of the original concept but add a subtle shift in the dynamics. Of course it could be that I just prefer curves!
(working photo of prototype on test wall)
The wheel design turned out to be the easy part. Next I had to design a mechanism to move the wheels at the pace and in the directions I had developed in the animations. What is easy to do on the computer screen was a completely different challenge in the analog world! The wheel closest to the wall was the work horse. It had to rotate in both directions and occasionally give the front wheel a little nudge. It had to do all this while moving slowly so the patterns could evolve and flow at a pace that felt right to me.
The problem was the wheels were heavy and took a lot of energy to get moving and even more to stop and reverse direction. I thought I had a solution, two separate mechanisms that that would work together to power the sculpture. The mechanisms would work together with one side rotating the back wheel clockwise and the other side counter-clockwise. Each side would have its own drive spring so I would have ample energy to play with. I built the complete sculpture and it worked, sort of.
The patterning motion was as I had hoped but the sculpture was hard to set up and operate. It was also very inefficient. I was using two drive springs and only getting around 5 hours of run time. It was also difficult to keep it from stalling when I had the wheels moving slowly enough. I brought the sculpture down to the house and set it up on the “preview wall” in our dining room so we could live with it. It was there long enough that my daughter’s boyfriend (and now husband), Jared came up with the name. In the end I took it down and packed it away, it was too complex and unreliable. I felt a little bad because it was a great name chosen by the newest member of the family but the mechanism was a failure. (Naming sculptures is a family and friends challenge because I'm so bad at names!)
A few months ago I unpacked just the patterning wheels, spun them by hand and decided they were worth another effort. I have learned a lot about mechanism efficiency in the past 5 years and had some new ideas about how to handle the large wheels. The result, using a new mechanism design, was far different this time.
The sculpture produces exactly the motion I wanted, it’s easy to set up and operate and it runs for a bit over 12 hours on a single spring. The key is the 5 little wood balls you see marching up the string; actually not the balls but what they are covering, a short section of coil spring.
This spring absorbs the extra energy of the rotating back wheel when it comes to the end of its rotation in one direction and then feeds it back to the wheel but in the opposite direction. The rest of the 2 lever mechanism is also new but the use of this spring to aid in the change of direction was the breakthrough. Sometimes patience and frustration pays off!
The new Labyrinth operates for over 12 hours on a single spring wind. The mechanism is flexible and reliable enough that I could set exactly the pace I wanted. It’s also far easier to install and operate than the old version.
Link here to go to the website for additional ordering information on Labyrinth.
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!
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.
via
Some links of Interest:
• Peter Rand's Website • Peter Rand's YouTube Channel