Applied Kinetic Arts

One way to make a living as a professional artist is to apply for things such as grants, residencies and public commissions. This can be a very competitive and daunting process as you might imagine. There are, after all, seven billion people on the planet guaranteeing an overwhelming number of artists all vying for these opportunities.

Here are a few things that I have learned from the perpetual application process I have been engaged in for the last year:

1. You will be rejected far more times than you will be accepted. This should be obvious.

2. The longer the rejection letter the further you made it in their selection process. I have seen enough of these now to tell the difference between an obligatory blow-off statement from a committee that doesn’t care and one that was written with regret over having to cut you loose.  (See below for my latest rej letter. The writer seemed  sincere about my not making the final cut and encouraged me to apply for future opportunities at his organization.)

3. There are an infinite number of reasons (other that the content & quality of your proposal) why you will be rejected. These may or may not include political squabbling on the part of the selection committee,  demographic issues, or any other reason you can’t think of.

The bottom line is that in order to participate in this kind of opportunity mining  you just need to keep applying with a bulletproof attitude. Its a numbers game; The more times you apply, the more you increase you overall chances of getting something.

Good luck and

-Stay Tuned

Rejection letter from Eyebeam:

“Hello, 

New parts, fresh from the waterjet shop! I’m excited for this new batch of work. For reference, the large ring gear is about two feet across.

The OscylinderScope is an interactive sculpture by Norman Tuck that explores the nature of sound in a visual way. The OscylinderScope uses a moving black and white striped background to show the behavior of vibrating strings.

How the OscylinderScope works:

Spin the black and white cylinder and pluck the guitar strings. When you look at the strings, the wavy lines that you see show you how the strings behave when they vibrate to produce sound. Both the tension and the length of a string effect the frequency of vibration (pitch of the sound). Shorter or tighter strings vibrate faster to make higher tones. Longer or looser strings vibrate slower to make lower tones.

There are over a dozen OscylinderScopes around the world. The one shown here is located at San Francisco’s Exploratorium.

Read more about the OscylinderScopes and where you can find one on Norman Tuck’s web site. Also check out many other amazing kinetic sculptures by Norman Tuck.

Here is another toy in Engino’s series of toys that teach mechanical principles. These are the folks that created the set on cams and cranks. The Engino toy system is a construction toy made up of of multi-faceted rods and connectors that can be connected on up to 6 sides at the same time. The design allows dense or open construction methods, simple or complex models, and the need for a smaller number of different components than other three dimensional building systems. Linkages seem like an idea application.

From the toy description:

Engino Mechanical Science: Linkages. This Engino set introduces young engineers and physicists the concept of linking levers to connect to moving parts for complex motion. Build 6 working models including a mechanical, extendable arm, a lifting platform, a pantograph, a folding ladder, a parallel weighing scale and a moving toy. A 40 page activity book is included with innovative experiments and detailed explanations of various technical and scientific principles and how they are applied.

Here is where you can get the linkages experiment set.

The mornings haul. I’m feeling fortunate to have had yet another visit from the broken violin fairy. The Zither is pretty cool too.

Motorcycle disc brake assembly + electric drill handle = geriatric robot.

Check out this 10 minute segment of a longer piece by Ralph Steiner featuring classic mechanical movements. I haven’t cross-referenced them yet, but most can be found in the book 507 Mechanical Movements as well as the larger, but similar 1800 Mechanical Movements, Devices and Appliances.

Some interesting movements shown in the film include:
 • Counter mechanism
 • Gears engage on diagonals
 • Square gears
 • Variable speed transfer
 • Rotary to linear action with a 4 tooth cog

[ Thanks Gary! ]

This piece is in the show “The Art of Communication – 100 Artist Show” at the Mary Lou Zeek Gallery in Salem, OR. The auction starts February 2nd and ends March 2nd. Here is your chance to own a piece of my work at a very special price. Info here.

Another artist and I exchanged quotations. My piece was based on the quote for Kahlil Gibran “When I wrote on my door: “Leave your traditions outside, Before you come in,” Not a soul dared to visit me or open my door.”

At first I wanted to do something other than the obvious – but after weeks of thinking about it, I thought it wouldn’t make sense not to do a man that opens his door.

All the pieces in the show had to be less than 12″ x12″, so I started building the door and the window to fit into that space. I brushed the wood for the door with a wire brush to bring out the texture of the wood. I also designed everything to be a little wacky – slightly skewed, out of plumb. Only the top part of the door opens – I wanted to hide the mechanisms behind the behind the bottom part.

The head, sculpted from polymer clay. I did look at a couple of pictures of Mr. Gibran, but I was not going for an exact likeness.

The wall and the window. I created a stucco texture using drywall mud mixed with paint. I love this look, I might have to do it again.

My paint finish – I love how this came out too.

The finished piece – 12″ x 12″ x 4 1/2″

Detail of the door.

As the door opens, he leans over to check outside.

A closer shot.

The movie…

Behind the scenes……

This is piece is a real step forward in my progression as an artist, and make be a sign of things to come……

This is a “tree” made from an industrial dough mixing blade and several motorcycle parts. The little tabs with holes are for mounting a little creature which will “climb” the tree.

If you happen to be in Cambridge, Massachusetts, you will want to stop by the MIT Museum which features an exhibit of Arthur Ganson’s kinetic sculptures.

If you are unfamiliar with Ganson’s work, he uses the elements of machines, found, and fabricated objects to create though-provoking interactive kinetic sculptures. The sculpture shown here, Cory’s Yellow Chair, depicts random yellow pieces floating in space. The pieces suddenly assemble into a small yellow chair for an instant before exploding apart once again. I could watch this for hours.

From the MIT Museum web site:

His sculptures explore the nature of oiled surfaces, object manipulation and slow explosions, and are created from a range of materials that he fabricates or finds.

Here is where you can learn more about Arthur Ganson and the exhibit of his work at the MIT Museum.

For the next few projects I’m scaling things down a notch, working with lighter materials and smaller sizes. “Three”  is the first of these “sketch” pieces and features a lucky accident with a Maltese cross Geneva. After scrapping several designs for the driver, I came across a ribbon feed from an old manual typewriter. The fit, even down to the width of the driving pin was miraculous. Sometimes, you just luck out. Perhaps this will make up for the millionth time I’ve lost a tiny part between the cracks in my floor

My friend and collaborator Max Chen Built these quirky and awesome custom bikes for the upcoming ODC Dance Company’s – Dance Downtown production this March.

Max is known for embedding his dark sense of humor into his work. I am looking forward to seeing how that will come through in this show.

Read the article in the SF Gate about the bikes and the show!

-Stay Tuned

The finished “pancake bird cage”. I’ll need four of these for my upcoming piece.

Here’s the latest bird-themed automaton from artist Bliss Kolb. Pictures for now, but video is on the way, so stay tuned.

From the artist:

The bird has six movements and sings a simple bird song. Still to do: the branch will be covered with paper mache and filled out with leaves. The bird, branch, base, and handle will be painted.

See more sculpture by Bliss Kolb on his web site.

This welding clamp is one of the most useful things I’ve ever made. It’s like a shop assistant that I don’t have to pay!

Two new static figures, “Bad Ideas” and “Claude”, are finished. These pieces, as well as “King of the Known World” and “Queen of the Silent Night” are currently available through Groundwork. Their shop is located on the 2nd floor of ABC Carpet & Home in New York City.

Bad Ideas started as a simple drawing in my sketchbook, but also came about from my continued fascination with collections. In my studio, I have many small collections of things – it’s a way for me to keep all my found objects organized. But sometimes these collections become the springboard for an idea. In this case, a small jar of burned-out light bulbs becomes…….bad ideas.

I placed her on a small vintage tin.

I wanted to show the back of this one – something I’ve never done before with a static piece.

Her lovely face, sculpted from polymer clay.

Her body, ready to be put together.

“Claude”- the title is sort of a play on words.

I decided to dress him as an innocent young man to contrast with the seemingly menacing steel “arm”.

A detail shot of his claw, which has 2 moveable joints.

His head shot.

Pre-assembly.

The apparatus on the bottom was his original arm until I realized it was WAY too big. This may show up on some future figure……

Until next time……………….

Last summer SFMOMA  sent an open call out to Bay Area game designers, experience designers and conceptual artists.  They asked for inventive but low-cost ideas for games SFMOMA’s visitors can play in the galleries and other public spaces of the museum.  They received, in the words of exhibition curator Erica Gangsei, “about 50 proposals from community members from a multitude of disciplines and with wide-ranging levels of experience. The proposals varied from the highly-technological to the determinedly-analog, from the absolutely-feasible to the absurdly-farfetched.”

My friend and collaborator Sudhu Twari and I proposed a game involving common words used in art discourse. We chose 12 words and assigned a bodily motion to each of them. Like in bingo, players can check off a box each time they see, hear or think of one of these words (and make the motion) while looking at the work in the museum. They can also check boxes if they see someone else make these movements.

Meredith Scheff did the illustration work.

Our proposal was chosen along with four others and will be on display in the Koret Visitor Education Center from Jan – Aug 2012.

-Stay Tuned

This video was featured today on Io9, one of my favorite blogs.

A few other videos of  similar events have been floating around the internet for a few months now. I saw the one shot in Canada first; It was posted by a friend and fellow conspiracy enthusiast. Apparently, others have been shot in New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Costa Rica and The U.S. mainland.

As an artist who uses sound as a conveyor of meaning, these videos are tantalizing to watch and think about. Are they:

* Natural phenomenon?

* Military tests?

* The sound made by the vacuum of space penetrating our ever thinning atmosphere?

* Extra terrestrial communication a’ la Close Encounters of the Third Kind?

This last one has my vote, even if it is the farthest fetched. I love the idea of sound as a universal language.

Got a better theory? Let me know!

-Stay Tuned

This clock is astounding on many levels: complexity, beauty, and craftsmanship. What is perhaps even more astonishing is that it is only 25% complete! About 2000 of the expected 8000 parts have been assembled. The finished product will be truly incredible.

From the Youtube description:

What you see is about 25% of the completed clock movement in terms of parts count, about 2000 of a total of 8000 parts. This project has been in construction for about 1.5 years and has another 2 to go. Much of the most difficult subassemblies are done as the going train contained a large amount of novel mechanical concepts: dual remontoire mediated by differential, dual escape wheels, compound fly fans, compound going barrels.

[ Thanks New Gottland! ]

Here is a short documentary on the making of the amazing wooden village automaton created by Jozef Pekara from Rajecke Teplice, Slovakia. This giant woodcarving was created by Jozef Pekara over the span of 18 years. This huge, village scene uses 150 animal and 170 human figures to depict the history and traditions of Slovakia.

[ Thanks Les! ]

One of my older (2005) insect pieces was included in a pretty cool survey of wasp themed sculptures over at Environmental Graffiti today:

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/art/news-10-amazing-recycled-steampunk-wasps

We start 2012 with something a bit different; a collaboration with Multi Talented Boston artist Josh Wisdumb. His work includes paintings, drawings, sneakers, tattoos, sculpture, video, musical instruments and hell, just go to his site and take a look.

Polynomial was created by working together on a sketch and outlining pieces which I cut from aluminum sheet. The pieces were synced using bead chain and sprockets, balanced then delivered to Josh’s studio where he responded to the forms as seen in the video below.

If you’ve spent any time reading The Automata / Automaton Blog, you know that an element of humor is common to many automata, especially the contemporary ones. This fact wasn’t lost on the creators of the book Humor in Craft. They have included the work of at least one automata artist, namely Jim Kransberger. One of his pieces is shown on the cover (the red-headed potter). Three others will be found within the book which can be ordered now, though it is due out in March of 2012.

From the book description:

What happens when professional craft artists are allowed to let loose – when they get to explore their mischievous and irreverent sides? Find out in this groundbreaking book, which, for the very first time, reveals an entirely different side of “serious” craft. Hundreds of images and essays from all over the world allow you to gain insight into the creative minds of contemporary artists like never before. A variety of traditional craft media are shown, such as furniture, ceramics, glass, fiber, jewelry, and metal, as well as a number of unique, nontraditional techniques.

Here is where you can get the book Humor in Craft.

Oh boy! Just got a box full of horrible taxidermy eyes in the mail! Think of all the nightmares I can make with these.

Last summer SFMOMA  sent an open call out to Bay Area game designers, experience designers and conceptual artists.  They asked for inventive but low-cost ideas for games SFMOMA’s visitors can play in the galleries and other public spaces of the museum.  They received, in the words of exhibition curator Erica Gangsei, “about 50 proposals from community members from a multitude of disciplines and with wide-ranging levels of experience. The proposals varied from the highly-technological to the determinedly-analog, from the absolutely-feasible to the absurdly-farfetched.”

My friend and collaborator Sudhu Twari and I proposed a game involving common words used in art discourse. We chose 12 words and assigned a bodily motion to each of them. Like in bingo, players can check off a box each time they see, hear or think of one of these words (and make the motion) while looking at the work in the museum. They can also check boxes if they see someone else make these movements.

Our proposal was chosen along with 4 others and will be on display in the Koret Visitor Education Center from Jan – Aug 2012. Please stop in and check it out the next time you are visiting SFMOMA.

Special thanks to Meredith Scheff for the awesome illustrations.

-Stay Tuned

Motorcycle disc brake caliper assembly on its way to becoming a monkey-monster-thing.

In case you’ve missed it, here is a video of a REAL Rube Goldberg machine designed to turn the page of a newspaper. The creator, Joseph Herscher, must have really studied Goldberg’s drawings because the ridiculous contraption incorporates, falling balls, flames, a tipped vase, strings, a flyswatter, a live hamster, and a dozen other household items. It’s very authentic, if I can use that term here.

Learn more about Joseph Herscher on his web site.

[ Thanks to Aaron Kramer! Also found on Spiel und Kunst mit Mechanik ]

The Basement Gallery in Oakland has offered me my first solo show this coming July.

I am going to make some upgrades to this piece and maybe even collaborate with a composer and use a specific tuning system.

I am also thinking about the shape a performance might take.

Details:

Basement Gallery

1027 3rd Street, Oakland 94607

July-August 2012

-Stay Tuned

I had some fun in the studio over the holiday break.
Come see my latest sculptures and several more incredible artists this Friday night at the new Opiate galley in Old Town Fort Collins Colorado.
But for those of you who can not…

Making a flat birdcage for a new piece. I started with bent bailing wire and a diagram drawn on the table. Add 16 spring clamps and blocks, and things are starting to look like a wire ferris wheel.

This tiny mechanical marvel is brought to us by Michael Start from The House of Automata. The tiny ship not only moves, but at one time also played a tune — probably rising and falling notes coordinated with the ship’s movement. The mechanism, dating to around 1830, would have been mounted in a case with a piece of paper or cloth serving as the rolling sea.

See more incredible antique automata at The House of Automata web site.

This is the second time Wired Magazine has printed this photo (this time in their UK version) without bothering to credit me or my sculpture. The image is used to support an article about Andy Rubin (he’s the one wearing pants), the man behind the Android operating system. Is it too much to ask that Art be considered as intellectual property, or at least valued in some way like every other business? I mean, come on, they’re printing a picture of a giant, anatomically correct, gun toting robot. Why bother even staging such a photo if it’s image isn’t compelling enough to warrant some kind of interest from their readers? Why not do the honorable thing and at least mention the guy who spent countless hours and dollars creating the thing? How hard is it to print a tiny little image credit?

O.K. done ranting now.

New project brewing. Porcupine quills!

Just in time for the end of the year is a new piece “Si C C señor!”. I enjoyed working in the horizontal format although navigating around my small studio with this was a bit of a challenge. Check out the release mechanism at minute 00:16 .

Charles Penniman with the Maillardet drawing Automaton – © 2009 Dug North

The New York Times has published a wonderful article on the writing and drawing automaton that resides at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Like so many of us, The Times has been inspired by the new movie Hugo, which features an automaton as a central part of the story. The automaton, in turn, was the original inspiration for the one in the movie. I was lucky enough to visit the museum and see the automaton first hand in the summer of 2009. Here is my blog post about seeing the Maillardet automaton in person.

Created around 1800 by Henri Maillardet, the clockwork automaton depicts a young boy. It is capable of rendering four drawings and writing three poems in a beautiful flowing script.

The Times article highlights some of the key players who were instrumental in bringing the machine back to life in recent years. Of particular note is Charles Penniman, who has studied and cared for the automaton for a long time. Author Brian Selznick, creator of the Hugo story, was also important in reviving interest in the machine and bringing in the mechanical genius of Andrew Baron back in 2007. Baron was able to restore the automaton, which had fallen out of working order over time. We owe a lot to these people and the others behind-the-scenes who have preserved this incredible machine.

Though it is not set into motion often, the automaton is on display at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. It remains a mechanical masterpieces and historical treasure.

Here is a link to the New York Times article on Maillardet’s drawing automaton at the Franklin Institute.

Here’s a fun little toy. When you push the button the little mechanical drummer figure drums in time to music programmed into the toy. Customers on Amazon seem to love it!

Here is a where you can get the mechanical Tiki Drummer toy

Finally finished replacing the motor bearings and belts in my lathe. What a job, it was like cracking a Swiss safe! Big thanks to the human Wendell, and to a lesser extent the cat Ingot. I couldn’t have done it without you guys.

The Rocca Borromeo of Angera is located on the south side of the Alps.
Among many other historical treasures, some rooms of the castle house the Doll and Children’s Clothes Museum. A large section is dedicated to mechanical automata dating from the nineteenth century. All of the automata are fully functioning!

From the Rocca Borromeo tourism web site:

The Doll Museum is, to this day, one of the most important exhibition areas in Europe dedicated to dolls. As well as the prestigious items already exhibited, in June 2002 a new section was opened, dedicated to French and German automatons dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. The exhibits, which are true mechanical wonders and date from between 1870 and 1920, come from the Petit Musée du Costume in Tours, France and once formed part of the famous collection belonging to Robert and Gisèle Pesché.

Here is where you can learn more about the automata collection at the Rocca Borromeo.

[ Thanks to the Crandall family! ]

One of the reasons I like living in a city so much is because you never know when you might turn a corner and see something like this.

The Victorian Model Workshop designs and builds original mechanical figures, automata, and animated displays for private collectors and commercial customers. Take a look at the video to see some of their marvelous creations.

Here’s more information about The Victorian Model Workshop.

[ Thanks Karin! ]

The dates for KINETICA ART FAIR 2012 have been announced and tickets have already gone on sale. The fair, produced by Kinetica Museum, joins galleries, art organizations and other groups from around the world who focus on kinetic, electronic, robotic, sound, light, time-based and multi-disciplinary new media art, science and technology.

From the Kinetica Museum web site:

The fair provides an international platform for museums, collectors, curators and the public to view and buy artworks in this thriving and advancing field. Alongside the fair Kinetica curate a themed feature exhibition, screenings, tours, talks, workshops and performances.

Here are some amazing photographs from the 2011 Kinetica Art Fair.

Event: KINETICA ART FAIR 2012
Dates: February 9th – 12th, 2012
Location: Ambika P3 Marylebone Rd, London, NW1 5L
Web site: http://www.kinetica-artfair.com/

I sort of experimented with shooting this piece. I wanted to see what I could do with lighting, motion and editing. The piece – being a non-kinetic work – doesn’t really seem a good prospect for a movie, but I wanted to see what I could do with it. I may have to try this again with future static figures.

“Harvest” 2011 by Tom Haney from Tom Haney on Vimeo.

My latest installment of Dug’s Automata Tips, Techniques and Tricks has been published. While past articles have focused on construction methods such as how to make wooden circles or how to make a wooden head, this one takes a look at the power rotary tool, or “Dremel” as we often call it. I offer a number of tips ranging from safety to how to work with materials such as wood, metal, and glass. I also share tricks on getting the most from common accessories. There is a link to a chart that specifies which rotary tool bits work best at which speeds. There is also a link to an interactive bit-finder which helps you select the best tool for the job. I hope you enjoy the article!

Here is a link to Dug North’s article on 21 rotary tool tips and tricks for makers of all sorts. Here is where you can find previous installments of Dug’s Automata Tips, Techniques and Tricks.

Penguin II

Typewriter parts

Jeremy Mayer 

I hope you enjoyed the preview of The Rocket Stop audio system. The harsh marine environment and rain has taken it’s tool over the past year, but the upgrades went realyl well, and the Stop is looking much better now. The new audio system is working (as of now), but is not quite as loud as I’d like it to be. Here are some quick photos and video I shot while doing the upgrades:

I made these because I got sick of the damage I was incurring to my hearing from using my headphones as protection in the shop.

Check out the process

-Stay Tuned

RGR will be on display at its Pier 14 location on the S.F. Embarcadero for one more year.

Last weekend we repaired, retouched, and repainted.

-Stay Tuned

Take a look at this amazing large-scale kinetic sculptures by Ben Trautman.

From the artist’s web site:

My work combines the languages of industrial architecture and organic forms using intuitive engineering and experimentation. Inspired by cities, bones, mechanics and the movement of living organisms, I build sculptures suggesting creatures that inhabit the crevices of industrial decay. I work with dual languages, mass and delicacy or solidity and agility. Architecture inspires and hosts my work, provides context and scale, mass to inhabit or solidity to erode.

With a studio located in Oakland, California, he has made mechanical sculptures for The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and The Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito, California.

See more kinetic sculptures by Ben Trautman on his web site.

YouTube user GrigorevViktor posted this video of a moving picture depicting a man in a mechanical flying contraption — something like one Leonardo Da Vinci might have designed. I love the floating motion of the man, the subtle shifts in his posture, and the use of moving background elements.