Applied Kinetic Arts

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

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.

New project brewing. Porcupine quills!

Last weekend marked the first show at my new studio and adjoining gallery. Many thanks to all who were able to attend, and the artists involved. Below is a photo set of the exhibition, reception, and a few images from the studios of Jeremy Mayer and Nemo Gould (myself).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nemomatic/sets/72157628080026234/

Show coming up on Nov. 4th (First Friday) at new gallery space right next to West Oakland Bart! Come by if you can make it!

Please join us for the grand opening of the Lost & Foundry!

On Friday November 4th, 5-9 PM (Oakland’s first Friday) we will open our doors for our first exhibit and open house.  We are very excited to share our new space located a half block from West Oakland BART:  

305 Center Street, Oakland CA.

Come see machine inspired sculpture and painting by artists:

Nemo Gould – www.nemomatic.com

Eric Joyner – www.ericjoyner.com

Jeremy Mayer – www.jeremymayer.com

Benjamin Cowden – www.twentysevengears.com

Mark Galt 

The studios of Jeremy Mayer and Nemo Gould will also be open for viewing throughout the exhibit and through the following afternoon (Sat. Nov. 5, 1-5pm).  The show will be open by appointment through Nov. 12, 9AM – 5PM (415-894-5361)

Just learned that I was nominated as “Best Artist” in this year’s East Bay Express Best of the East Bay poll. My name is one letter off, which hopefully accounts for the late discovery (the issue came out July 20th). Anyway, thank you to my nominator, “Justeatit”!

Finally (!) finished a video of my cocktail-mixing machine, The Corpse Reviver!

Setting up work at Traver Gallery, Seattle. Space is beautiful, I wish I could be here for the reception.

The newest machine is coming along, only the coup de grace left to do!

Popular mechanics in Russia did an article about me! It’s great except I can’t read a word of it…

This is a part for a sculpture I am working on. It will be crank-operated with some fun bits at the ends of the pistons.

I had the pleasure this Friday of meeting up with many fine sculptors (all members of AKA) at Benjamin Cowden’s exhibition at Float Gallery in Oakland.

From left to right: Aaron Ristau, CTP, Jeremy Mayer, Benjamin Cowden, Nemo Gould (myself).

Met Tom on Monday, then Nemo and Jeremy Thursday, Benjamin and Christopher Friday… WOW what a week

Thanks fellas be back ASAP

Here is a peek at a new piece I will be showing at Float Gallery next week!

My latest piece, “Wayward Calliope”, debued at Maker Faire last weekend, where it could be heard making funny and sometimes eery noises in Expo Hall.

Make: Magazine covered the piece on their blog, where you can see a picture of Mark Frauenfelder and a video of my friend Kevin Curry cranking away: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/05/ben_cowdens_wayward_calliope.html

Here is a brief video of my new machine, not quite finished. It blows six slide whistles, each at different rates, using a combination of distinctly-sized sprockets. I plan to paint it this weekend and have it at Bay Area Maker Faire in a couple weeks (!).

My cocktail-mixing machine, The Corpse Reviver, made a couple appearances recently, first at Barbot 2010, then at a fundraiser party for the Neverwas Haul at the Shipyard.

For the record, the Corpse Reviver is a fully mechanical device that pours, mixes, and chills a cocktail. The cocktail it makes is also called a Corpse Reviver (#2, to be precise), whose ingredients are: equal parts Gin, Lillet, Lemon Juice, and Triple Sec, plus a dash of pastis if it is handy. It is seriously tasty, even when it is not made by a machine.

See what people had to say about the Corpse Reviver on Wired Blog’s coverage, or even at the Huffington Post (?!). Let me know if you would like to know where The Corpse Reviver will turn up next!

Photo Credit: Flickr/Unplug

What began as a simple how-to article about making gears has turned into a major project article for Make Magazine and at last is published in volume 21. The project is candleholder with three gears and parallel action arms which move the candles up and down at different rates. In many ways, it is similar to my first candleholder, but this one is made from aluminum plate and uses tea lights or small floating candles. The design and the variable gearing also make it a more playful device.

On the project page here, I have posted all the images from the construction process (many more than in the published article) as well as some additional charts and diagrams which can supplement the material in the article. Hopefully these materials can help out with some of the more tricky parts of the project. If you have any questions, want a CAD file, or would like to share photos of you project, send me an email!