I just finished this piece, it’s titled “Up Draft”. After fooling around with several “flapping” mechanisms I settled on this configuration. Here’s a quick test before I put everything in place:
There was a bit of adjusting and fitting before everything came together. One neat feature, there’s a bit of spring action on the arm coming from the center post. This was intended to solve a problem where there was a bit too much push and pull. The result adds some nice additional movement.
I just put the finishing touches on my latest piece ” Hello Saul” and shot some rough video for your viewing enjoyment. I recently picked up a book “Saul Steinberg at the New Yorker “. He’s one of my favorite artists of all time and I’ve been enjoying this collection of work. This image has become stuck in my head.
Starting September on a good track with a nice tight little ratchet piece. Each revolution of the crank indexes the ratchet 1/5 of a turn. On each turn of the small ratchet the large ratchet indexes 1/12 of a turn. Here’s some shots:
The small ratchet from a sewing machine bobbin
I’m still getting used to the new space and trying to figure out the best way to photograph work as it’s developed. One of the best things about the new studio, it’s at home and I’m able to have long conversations with Frida and Buttercup, a SATO dog and Siamese cat.
Summer has been whizzing by, mostly devoted to some interesting animation and interactive freelance work and moving my studio. As mentioned in earlier posts my goal was to trim things down for my current work which is much smaller and compact.
moving day
I’ve been getting rid of stuff for months and as a result the move went very smoothly. The new space is wonderful, it’s located under my “office” in my live work loft. The office section on top is where I do animation and design work, below is the new home for Mechanical Confections. I love the way everything creative fits into this roughly 240 square foot two level space. Thankfully I’m only 5′6″ tall and the ceilings here are almost 14 feet high!
The work cube
I apologize in advance for a gargantuan lack of posts this late spring and summer. I’ve been busy cranking out animation and interactive design for a number of clients and relocating my studio to a smaller but sunny spot.
In the meantime I’m part of an exciting group show at The Schoolhouse Gallery in lovely Provincetown featuring work by Morgan Cohen, Eunju Kang, MP Landis, Paul Stopforth, Michelle Weinberg and Consuelo Isaacson. The show runs from Friday July 10 through Wednesday July 29 with an opening reception on July 10 7 - 10 P.
For those of you unable to see the show I will have video footage from the opening and photos after this exciting event takes place.
This piece is based on an interesting intermittent mechanism from Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements by Henry Brown, still one of my favorite books when looking for an interesting mechanism.
number 88
I often think of this process as a painter would when selecting a palette of colors, the mechanism is a starting point and extends the range of possibilities. Here’s a video:
The work is becoming smaller. I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about scale, part of this is practical; I’ve often noticed that when an artist is financially successful, often her work will become much larger. It comes from being able to rent out larger work space. In my case, I’m going in the opposite direction, planning in the fall to move to a smaller ( but very nice ) space, about 1/2 the size of my current one ( and 1/2 the cost ) I’ll be creating smaller work. Rather than seeing this as a liability, I’m excited about some of the possibilities!
The Reach
I’ve been brewing an interesting idea in my head over the past few weeks. This is an experiment and I’m going a bit out on a limb by trying to determine where it might go but here’s what’s on my mind.
I’ve been thinking of ways to combine my animation and kinetic sculpture interests. Reading up one of my favorite artists; animator and kinetic sculptor Len Lye, an idea popped into my head. Before I go on for those unfamiliar with Len Lye’s work, here’s a favorite:
And here’s a link to examples of his kinetic sculpture work, so wonderfully playful, fluid, inventive and inspiring! My favorite is the Ribbon Snake.
Over the weekend I cobbled together a portable device for drawing and painting on 16mm film. The whole thing folds up and I’m looking forward to taking this with me wherever I’d like, a portable animation studio.
My film device unfolded
folded up and ready to travel
Little Drawings, tiny!
Sometime while thinking about Len Lye and hand painted film I thought, perhaps I can create machines which create an immediate experience of sound layered over hand painted film which plays when a crank is turned?
The next item in this show and tell is a wonderful Moviscop viewer purchased on ebay from a gentleman in Colorado. He mentioned that it had been part of a TV studio. It’s lovely, very solid and made in Germany.
So solid!
I’m imagining a machine which plays direct animation, the film runs in a big loop through sprockets and pulleys generating the sounds for the film, wouldn’t that be cool? My next task is to dig up some 16mm film sprockets to run the film through the machine and into the viewer. Anyone have an old projector they’d like to donate?
Simple drawing on screen
The trailer for the Boston LGBT Film Festival is a wrap and was a nice change of pace for a few weeks. Now that the studio is organized I’m looking forward to some fresh new sculpture work starting next Monday. In the mean time, enjoy the trailer! I collaborated on this project with a super talented director, Peter Pizzi. When you have a chance check out his site; Magic Club Productions.
I’m 99% done with the trailer for the Boston LGBT film festival ( will be available for viewing next post ) so it’s back into the shop for a new round of sculpture work. Yesterday I decided to dive in and purge myself of items I no longer use in my work.
Many years ago, my work was primarily hanging lamps made out of found objects. Up until the late 90s I was creating these for commercial and residential installations. My top materials at the time were much larger in scale, toasters, hub caps, car parts, lots of chrome!
After five hours work, I had cleared away several shelves of space and assembled a nice pile out in the hallway. Being in a building with many resourceful artists means that much of this obtainium will find it’s way into other peoples work. It feels good to start off with a somewhat clean slate and space for more work and materials!
BTW. After giving this post a title I realized that I did not throw out any springs, I still fine them very useful!
I’m almost done wrapping up the trailer for The Boston LGBT Film Festival which means I should be heading back to the sculpture studio later this week. While animating I’ve been building up a huge list in my noggin regarding things I’m planning to build so new Mechanical Confections should be a-popping here very soon!
In the meantime I have the pleasure of announcing “My Artist Statement” a piece I created for a show at the Fuller Craft Museum last year has been selected to be part of their permanent collection. I’m very honored to be in this wonderful museum. Part of the fun was being interviewed by Exhibitions Manager Jessie Schlosser about the piece. The recorded interview gets stored with the piece so people, many many years from now can understand why it was made and have a little information about the artist.
I created this piece as my Artist Statement for the show, it vends artist statements which I gathered by Googling “Artist Statement” and then printing these out and laminating to blocks which are dispensed when the lever is pulled.
