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!
For those of you in the Northeast, a bit of freakish warm weather had me setting out this weekend to parts north of Boston with trusty hound in tow looking for sun, surf and stuff. Here’s some lovely parts from a dollar bin in Newbury Port.
This Weeks Obtainium
As summer approaches, I’ll be spending more time at flea markets and yard sales so expect lots of interesting parts finding their way into work. BTW, started the piece below this morning. The blue wooden part is an old top from a bin of um.. old tops found in a salvage place up in New Hampshire.
tops
And, here’s a new piece all completed using lots of fitting from last weekends outing. It’s called “Block / Head”. I should have a video up soon!
Sometimes making art or science can be like driving over a cliff. Today started out beautifully, I decided to press on with another $149.00 challenge. I’m making good use of the brass fittings found last Sunday at the MIT Flea and having a jolly time tapping screws and other such mechanical fun. By the way, I have a lousy memory and keep notes on my wall, this one has to do with tapping screws:
Tight Like That
Tapping screws is a zen-like activity for me, I breath and take my time, the result so far is looking interesting.
Very Nice
At 4:00 I decided to warp things up by putting together an editing board combining two film winders and the very solid Moviscop from a few posts back. My plans were to spend the evening happily viewing some of the hand painted footage I’ve been generating.
So solid and german this is!
by 4:45 I was feeling happy having screwed all the parts to a solid piece of oak, everything ran well, just one problem; the image was offset in the viewer showing 1/2 of a frame instead of an entire frame. After experimenting with film placement and adjusting a few knobs I had not solved the problem so I grabbed my screwdriver and Three hours later I was sitting on the floor amid a mess of springs and screws. It’s all in a box, sigh… at the very least I now know how these things work.
I’m in a bit of a frenzy this week ( in a good way ). Still working on some $149.99 pieces and I’m extra excited as I turned up a huge pile of beautifully worn wooden handles and brass wheels at the MIT Flea Market on Sunday. I did not find a sync block so it will be on to Ebay for that piece of obtainium. The handles and wheels will be finding their way into more $149.99 challenge pieces, here’s “Yes Man” ( the previously blogged about “Mr. Brown”).
Yes Man
At the same time I’ve been bleaching some 35mm film trailers, here’s what remains of “The Uninvited” drying in my studio. Experiments continue on 16mm and 35mm and we’ll see what happens here in future posts!
While I wait for parts to come in for my new adventure ( see the previous post ) just to keep my chops in shape I’m building another of those $149.99 pieces. This one is tentatively titled “Mr. Brown”.
The secret part which I believe will be the key to success in my film machines is a sync block. Tuesday I ventured down to the film department at Massachusetts College of Art and Design where I teach animation and 2D design and found this piece of equipment. Should be very handy as the main drive mechanism for leading the film loop through the installation. MIT has a fantastic flea market this Sunday and I’m hoping to turn one up, if not, it’s on to Ebay for my search!
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?
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.
Many of you might not know it but I lead a double artist life as a kinetic sculptress and animator. Here’s one of my latest pieces “Lil” Basenji” which will be showing at the Boston ICA on May 3rd and 7th as part of the New England Animators yearly event. It should look cool on the big screen.
An interesting opportunity has fallen into my lap and for the next two to three weeks I’m hunkering down and creating an animated trailer for the Boston 25th LGBT film festival, then it will be back to the sculpture studio and dirty hands so never fear!
