Saturday, April 3, 2010

Mechanical Beauty

I got into light metals when making masks. The masks I made at the time were paper mache, and I spent an inordinate amount of time on the surface. I used modeling paste with the paper to build them, acrylic gel stuff to seal the back, but left the surface natural (For most of them. Some of the older ones were painted. Most all of the masks are gone.) To get a smooth surface, I had to sand and repair with added modeling paste and sand and repair over and over again. The pay off for all that effort wasn't much. But it got me thinking, that I really had to change mediums. (lol.) So I took a light metals class.

That light metals class was a blast. I loved the metal. During that time I wanted to do some metal mechanical masks. And with one I wanted to make a figure... That mask has stayed in my brain. Perhaps it's better there. It lead me to learn figurative sculpture, to the east coast, and now onto jewelry somehow. Several clips I've seen recently have reminded me of the intriguing beauty of mechanical creations. The first clip is an incredible one of Theo Jansen's Sandbeests.


And this next clip if a fun one of a simple mechanical brooch. It doesn't say where this is from, so sorry, I can't credit it.

6 comments:

Almost Precious said...

Your masks sound like they had been an incredible amount of work and time...which is fine if you're just doing them for your own enjoyment or if you're a big name artist that can commandeer a hundred grand or more for a piece. Would be nice wouldn't it? :)

The video clip of Theo Jansens Strandbeests mechanical arts was amazing. Some were so fluid they reminded me of creatures swimming in the sea...all of them were truly awesome.

Michelle H. said...

I never say anything like the video before! Those were totally awesome! I take it they work on wind power. I could never imagine trying something like that. The time it must take... and the amount of patience a person would need.

Suldog said...

Truly fascinating stuff. I could no more imagine creating something like that than I could sprouting wings and flying. Genius.

Almost Precious said...

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Unknown said...

I have to be honest, the sandbeasts kind of freaked me out lol. AMAZING craftsmanship however. What time & effort goes into something like that pales in comparison to the patience of completing it I'm sure! the brooch was so cute. Do you have pictures of your masks? Haven't you posted some before? Sounds familiar...

GalleryJuana said...

I can see how your mind can work this way. The methods remind me of how your work starts out with a vision and goes to a cast then becomes the actual piece.