We're All Ears :: Encapsulated Potential

I hope you found something intriguing about the graceful curving forms of Ruth Asawa's beautiful wire work. For me the challenge was trying to miniaturize these forms and to get the sense of the shape within the shape that her wire sculptures depicted.

I found this short video about the experience of seeing one of these forms on display and how we are meant to interact with these sculptures in a way that was different than what most had known about sculpture up to the mid-century when she was creating them. The brief video only shows one piece, but she intended for them to be shown together, like the picture above, where the shapes play off one another and the shadows they create are part of a sort of living exhibit. The biomorphic designs were built with very common materials - copper, brass, steel wire - that she elevated to something staggeringly beautiful. Asawa also believed that art should be accessible, which is why the permanent exhibition of her work is in a space that does not charge people to see them, and also that art is something that you do every single day. I love this sensibility and try to bring that to my own art projects.

So I started with the wire. I was using 16 gauge steel wire for the base and made a couple of contenders to replicate her shapes. I also pulled out some metal beads that I thought would work for the enveloped orbs that are common to her work. I think that I would go back and try to do this with other metal colors, as that is the only color in her work.

Now I don't know how to crochet with wire, but that would be something. Ruth learned these techniques in Mexico when she worked with local craftspeople who made baskets like this, but she came back and transformed the craft into art. Can you imagine some crochet orb earrings like this? I think that would be incredibly dramatic! What I decided to do was cage a bead with simple wire wrapping. I found these fluted beads that worked well because the grooves could be used to trap the bead in the wiring, giving it a sense of floating inside the shape. I like a little bit of movement, and just a hint of bling to catch the light, so I added some smalller fluted beads and just a little Swarovski crystal that helped to reinforce the cascading, morphing shapes.

There is a lot of mystery with Ruth Asawa's art. I can't fathom how she did all of these, especially getting those bubbles suspended within. So I called these "Mystery Within" as her art hints at seed pods and all the encapsulated potential.

I am curious to see how this art influenced your design.

We're All Ears :: December Inspiration

'All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream." ~Edgar Allen Poe
 
Last month was a whole lot of fun to see how you translated an animated short into an array of beautiful earrings. I hope you don't mind that I am inclined to bring in another little short film to inspire you!

I stumbled on this amazing art installation and just knew that it had to be our inspiration. This type of art is called anamorphic, a form of perspective. Anamorphic art uses a "distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute the image. The word "anamorphosis" is derived from the Greek prefix ana-, meaning back or again, and the word morphe, meaning shape or form" (source:Wikipedia). Each anamorphic image is special and distinct and has it's own way to be looked at. You need to look and be surprised by the distortion of your expectations.

Breaking Wave is an anamorphic kinetic sculpture created for Biogen-Idec's new headquarters in Cambridge, MA. The sculpture was created by Plebian Design and Hypersonic.

Breaking Wave tells the story of the search for patterns, and the surprising results that come by changing our point of view. 804 suspended spheres move in a wave-like formation. When the wave crests and breaks, the balls hover momentarily in a cloud.

From almost anywhere in the room, this cloud is purely chaotic, but step into one of two hidden spots, and this apparent chaos shows a hidden pattern.

From the first, a labyrinth hints at the search for knowledge, and from the second, a Fibonacci spiral inspired flower reminds us of the natural order and patterns found in nature.

Above the sculpture lies the mechanism that drives its motion. A motor drives a large rotating stainless steel cam. Thirty-six rollers follow the contour of the cam, which traces out the overall waveform. Each roller slides on a linear track, pulling a cable that spins one of the 36 output shafts. Distributed along each shaft are different sized drums from which the wooden sphere (coated in zinc and steel, and then rusted chemically) are hung. As the shafts rotate, the drums pull the balls up and down – larger drums pull balls higher. In this way, the size of the 804 drums mechanically programs the images hidden in the cloud of balls. The piece was built with many hands, and several miles of wire rope (source: Hypersonic).

Breaking Wave from PLEBIAN DESIGN on Vimeo.

Watch the short video if you can (make it full screen by clicking the little X shape in the bottom right corner for maximum impact!). I love seeing the undulating waves that these little wooden spheres create. And even more fascinating to me is watching the gears and cogs of the mechanism that makes the sculpture come to life.

Earrings are, by their very nature, little kinetic sculptures. They move and dangle and can be different when viewed from alternate angles. More than any other jewelry, earrings are easy to play with motion and patterns and illusion. Keeping color to a minimum, will help you emphasize the structure and the movement.
I hope you will explore this with your earrings this month!

What inspires you about this the motion in this sculpture?

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Friday, December 19th.

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