Photo tour of the eccentric laboratory of automaton artist Thomas Kuntz

Check out this amazing photo tour of the studio of automaton-maker Thomas Kuntz. In the photos, we see his fantastic sculptures, extensive collection of horological machine tools, and various macabre collections.

From the article summary:

Each Automata is made in editions of 3 or 4 at most. They breathe,drink, smoke and move- all through clockwork that Thomas creates himself. Every piece from start to finish comes from his wonderfully dark and twisty mind.

The complete article can be found the LA Weekly under the title "The Strange Automata Laboratory of Thomas Kuntz @ ARTOMIC Studios".

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Book: The Art of Tinkering from the Exploratorium's Tinkering Studio

The folks from the wonderful Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium in San Fransisco have come out with this book. It looks great!

From the book description:

The Art of Tinkering is an unprecedented celebration of what it means to tinker: to take things apart, explore tools and materials, and build wondrous, wild art that’s part science and part technology. Join 150+ makers as they share the stories behind their beautiful and bold work—and use the special conductive ink on the cover to do some tinkering yourself!

In the book, they have profiles of important makers (any of my heroes, in fact) as well as inspirational information on how to start tinkering yourself.

Here here you can get The Art of Tinkering.

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Machine Muse: Kinetic sculpture exhibition in Santa Monica, California

Kinetic sculptor Jim Jenkins wrote to share the announcement of an exhibition that opened on November 16th. The exhibition was co-curated by Dave Quick and Jenkins, who together co-authored a national survey of kinetic sculpture in the 1980s entitled Motion Motion Kinetic Art (Peregrine Smith Books, 1989). The show is located in Santa Monica, California and will be open until January 5th.

What:
MACHINE MUSE exhibition

Where:
Lois Lambert Gallery
Bergamot Station
2525 Michican Ave. E - 3
Santa Monica, CA 90404

When:
November 16th, 2013 to January 5, 2014

For more information visit www.loislambertgallery.com.

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A trio of zipper-mouthed film canister creatures by Nemo Gould

Check out this recent piece by artist Nemo Gould titled Zip Synch. The heads for the strange and endearing creatures are small zippered film canisters.

From Nemo Gould's web site:

The inspiration came from the little film canisters that form their heads. I had done this once before with the piece "Head Case #2". Recently I came across several more cases at a flea market and couldn’t resist making a chorus line of them.

In addition to the film canisters, the piece is made from sprockets, chain, gears, motor, LEDs, mirrored plastic, and wooden box.

See more kinetic sculpture by Nemo Gould on his web site.

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New motorized kinetic sculptures by Tom Haney to be shown at Obsolete in Venice, California

Artist Tom Haney creates kinetic pieces, which we often refer to here as automata. The bodies for Haney's figures are carved from basswood and the heads are sculpted out of polymer clay. All of the mechanisms are made from scratch. In this new piece, a couple is depicted on a see-saw.

Tom Haney's blog is a wonderful behind-the-scenes look at how he goes about constructing his mechanical creations. Here we see the details of one of the figures and the handlebar mechanism, which keeps the figures upright as they move. This piece will be one of several featured in an upcoming show to feature Haney's work (details below).

Show details:
Obsolete Gallery
September 8th to October 13th

OBSOLETE
222 Main Street
Venice, California
Phone: 310-399-0024

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Prop maker Dick George made automaton for Hugo

Here is a nice article on the man behind the machine in the recently released movie, Hugo. The film features a drawing automaton and this article goes into some detail about George's inspirations for the figures that were used in the film.

From the Los Angeles Times article:

An automaton is a mechanical human being or animal that historically worked via clockwork mechanisms because it predated electricity and the electric motor. They were used by wealthy people as entertainment pieces that were brought out at functions, parties and gatherings. Ours had to appear to be gears that meshed together and clockwork drives driven by springs, although in actual fact there were 28 separate drive mechanisms and servo systems within the body just to perform all the functions.

He goes on to explain how they got the automaton to actually draw!

Here's a link to the article on the prop maker who created the automaton for the movie Hugo.

[ Thanks Aaron! ]

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Help make two giant serpent sculptures a reality

Here is an awesome project by Jon Sarriugarte and Kyrsten Mate. These are the folks who created the awesome Golden Mean snail car. Back in 2009, I had the pleasure of sitting in the snail car and shooting fire from the antennae. It's an experience I will not soon forget. Their latest project involves a pair of giant serpents! Though the project is initially for Burning Man, like the Golden Mean snail, the serpents will live on past that event and continue to delight and amaze people for years to come.

They are in need of some funding to make these kinetic sculptures a reality. They are well on their way, and have started a Kickstarter page so that people who love wild kinetic art can support their efforts. Please consider donating.

Here is a link to The Serpent Twins - mobile sculptures Kickstarter page.

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Shoes were made for walking - automaton

A pair of children's shoe lasts, an old pipe rack/humidor, and a lot of ingenuity come together to make for a wonderfully dynamic hand-cranked kinetic sculpture. This piece is by artist Aaron Kramer. I love how the feet not only walk, but the piece itself is trying to walk off the workbench!

See more art by Aaron Kramer on his web site or check out his Facebook page.

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