I’ve been working on a reproduction of  a 1955 Alexander Calder work since the beginning of the semester.  This particular work is of interest to me as it is a clear hybrid between Calder’s stabile and mobile vocabularies; the sweeping forms reminiscent of a landscape and his planetary balancing acts of gravity.   As someone who designed jewelry for a living, I like the idea of keeping the finished work under four inches in height.

With clear Constructivist roots, signature color schemea, and a continually playful spirit, Calder was one of my favorite kinetic sculptors.   I always liked the fact that while a peer of Duchamp, Tinguely, Gabo, and others who embraced electrical assistance in their work, Calder chose not to go that route.  While he did experiment with motors in early sculptures, that technology was abandoned in favor of aleatoric movement from naturally occurring forces of gravity and currents of air.

Within this pile of cut-outs is an homage to Alexander Calder….