automata, mechanical sculpture, sun sculpture, wooden gears | 0 Comments
I’m set to turn this pile of parts into my current finished piece, “The Big Picture”. As long as I assemble them in the near future things should go smoothly – wait too long and you sit there staring at a piece wondering where it goes. Or the sequence gets out of whack and the puzzle
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automata, bird carving, Bird Nest with Eggs, kinetic sculpture, mechanical truss, onion dome, pod carvings, pod forms, portland oregon folk artist, Thomas Hughes artist | 0 Comments
I’ve nearly finished the Pod / Box Mechanical Theatre and am happy to share some Tom – shot details. I have to wait to show a full shot until Kurt Mottweiler can come and take real photographs. One thing about using shiny metal in my work is that reflections and hot spots make getting a
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automata, carved curtains, decorative metalwork, folk art metalwork, kinetic sculpture, mechanical sculpture, nailing on metalwork, sketch for metalwork, southwest tinwork | 0 Comments
After sketching a swallow motif with leafed branches on a piece of box shaped black construction paper I decided to go for it. I scribed, cut, and sanded the metal after making templates of the design, then nailed it on with small brass escutcheon pins. Metal nailed onto wood has a great look to my
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artist, automata, kinetic sculpture, kinetic wall sculpture, mechanical sculpture, mechanical theatre, tom hughes | 0 Comments
I finished up the current mechanical theatre tonight but have to change the White Bird Black Bird name because the birds are golden! I am pondering ….. it may take a few days. At any rate it is done for Portland Open Studios and none too soon I might add. I will get some good studio photographs
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artist, automata, craft, folk art, kinetic sculpture, kinetic wall sculpture, mechanical sculpture, mechanical theatre | 0 Comments
I feel I might be at about midway on the White Bird Black Bird MT. It hasn’t been a straight crow fly exercise, but rather a circuitous route to the current state. The mechanics are working out pretty well, with the decision today to mount the two lower pulls side by side underneath the cam. The
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automata, boring machine, branches, kinetic sculpture | 0 Comments
In the last week I have been making steady progress on the current mechanical theatre, White Bird / Black Bird. I mapped the branches out and chose their positions early in the week. I also got the double sheave cam assembly done to raise and lower the bottom curtain. This kind of mechanics are a
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artist, automata, branches, carving, craft, folk art, fruit tree branches, kinetic sculpture, mechanical theatre, natural artwork | 0 Comments
In the northwest people that pick greenery for florists are known as brush pickers. I need branches, not greenery. The easiest place for me to mine is my back yard. The new piece in progress is called Black Bird / White Bird and it has a lot of branches. The best branches have 3 trunk intersections
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artist, automata, carving, craft, folk art, kinetic sculpture, mechanical theatre | 0 Comments
Pulls for me are typically the last part of a piece of work be it furniture or mechanical artwork. Furniture is a style decision - mechanical works have to have weight + design as the pull for the Cloud Shaft did. I hollowed out the inside of this pull and filled it with #9 lead shot which is a great
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artist, automata, carving, craft, folk art, kinetic sculpture, mechanical theatre | 0 Comments
I’ve been currently working on two pieces in my studio. The first is High Wire Mechanical Theatre which is getting very close to being completed. I lined up a few construction shots to give an idea of process. If you look close you can see there are still clamps holding the trees in
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artist, automata, carving, craft, folk art, kinetic sculpture, mechanical theatre | 0 Comments
The other piece I am currently working on is Cloud Shaft Mechanical Theatre. Just like the High Wire MT this one is based on a truss which supports the piece. The trusses are held together with with a lot of #2 x 56 threaded screws 3/16″ long. They’re damned small. I’ve dropped bunches of them on the floor
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