Arthur Ganson, Contemporary Movement in Composition

An explorer of the mechanical world, Arthur Ganson seeks excitement in the creation of motion. A profound demonstrator of existentialism-themed kinetic wonders, Ganson creates displays that showcase movement in many variable ways. His pieces fondly play with the process of Rube Goldberg machines and shed a new light on the role kinetic sculpture plays in philosophical symbolism.

The piece here is entitled the Thinking Chair. It's a miniscule chair that moves fluidly around a rock base in a peculiar pattern. 

Ganson's curious sculptures make use of entertaining displays of action and reaction. The well-known sculptor was welcomed to do a talk on his craft at the TED conferences. Videos on his moving works are readily accessible by just searching with his name online. Ganson moves the world forward with his interesting passion for art and movement. His influence spreads across to younger generations as well as older art enthusiasts. His habit of making over complex machines to execute simple tasks give them the new purpose of becoming art rather than simply existing as purely mechanical objectives. His connection with metaphysical themes also influences his inspiration to create. His elegant style of perfecting his craft makes it easy to admire his interest in sculpture.

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Anastassia Elias and the "Rolls" Royce of Paper Sculpture

From the most miniscule things, art can be created to give beauty in many ways. A lot of the things we think of as garbage or residue are actually capable of becoming something much more than the trivial purpose we give them. Take this example of sculpture media by Anastassia Elias: toilet paper tube as scenic displays of art and creativity. Today's green movements influence every field of design- including sculpture, and what better way to promote a better earth than to create something beautiful our of something that's usually thrown away.

A great mixed media artist in her own right, Elias showcases a wonder of fine and brilliant thought by transforming value in the most simplest of items. Being a collage artist and painter from France, Elias is probably aware of the traditional fine and classical motif that surrounds French art, however the mere fact that she forgoes the traditional for the contemporary makes her one of our favorite modern artists for 2012. Paper sculptures are not new in the art circles, however innovative uses for them is definitely something to look into. We hope to find more brilliant masterpieces by Elias in the near future.

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Ken Rinaldo and The Interactivity of Sculptural Installations

Drawing a hybrid inspiration from both nature and technology, interaction-sculptor Ken Rinaldo aspires to meld the aesthetics of organic designs with the complex style of mechanical instruments. He has held several exhibitions in the past that were themed accordingly, showcasing a degree of bio-art and electromechanical sculpture. Rinaldo relates his interactive art to several issues plaguing society today, such as the abandonment ecological situations in favor of technological evolution. He graduated from programs in Computer Science and Communications as well as a Fine Arts Masterals program. His diversity in specialization allows him to conceptualize new ways of intertwining media into innovative ways of expression.

Sculpture by Ken Rinaldo and Amy Young - Photography by Samuel Mann

In the year 2000, he won the first prize at the VIDA 3 International Artificial Life Competition and during the succeeding year, the same winning piece also received an honorary mention during the Arts Electronica Festival. Since then, Rinaldo's work on bio-mechanical and bio-electrical art has skyrocketed into newer forms and compositions of hybrid variety. He believes that the intersection between these two fields holds the key to understanding many modern concepts, such as inter-species communication and the process of co-evolution in human technological society.

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Peter Newsome's Clear-Form Glass Assemblage

The contemporary techniques of glass artist; Peter Newsome have been some of the curiosities many artists become fascinated with. Newsome has been a passionate sculptor of glass since the early 1990's and has mastered both traditional glazier and glassworker techniques as well as some adaptive contemporary techniques. His skills allow him to hand-slice layers upon layers sheet glass in precise forms for his assembled compositions. Many of his works resemble organic strands or waves depending on the contortion of his subject. Newsome's background in the glass engineering industry has led him to acquire several original methodologies for practicing original glasswork. He has exhibited several of his sculptures at many international art hubs such as the London Art Fair at Burton's Court, Chelsea and at Newby Hall Sculpture Park, Yorkshire.

 Sculpture by Photography by Gerardus

Newsome employs a sort of ray-like intensity by focusing on the overlapping transparencies of the media. The edges where the glass cuts off into air become patterns when pit against each other in natural light. The artist's ability to materialize designs in three dimensional space is coupled with his capability to imagine the unique transparencies of their compositions as well. Since his popularization in the glass art industry, Newsome has been a well recognized modern sculptor, especially within the communal Chelsea areas.

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Seymour Lipton and Abstract Expressionism

Born on November 6 1903, Seymour Lipton was someone who did not initially plan to become a sculptor, but did so eventually in an admirable leap of career. He actually studied to be a dentist, training in dexterity and the accurate usage of finer tools. In 1932 though, he decided to switch his main focus to sculpture instead. He moved from media to media, specializing in wood, then lead, then eventually settling with bronze. He is a passionate abstract expressionist who is definitely well known today for many of his exquisite bronze and metal sculptures. Lipton also made several contributions to the world of sculpting techniques as well. He discovered that brazing nickel-silver rods onto Monel sheets could create rust-resistant surfaces.

Sculpture by Seymour Lipton - Photography by Ser Amantio di Nicolao

Lipton selects the themes of his art forms by drawing inspiration from natural things such as flight, and man-made chaos such as war. The photograph above was of Lipton's 1957 Winter Solstice II made of his specialty nickel-silver on monel sheet. It is currently at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. As an abstract expressionist sculptor, his compositional style varies a bit from piece to piece, but one may notice his chaotic drive in some works that may be attributed to his inspiration (war). Lipton's works are usually random in contour, but his media's unique properties make use of his flared protrusions and curving shapes in a good way. They reflect light through the shapes and convey a beautiful and interesting composition as a whole.

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David Reekie : Sketch Artist and Contemporary Glassmaker

Glass has always been a tricky media, because of its material traits and difficulty in handling. Throughout the years many glass sculptors have found it hard to stretch the spectrum of their subject matter, today however, there are those who seek to bring the art medium of glass into a contemporary frontier.

David Reekie has exhibited his sketched art and glass creations at several museums around the globe, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. He also maintains many collections in various locations spanning the UK's art societies. Reekie's love of drawing initially fed his creative desire to portray the human condition, but eventually it also led him to find a new love; the creation of cast glass. Today, Reekie uses both media to convey caricatures of satirical humor and an expression of the external forces that shape human life. Reekie's art was also inspired by his childhood activities of watching television shows like Forbidden Planet. One of Reekie's artful messages to us is the comparison of man's routinized lifestyle to a robot's mindless behavior.

Reekie uses an adapted method of casting glass- the lost wax process. He also adds a bit of his own tried and tested techniques to this age old way of casting glass. His kiln time and annealing process can take up to ten and seven days respectfully. He also paints a type of vitreous enamel inside the still damp mold to give the glass material its original exterior later on. Reekie's latest project was a solo exhibition hosted by Dan Klein Associates and was entitled An Exchange of Information. Humanshaped glass heads and ceramic birds allow Reekie to showcase both a sense of surrelism and a pinch of humor at the same time by illustrating the gap between subjects in existence.

-Sculptures by David Reekie
-All Photography (2) by Pamela Gardiner

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Harry Bertoia : A Pioneer of Wire, Space and Sound

Harry Bertoia was born on March 10, 1915. Aside from his passion in the world of sculpture, he was also into modernist furniture design. Despite being born in Italy, Bertoia decided to stay in Detroit during his teenage years, studying high school at Cass Technical. It was here where Bertoia developed his skills in design as well as handcrafting jewelry. He moved on to the College for Creative Studies (back then called by another name) in the late 1930's.

Bertoia taught jewelry design and metal-smithing in his new found workshop in 1939. During the war, he made use of hi time crafting rings for prestigious personalities like Edmund Bacon's wife and Ray Eames. Eventually he settled down with a woman named Brigitta Valentiner in the early 1940's. He had several moves during his life, including one to California and another one to Pennsylvania. He later started to design several wire pieces such as the famous "Diamond Chair".

Sculpture by Harry Bertoia - Photography author: N. Jeppson

Bertoia described his artistic chairs as artworks that are curiously present as a result of space passing through them. Many of his works, whether in wire sculpture or kinetic sculpture, revolve around the theme of air. Whether it be to produce sound, like those exhibited in his performance album "Sonambient" or to merely coexist within the chambers of his composition, Bertoia's pronouncement of air as an artistic element is as admirable as it is interesting.

Today, many of his works can be found at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, the Honolulu Academy of Arts and the Detroit Institute of Arts among others.

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Michael Tom's Brass Creations

Born on 1946 in Honolulu, Hawaii, Michael Tom was an American sculptor who practices the art of metalsmithing abstract compositions through his own aesthetic depiction. Tom originally pursued painting as an artistic career, however he gradually moved in favor to the three-dimensional forms of modern art. He received his degree in painting and metalsmithing from the Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California, and eventually went to the San Diego State University for his graduate studies. From painting, he turned to the world of art jewelry, combining the intricacies of art with the presence of luxury in today's jewelry. This endeavor gave him the inspirations to aspire more out of metalsmithing as well. He pursued the craft of mixed media and honed his working skills with copper and brass.

Sculpture Work by Artist Michael Tom - 1985 - (East West Center)

Tom's works showcase a variety of geometric elements such as ridges, angular surfaces and platform contours. His spectrum of elements combine with one another to create an overall composition that is lasting to the eye as it is to the touch. His works allow viewers to see a perceived sense of texture that they can imagine in their heads to be something never felt before. He was very famous for his small copper sculptures created by several hammering techniques.

In 1992, Tom obtained the Catharine E.B Cox Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts. His works are still housed today in the Hawaii State Art Museum and the East-West Center.

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Christopher Bathgate and Working with Metals

A Metal sculptor residing in Baltimore Marland, Bathgate's pieces exude a sense of mechanical complexity in their aesthetics. The contours in his artworks often reflect on the shapes associated with industrial beauty and design. He practices multiple variations of craftsmanship, including handworking, electoplating, heat coloring and computer aided design. For Bathgate, his art is also as much about the process as the final output. The long and tedious creation of each and every work allows Bathgate to further develop his self-taught style of metal-sculpting.

Sculptures and Photography by Christopher Bathgate

Bathgate's metal artworks have been exhibited throughout the Maryland area, as well as in New York, Cincinnati, Washington, D.C., and also in North Carolina. He is currently being represented by Fine Arts Gallery Imperato in Baltimore. Bathgate is also a member of Viridian Artists Inc, an artist cooperative.

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The Giants of Calle Örnemark

Hailing from Sweden, this curious sculptor is famous for his crafting of larger-than-life wooden artworks. The very first big sculpture he produced was entitled the Jätten Vist which meant the Giant Vist. It stands eleven meters tall and is located next to route E4 at Huskvarna in Europe. The sculpture art comes with its very own legend background: This giant was coming home from Vastergotland when he threw a mix of grass and dirt into the lake Vattern for his wife to trudge through. This act created the island of Visingso. Örnemark's creations, intimidating in size, stand to us as a great novelty in the world of art. He shares a proud uniqueness through these works and they give a bold insight to the international community of sculptors and art enthusiasts.

Sculpture by Calle Örnemark - Photography by Melo Man

In the 1980's, he created a sculpture that resembled a giant ship. The artwork was entitled Bounty. Along with another artwork; Indiska reptricket, Örnemark's pieces drew up huge crowds to marvel at their sheer size and impact. Indiska reptricket at the time, became the world's highest sculpture, standing at 103 meters into the sky. In 2007, both of  Örnemark's pieces had to be taken down though due to natural deterioration. Today, he currently lives and works in Gränna, but still maintains a sculpture studio in Visingso. Other famous works include a huge wooden balloon in his home-place of Gränna and a replica of the wreckage of Henry Morgan's ship in Gratangen, Norway.

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Marvin Lipofsky : A Glassful of Imagination

Lipofsky was an integral catalyst in the spreading of glass art throughout America. He was the artist who introduced the craft to the state of California by teaching at various universities like the state university, Berkley and the College of Art and Crafts. Born on Sept. 2, 1938, Lipofsky always had a knack for the language of the arts. Though raised with a family-business in mind, he graduated as a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design from the University of Illinois and eventually graduated with an MS and MFA in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin in 1964. The studio-glass movement was Lipofsky's central passion. While studying in Wisconsin, he encountered Harvey Littleton as an art mentor who taught him varying degrees of exploring the media. Dominick Labino also met Lipofsky there, and together they shared information, lessons and creative ideas.

Creative Glass by Marvin Lipofsky - Photography by Chris Miller

Later on, he took up tenure at the the University of California, Berkeley up until 1972. John Lewis and Richard Marquis were among the students who were able to learn under Lipofsky's guiding hand. He became a well-travelled workshop instructor as well, traveling as far off as Japan, Spain and the Netherlands. This didn't mean that he had abandoned doing seminars locally though. He had also instructed many students at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood and the Columbus College of Art and Design.

In 1967, He founded and headed a university's formal glass program (California College of Arts and Crafts). He also founded the Glass Art Society, where he became president for two years. He was also famous for being one of the pioneer glass artisans to travel to Czechoslovakia.

His work when described, could be considered as rather colorful and truly organic in structure. Dan Klein described his art as visceral and gestural. Lipofsky preferred to create his glass works in partial translucency and contour them into curvaceous shapes such as bubbles and irregular objects. Glassblowing was his to conquer with his adamant skills and talents. He garnered many awards for his passion, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass in Chicago, as well as two National Endowment for the Arts grants in 1974 and 76'. His works can currently be found at many locations spread across the United States and other countries. He has art pieces at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto (Japan).

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