Official catalog for Calder exhibit

My friend and fellow artist, Fred Mullet, who knows I’m a big fan of Calder, recently sent me a link to the Whitney Museum of American Art, which is currently hosting an exhibit titled Alexander Calder: The Paris Years 1926-1931.

Ironically, two weeks ago I’d put a hold on several books on Calder and his art at my local library, and one of those books, pictured above, was delivered three days ago and it turns out I’m the first person to check it out! This book is hot off the press, and just happens to be the official catalog for the current exhibit, which opened on October 16th.

Calder’s career spanned 50+ years, but I am particularly interested in the art he created in his early Paris years - namely, his circus, wire sculptures and portraits, toys and free-standing and motorized mobiles. This beautifully produced book covers all those areas in detail, and also includes wood and metal sculptures, circus drawings, gouache and ink paintings, oil paintings and more!

There are photos of Calder’s art that I’d never seen in other publications, and lots of them are in full color. Calder was a master wire worker, and there are 25 wire portraits in the book, caricaturing the likes of Calvin Coolidge, Jimmy Durante and Joan Miro. Other wire sculptures, including ‘Aquarium’ (1929) and the interactive copulating ‘Pigs’ (1930) are simply amazing. Then there are the photos of his circus animals, people and props - incredible articulated sculptures on a very tiny scale.

The text in this 304 page book thoroughly covers Calder’s first five years in Paris, and his artistic life (with images) just prior to his arrival in Paris in 1926.

The exhibit at the Whitney runs through February 15, 2009, then travels to the Centre Pompidou, Musee national d’art moderne in Paris, where it will be on display from March 18 - July 20, 2009.

Click here to view images and a video from the exhibition.

The following information is quoted from the Whitney Museum of American Art Website:

About the Exhibition
On view October 16, 2008 - February 15, 2009

“For decades [Calder's] Circus, lent by the artist in 1970 to the Whitney Museum of American Art, has set flight to the imaginations of visiting children and adults. Now the museum is celebrating its genesis in “Alexander Calder: The Paris Years, 1926-1933,” an exhibition opening on Thursday that brings the young Calder and the giddy ferment of his artistic circle to life.”
–The New York Times, October 12, 2008

When Alexander “Sandy” Calder (1898–1976), arrived in Paris in 1926, he aspired to be a painter; when he left in 1933, he had evolved into the artist we know today: an international figure and defining force in twentieth-century sculpture. In these seven years Calder’s fluid, animating drawn line transformed from two dimensions to three, from ink and paint to wire, and his radical innovations included openform wire caricature portraits, a bestiary of wire animals, his beloved and critically important miniature Circus (1926–31), abstract and figurative sculptures, and his paradigm-shifting “mobiles.”

The Whitney has the largest body of work by Alexander Calder in any museum and is proud to be the exclusive American venue for this landmark exhibition, co-organized with the Centre Pompidou.

©2008 FLYING FISH - interactive wire sculpture, 14.5'' h x 15.5'' w x 9.5'' d • Turning crank at bottom right causes fish to 'swim'

©2008 FLYING FISH • V-shaped part of crank mechanism at top right makes hanging fish move back and forth, causing them to 'swim' in a realistic manner

The past couple of months I’ve been pouring over books with photos of Alexander Calder’s motorized and crank operated sculptures and toys, and am duly impressed with the number and diversity of his creations, some very simple and others incredibly complex.

In my September 15 post under the ‘Something New’ category I talked about Alexander Calder’s 1929 wire sculpture ‘Goldfish Bowl’, how it inspired me to fabricate a similar version, and I challenged any wire workers out there in the blogosphere to make one and send me digital images. Making the bowl and the two articulated fish was easy enough, but not so the crank mechanism - I made several cranks before I got one to work properly. I posted two images of my fishbowl in that post.

This month, I challenged myself to make another fishbowl with three fish, a larger bowl, shaped differently, with wire and tin ’seaweed’, a base, and a different crank mechanism. The first two photos show my completed ‘Flying Fish’ wire sculpture, the third photo is a closeup of the crank mechanism, and the subsequent images depict the sculpture under construction. Enjoy!

©2008 FLYING FISH • Closeup view of crank mechanism • Note spiral wire 'tube' which places L-shaped rocker pivot 3 inches into bowl - necessary to make mechanism work, and a challenge to figure out!

FLYING FISH is for sale - please click here if interested.

FLYING FISH is maintenance free and you’ll never spend a dime on fish food (with real fish, you’ll be buying fish food forever). Not only that, you’ll be the proud owner a very cool interactive wire sculpture which will be a big hit with your friends when you entertain. And finally, the fish will only swim when you turn the crank, so you’ll never get dizzy watching real fish swimming monotonously back and forth.

©2008 ORBITING INFINITY • 15'' h x 11'' w x 11''d

I recently completed a commissioned piece, titled ‘Orbiting Infinity’, and shipped it to its owners in California last month.

It’s a mixed-media creation, made from wood, wood veneer, brass screws, nickel-plated washers, acrylic gels, pastes and paints, copper and colored wires in various gauges and horse hair, and contains a battery-operated motor hidden from view on the inside.

The motor is accessed from the back and causes the delicate wire and horse hair top section to slowly orbit the main body of sculpture.

©2008 ORBITING INFINITY • Top view

©2008 ORBITING INFINITY • Close up view of top section

Inside view of PACCAR Pavilion from main entrance

Yesterday morning, when I walked through the door to the PACCAR Pavilion, the main entrance to Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park, it appeared to be almost devoid of people.

My favorite seating area in Pavilion for spectacular and ever changing views of park sculptures and shipping activity on Elliott Bay

As I sat down at my favorite table near the glass wall facing Elliott Bay, happily anticipating several relaxed hours spent reading and sketching, I noticed a beehive of activity in the Alvord Art Lab. Intrigued, I quietly entered the room. Ms. Victoria Clayton’s 35 6th grade students, on a field trip from the Annie Wright school in Tacoma, were in that room making sculptures from found materials, including wire and pieces of wood. These students were focused and totally oblivious to me as I stood at the doorway watching them create.

Ms. Victoria Clayton outside the Pavilion classroom with part of Geoff McFetridge installation 'In the Mind' visible to left

Part of Geoff McFetridge 'In the Mind' site-specific installation

Annie Wright 6th graders heading to PACCAR Pavilion entrance with sculptures in tow

Out in the main space, Victoria explained that her 11-year-old students had completed an earlier docent-led tour of two sections of the park. When the kids were on the Seattle Cloud Cover bridge, which connects the West Meadow and Grove to the Shore, the noise from traffic and the loud voices of the children made it difficult to hear the docent. At the highest section of the park, the North Meadow area, the kids wanted to stand under Calder’s massive 40 foot tall stabile, EAGLE. They were excited to view such a huge sculpture at such close range.

One of the students, Daniel, a budding photographer, looked up and started framing parts of the sculpture with his fingers. He asked Victoria to shoot those images and she did. The kids had a fine time viewing the Space Needle and Elliott Bay through various sections of Calder’s sculpture.

When they left the Eagle and walked down a narrow path into the Valley and came upon Richard Serra’s monumental sculpture WAKE, they got quieter and quieter, and when they started walking around and through the five parts of the 300-ton sculpture they stopped talking completely. TOTAL SILENCE. Victoria was amazed. Such is the power of art.

Sixth grade artists with sculptures, collecting backpacks and jackets at entrance to PACCAR Pavilion, as they prepare for drive back to Annie Wright School in Tacoma

ONE MUSEUM - THREE LOCATIONS

The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) sponsors a dizzying array of lectures, events, Cell Phone Audio Tours, Guided Tours, film viewings and other educational programs for adults and students. Check here to find out more.

•SAM Downtown, 1st Avenue & Union Street (Free admission on First Thursdays)

•Seattle Asian Art Museum, 1400 Prospect St. Volunteer Park (Free admission on First Saturdays)

•Olympic Sculpture Park, 2901 Western Avenue, Downtown Waterfront (Admission always free)

Here are descriptions of two guided tours at the Olympic Sculpture Park, quoted from the official Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park Map & Guide:

A Walk in the Park
Explore the Environment of the Olympic Sculpture Park with Local Experts

These monthly walks will be led by organizations that specialize in the environment and ecology of the Puget Sound area. Meet your guide and group in the PACCAR Pavilion every second Saturday at 1 p.m.

Site, Sculpture, Shoreline
Discovering the Olympic Sculpture Park
Saturdays, 11 a.m. and Sundays, 2 p.m.

Experience the Olympic Sculpture Park’s dynamic spaces and learn about the design and layout of the park, site history, selected sculptures, and more. Bring your walking shoes and meet a SAM docent in the PACCAR Pavilion.

EAGLE (and crow) stabile by Alexander Calder, created in 1971, stands 40 feet tall

Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park officially opened on January 20, 2007, and has quickly become a popular destination not only for locals, but for visitors from around the world. It is truly unique, as far as sculptural parks go. The location is fabulous - right on Elliott Bay - with unobstructed views north toward Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains and south toward the city of Seattle and the Port of Seattle.

And you can get up close and personal with over 20 works of art!!

Calder's EAGLE frames one of Seattle's ubiquitous ferrries on Elliott Bay

The Olympic Sculpture Park is quite remarkable in that it is built on three separate land parcels - a very unusual undertaking indeed - literally separated by railroad tracks with frequent train traffic and a very busy Elliott Avenue. For years, when Judy and I drove past the bottom section of this fenced-in land mass, overgrown with weeds and harboring the foundations of several brick buildings, we’d speculate about the ultimate use of this land, never even dreaming of its ultimate transformation.

In the 1990s the Washington Department of Ecology, in partnership with Union Oil of California (who developed the land in 1910 as a fuel storage and transit facility and phased out operations in the 1980s) removed 120,000 tons of petroleum-contaminated soil and installed a groundwater recovery system, paving the way for its eventual reincarnation as Olympic Sculpture Park.

View from lookout on Alaskan Way - train tracks are beneath the railing, Tony Smith's WANDERING ROCKS can be seen at center, and Mark Dion's NEUKOM VIVARIUM and PACCAR Pavilion are visible at top right

It is nothing short of amazing that New York architects Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi transformed this awkward nine-acre parcel of land into a strikingly beautiful sculpture park and managed to incorporate four distinct Northwest landscapes:
1. The Valley, with fir and cedar trees, ferns, groundcovers and an outdoor amphitheater
2. The Grove, with native aspen, birch and maple trees
3. The Meadow, with bridges and gently sloped open paths that to lead you throughout the park
4. The Shore, right at the water’s edge, with pines and a small beach area, designed for salmon habitat recovery in Elliott Bay.

It’s a wonderful experience to walk through these four completely different ‘zones’, look down on moving trains and heavy traffic, and see small and very large scale art at the same time! Very unique, indeed.

PACCAR Pavilion as seen from street - note Dennis Oppenheim's huge SAFETY CONE at center and Roxy Pine's stainless steel tree, titled SPLIT, at far left

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The main entrance to the park is located in the sleek glass and steel PACCAR Pavilion, at Western and Broad, in the upper NW corner. This building, with a parking lot underneath, houses a gift shop, cafe/coffee shop, a classroom/meeting room, and, on the second floor, park headquarters.

In addition to the permanant outdoor sculptures, Olympic Sculpture Park will exhibit temporary installations as well.

View from just outside the entrance to PACCAR Pavilion

Photo of Richard Serra's WAKE framed by Anthony Caro's sculpture RIVIERA, taken outside PACCAR Pavilion

Richard Serra's massive 300-ton sculpture 'Wake', consists of five pieces, each 14 feet high and 50 feet long

Currently you’ll find five huge orange Safety Cones by installation artist Dennis Oppenheim sited throughout the park, and a site-specific installation in the  PACCAR pavilion by artist and graphic designer Geoff McFetridge, titled In The Mind.

When I recently Googled ‘Olympic Sculpture Park’ there were allegedly 479,000 websites that referenced the park! Here are three that I highly recommend.

This Wikipedia link is excellent. You’ll find a history of the park and dozens of links, including links with information on the sculptures and biographies of the artists. You can spend many enlightening hours here.

Click Olympic Sculpture Park/Seattle Times Newspaper for videos and slide shows. You can watch the park’s entire construction process in the photo sequence ‘park built in a minute’, take a ‘Virtual Tour’ of the park, view ‘Eagle in flight to park’ and see Alexander Calder’s 40 ft tall sculpture take shape in its new surroundings, watch ‘Art Alfresco’ and view photos of each art work, explore the park with an interactive map, view information on the art and the artists, and much more.

Click Unplanned ‘offspring’ at Olympic Sculpture Park get SAM’s blessing to see a nest of recently hatched ‘eaglets’ next to Alexander Calder’s “Eagle” sculpture.

TYPEWRITER ERASURE, SCALE X, by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, sited on hillside above Western Avenue, on loan through 2009 from the Paul Allen family

PERRE'S VENTAGLIO by Beverly Pepper with PACCAR Pavilion in background

BUNYON'S CHESS by Mark di Suvero

SCHUBERT SONATA by Mark di Suvero with Elliott Bay in Background

Glass bridge titled SEATTLE CLOUD COVER, by Teresita Fernandez on left, and one of Dennis Oppenheim's SAFETY CONES on right

Fountain titled FATHER AND SON by Louise Bourgeois, and another one of Dennis Oppenheim's SAFETY CONES, as viewed from Uptown Espresso (best coffee in Seattle) located in Pier 70 on Alaska Way. SEATTLE CLOUD COVER Bridge at top right crosses over train tracks

In this photo you're looking at the same SAFETY CONE visible in the previous photo through the space between the last two cars of a fast moving train. Note the real traffic safety cone lying on its side at bottom right

'The Shore', on Elliott Bay, features a tidal garden with kelp, algae and other plants that are revealed and concealed with the changing tides