The Machine Shed

Growing up on the farm, we had a large machine shop.  Roughly 120' x 100' with large sliding doors on 2 sides, stuffed full of machinery.  It's the largest silver square to the right of the marker in this satellite shot, opposite the aptly-name Williams Lake (since we built the 55-acre puddle):

View Larger Map

I spent a lot of time at the "machine shed", rooting around in the rusty piles of retired equipment behind it, seeing what caught my eye, then welding things up.  I was interested in knights and armor at the time, so various combine sprockets and shafts got transformed into spiky blunt weapons that could have easily held their own against the real medieval weapons I saw during our frequent trips to the St. Louis Art Museum.


I bring this up is because I've recently found the work of kinetic sculptor Arthur Ganson (http://www.arthurganson.com/).  His work has set off in me a creative itch that I haven't felt in a long time.  For an overview, here he is giving a lecture in 2004 :



Here's an example of his work, "Machine With Wishbone":



And probably the most erotic sculpture ever made, "Machine With Grease" (Maybe only to us men.):



I'm lucky right now that I have access to a well-equipped machine shop here at CPB, now it is time to put it to use.  I've got a couple of simple ideas, I'll post what I work out.


(And how amazing is it that I can link to a detailed satellite photo of the "hills and hollers" where I played as a boy? It felt like the most isolated place on the planet as a child, now it's a 5 minute Google Maps search.)