Shasta

Specifications:

• Size: 31” in diameter

• Approximate Run Time: 10 Hours

• Price: $3900 - opening bid

• Edition 0f 49

• Shasta ©2023

• To Purchase

About Shasta:

With the luxury of retirement, I've discovered more time to indulge my passion for problem solving and design, or what I like to call "play." Up until now my center wind sculptures have adhered to a common mechanism, generating consistent torque for their motion. This mechanism was effective for sculptures like Vice Versa and Duality, where opposing wheel movements were essential and the extra torque vital. However, its performance fell short for sculptures like Shasta and all Kindala types, where the slow gradual variation in rotational speed crafts the intricate patterns. This is why previous versions of Kindala like Celebration and Forest have used external winding mechanisms.

This challenge had occupied my thoughts for a while until I finally found a solution—a compact reduction pulley system discreetly positioned behind the patterning wheels. This innovation slashed torque by nearly half, making it the ideal drive for Kindala-style sculptures. Winding became effortless and I could engineer it to deliver the precise amount of torque needed. The only missing piece was a fresh pair of patterning wheels attuned to this mechanism.

My creative process consisted of crafting countless animated sketches, each exploring diverse patterns. Among them, one stood out: Shasta (though its name materialized later). What sets Shasta apart is the incorporation of dual layers of curved paired spokes for each wheel. This unique approach not only results in a captivating "bloom," but also gives birth to an unprecedented radial optical effect as the pattern dynamically unfolds.

I have dropped the Kindle prefix from its name but Shasta is of the Kindala series. My hope is that Shasta brings you as much joy as it has brought me in designing and building it.

Shasta on display in a room setting -

Calligraphy

Limited Edition of 7

• Size: 40” w x 54” h x 7” d

• Approximate Run Time: 4.5 Hours

• Edition Sold Out

• Calligraphy © 2023

• View Calligraphy Prequel Video

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About Calligraphy

Two years ago, I introduced what I am now calling Calligraphy Prequel, a sculpture with an interesting chaotic motion. Despite its uniqueness, I never offered it for sale due to its frenetic and noisy nature, which proved to be more disruptive than I had anticipated. It was a sculpture I couldn’t envision living with, let alone anticipating others enjoying it.

Over the past two years, I've been experimenting with and refining Calligraphy. The joy I find in retirement is having the luxury of time which allows me this continued exploration. The sculpture now runs for longer periods, is quieter, and the motion is significantly less frenetic. The updated mechanism has evolved to behave more like the one found in my sculpture Chaos, incorporating quiet intervals of non-engagement seamlessly interspersed with bursts of energetic dances.

I’ve left the original Calligraphy page including the video on the website here. The narrative detailing the decades long development of this piece is shared there. Those of you that are interested in the nuances of my work should compare the two videos. Can you perceive the difference in the motion?

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Links to sculptures that led to this design:

Serpentine

Chaos

Calligraphy Prequel

Kindala - Celebration

• Limited Edition of 3

• Size: 32” w x 47” h x 6” d

• Approximate Run Time: 25 Hours

• Price: $4500.00 - opening bid - USA only

• Kindala-Celebration © 2021

• Edition Sold Out

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About Kindal-Celebration

The Kindala concept which has been explored in a number other designs has been re-visited in this sculpture. The mesmerizing  slow unfolding of intricate circular designs continues to fascinate me. This is the most complex Kindala pattern set I have attempted. The pattern reminds me of starburst fireworks. Hence the name Celebration. 

I use the same base and drive system in both of my long running introductions in the 2021 design period. I like it because it is a step away from the designs like Duality based on pattern wheel only but has the long run time and easy wind that I like to live with. Celebration wins the run time award in the 2021 designs coming in a couple of hours longer running than Boomerang. The Kindala type of motion requires less energy so runs longer. 

Why Kindala?

Kindala is a made up word I created by combining Mandala and kinetic. I thought this series needed a distinctive moniker. Every design has a circular design like a mandala and they all move but each has visual distinctions in the wheel design or power structure.

Vice Versa

Limited Edition of 95

• Size: 34” w x 34” h x 6” d

• Approximate Run Time: 6.5 Hours

• Price: $3900.00 - opening bid - USA only

• Vice Versa © 2021

• To Purchase

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About Vice Versa

It often happens that one sculpture starts the idea for another. This is especially true at this late stage of my career where I have explored and given up on many ideas. In 2016 I explored a new concept in a one-of-a-kind sculpture called Blink. I explored what would happen if I reversed the normal order of fans in a patterning wheel and had them point in opposite directions. Of course this created a significantly off-balanced wheel but I compensated using a large outside frame ring that varied in width. This was a difficult sculpture to make because even with the outside ring, balance was still hard to achieve. I did enjoy the “blink” effect and the varied patterns but thought it too challenging to produce in an edition. 

These are the types of challenges I’ve been enjoying revisiting now that I’m “retired”. Last year I decided to explore whether this really was an impossible wheel to balance. Using my ancient copy of Working Model software along with my favorite drawing program Illustrator and a spreadsheet I ran numerous simulations looking for a design with the center of mass at the center of the wheel. I played with the number of spokes, their thickness and their angle relative to each other. Eventually I found a design that I thought would work both visually and dynamically. I tested the patterning by generating an animation of the design in motion. Of course the real test was to actually make the design. My first attempt wasn’t quite right. It was still too off balance. I tweaked the design and refined my center of mass calculation to more precisely locate the exact point. The second attempt worked as I had hoped. 

I love the mix of 3 different patterns during each rotation. Half of the pattern shows as collapsing fans while the opposite half is expanding. Just as that becomes recognizable everything is wiped away in a blink pattern. The constantly shifting rotation rates combined with this pattern creates a piece I find hard to stop watching. 

Fraud Warning:

Apparently there is a concern out of China that is currently putting up fake websites, instagram, tiktok and facebook posts offering David’s designs for $39- $59. All have stolen videos and images from our website and David’s IP. No one has been given permission or been licensed to use these designs or images. If you purchase, some sites steal data while others ship you wood scraps. None ship kinetic sculptures. A number of kinetic artists are experiencing this. The “companies” dissolve and new websites appear every other day as the previous ones get shut down due to complaints. Additionally now they are selling “kits” on Amazon. These are wooden parts taken as screen shots from my designs. They are incorrect, incomplete, without instructions and will never work. Please report them as fraud. They have no connection to me what so ever! Thank you.

Chaos

• Limited Edition of 95 • Size: 46" w x 40" h x 7" d • Approximate Run Time: 10 Hours

• Price: $3500.00 - - opening bid - USA only

• Chaos Direction

About Chaos

The history of Chaos spans decades. In 1979, I was playing with different shapes and balances looking for interesting patterns. A certain combination, when hand powered, created some fascinating motion. The back wheel would rotate around and the balancing front wheel would just hang there. Then, for seemingly no reason the front wheel would start swinging erratically changing the motion of the back wheel. This was my first experience with unpredictable or random behavior. I didn’t know what was going on but I liked it. I added a drive mechanism and a sculpture named Serpentine was born.

Several decades and many sculptures later a fascination with the graphic properties of fractals led me to a book entitled Chaos by James Gleick. In a section on simple systems like pendulums and double pendulums I found this paragraph:

“Unpredictability was only the attention-grabber. Those studying chaotic dynamics discovered that the disorderly behavior of simple systems acted as a creative process. It generated complexity: richly organized patterns, sometimes stable and sometimes unstable, sometimes finite and sometimes infinite, but always with the fascination of living things.”

I was reminded of Serpentine and its changing patterns. Serpentine was a type of double pendulum. I wanted to explore this more. I had new tools, materials and nearly 40 years of experience and this time I wanted to understand the motion and, if not control it, at least influence it.

I’ve spent much of this past year playing with and studying double pendulum motion. I tried several different forms before settling on 2 stylized pendulums combined into a double pendulum. Other forms could work but I settled on the simplest shape so the motion would be the focus. The big breakthrough came when I created a mechanism that would push the pendulums only when they needed it otherwise allowing free swinging motion. As I refined the mechanism I found ways to fine tune it. For the last few months I’ve had many examples of Chaos performing in my studio. I tried many adjustments to see how each would influence the motion. Eventually I created a spreadsheet so I could track each change in an organized fashion.  I’m finally ready to release Chaos into the wild. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Winding Chaos:

Here is a video of David demonstrating how to wind Chaos.

About Sound:

Chaos has a wonderful wooden clicking sound. It is not silent but creates a melodic background accompaniment. I have video taped Chaos in action without the added musical background so you can hear as well as see the sculpture.