- Limited Edition of 8 • Size: 55" w x 65 " h x 9 "d • Approx. Run Time: 18 hours
- Edition Sold Out • Sky Duet © 2016 • Edition Sold Out
- Sky Duet Directions
About Sky Duet
Sky Duet, like all my sculptures is the product optimism and determination. I'm always optimistic at the start, confident that this next idea will work both mechanically and visually, and then determined to figure out why it doesn't.
I started working on Sky Duet shortly after I finished Solo in in 2014. I had assumed that two Solos would make a Duet. Wrong! I set up two Solos, one over the other as a first test and what a mess! The grace and simplicity of Solo became chaos. The carrying wheels visually fought each other when in close proximity and even then, close wasn't close enough so that the "bird" forms could interact. It was time to rethink this concept.
It was obvious that I needed to redesign the carrying wheels to take up less space. I started sketching and a sort of yin-yang wheel emerged. They worked well visually together but still provided the physical weight needed to balance and carry the bird forms. As I started working with some animations I realized something else. I loved how the forms flowed together.
But there was still a problem. I made the first prototype and it worked as expected but it didn't excite me. I liked the flow of the carrying wheels but something about the overall feel was still wrong. I lived with the piece for more than a year, periodically sitting on my couch in the studio and studying. I finally realized what was bothering me. The straight line motion of the birds that I had carried forward from Solo wasn't right for a Duet. The birds seemed to fight each other rather than dance together. I redesigned the mechanism to produce spirals and swirls and rebuilt the prototype.
I sat back on my couch one more time. And smiled. They were dancing together, the transformation from solo to pair was complete.
