Elora Sculpture Project 2017

The following is an portion of my submission to this year's Elora Sculpture Project: 

‘Hello / Goodbye’

This is a simpler piece than in previous years. I continue to explore the concept of wind powered / moving sculptures. Within the larger grouping of works part of ESP, I feel objects that incorporate motion can serve to capture the public’s attention.

‘Hello / Goodbye’  consists of a set of five individual mounted elements. With the base structure, the overall impression is of a stylized hand raised in greeting, the individual fingers waggling. Each ‘finger’ is a long slender, slightly curved rod, ending in an elongated oval ‘finger nail’ formed of stainless steel sheet. Each sheet ‘nail’ is slightly dished and mounted at slightly different angles to capture the wind. Each of the ‘fingers’ ends in a heavy mass of steel, which functions as a counterweight. These masses start as disks cut from solid 3 inch (plus?) mild steel, which are then compressed via forging to more irregular shapes.

The framing element, suggestive of the open palm, supports a central pivot. The ‘fingers’ are mounted along the pivot bar, allowing for motion front to back, but not side to side.  The paired top bars of the frame limit the travel of the fingers. In wind, the ‘nail’ surfaces react with the wind to move the ‘fingers’ from rest, with the counter balance weights reacting to swing each back and forth - ‘waggling’ the fingers.

Overall, ‘Hello / Goodbye’ will stand about 8 feet tall when mounted. At the mounting ‘palm’, the size is about 3 feet tall by about 24 + inches wide. The moving counterweights sweep out about  12 - 14 inches of depth. At the top edge, the individual ‘fingers’ will splay out to about 3 - 4 feet wide. In motion, the very top edges will move through roughly 3 - 4 feet of depth.


Asking Price for ‘Hello / Goodbye’ can only be estimated at this point, but is expected to be roughly $1500.

I have submitted (and been chosen to display) work for the ESP from 2013 through 2016:
2013 - ‘Layers’
2014 - ‘Spears of Summer’
2015 - ‘Armoured Fish’
2016 - ‘Barrel Turbine’
Checking past postings / search would give you the submissions and images of the final works as installed