Alexander Calder: My Mobile Hero

113 Years of Kinetic Sculpture, Art, and Inspiration

By Chris Dunmire

How's this for a coincidence: Yesterday I was updating my work portfolio and came across this piece (above) that I did 10 years ago as a graphic design student.

At the time I was very inspired by the playful work of Alexander Calder, a classic kinetic sculpture artist that I was studying in an Art Appreciation course. Calder, who died in 1976 when I was only in kindergarten learning how to use scissors and paste, was well known for his mobiles and stabile structures.

The Calder Foundation, "devoted to collecting, cataloguing and archiving the works and heritage of the American sculptor," brings to light some interesting creative history about the artist:

"Alexander Calder (1898-1976), whose illustrious career spanned much of the 20th century, is the most acclaimed and influential sculptor of our time. Born in a family of celebrated, though more classically trained artists, Calder utilized his innovative genius to profoundly change the course of modern art.

"He began by developing a new method of sculpting: by bending and twisting wire, he essentially "drew" three-dimensional figures in space. He is renowned for the invention of the mobile, whose suspended, abstract elements move and balance in changing harmony. Calder also devoted himself to making outdoor sculpture on a grand scale from bolted sheet steel. Today, these stately titans grace public plazas in cities throughout the world."

Back to my synchronicitous story. Since I originally designed this piece at an odd size, I wanted to format it to fit a standard letter-size page for my portfolio and so was tooling around with my scanner and Photoshop yesterday executing the job, all the while reflecting on how much I appreciated Calder's originality and the inspiration he brought into my young life as an student designer.

Little did I know that today is Calder's 113th birthday anniversary. So you can imagine my excitement at seeing that Google is featuring a very cool homage to Calder on its home page today, courtesy of the Alexander Calder Foundation:

The homage is an interactive motion graphic replica of one of Calder's mobiles that you can move with your mouse and watch each segment gently swing to your mousy wind (bonus fun: watch the shadow below the search box follow around with the mobile movements). Clever!

Calder's life and work left such an indelible impression on me that I, with the help of my engineering-minded husband, built a replica of one of his more simple classic mobiles as part of my final project in the Art Appreciation class. It was such a joy to recreate and bring to class to share with others. Here's a photo of the mobile I took years ago for Creativity Portal's mobiles & kinetic art page:

The mobile still hangs in my home today with the original wonder and inspiration it held for me back then. Today I watched it with extra gratitude move gently through the air celebrating 113 years of innovation and creativity. Alexander Calder was truly one of a kind. •

© 2011 Chris Dunmire. All rights reserved.