Bridges Lecture Series I spent the last week of February in the land of maple syrup, ice wine and snow. The Bridges Lecture Series is a collaborative project managed by Professor Benoit Charbonneau,… Continue reading
I was thrilled when the Dulwich Picture Gallery requested the loan of my steel harmonograph The Iron Genie for an interactive installation in the gallery in October 2015. It was there to engage… Continue reading
I have recently received some fascinating communications in response to my previous “Iron Genie” and “Ingenious Drawing Machines” posts, which the authors have very kindly given me permission to share in the current… Continue reading
The ultimate study of the harmonograph and its history is provided in a book entitled “Harmonic Vibrations and Vibration Figures” published circa 1909, edited by Herbert C. Newton of Newton & Co., “Scientific… Continue reading
A frequent comment made by viewers of the Iron Genie harmonograph in action, is that it reminds them of the Spirograph. Most of us are familiar with this childhood toy, which consists of… Continue reading
On Tuesday 8th July we installed my Iron Genie harmonograph at the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford. This interactive kinetic sculpture will be in the museum’s “Top Gallery” until the 21st.… Continue reading
An artist who had seen some of my previous posts recently gave me a tip-off about an antiquarian harmonograph book at a local Bloomsbury bookshop …. need I say more? Of course I… Continue reading
Imagine stepping into an immersive alien environment, your senses heightened, flipping through your mental memory-files trying to make sense of the space and time to which you have been transported…. a vast, dark… Continue reading
The heavy steel harmonograph sculpture on which I have been working for more than a year is finally finished and working, and it is time to give it the debut it deserves! It… Continue reading
The crypt is guarded by a row of Caryatids; beneath their solemn gaze, great red doors of steel protect the subterranean mausoleum. The crypt is part of St. Pancras Parish Church, an iconic… Continue reading
Paul Dewis is a master printmaker, and technician at the Byam Shaw Print Centre, part of Central Saint Martin’s college of Art & Design. He has taught me how to etch, and how… Continue reading
The beauty of a large structure is enhanced by attention to detail, and in the case of this harmonograph, the details are rendered in solid brass. Brass details invoke the wonderful scientific and… Continue reading
The first stage of making the steel harmonograph was to cut out and prepare all the structural components. In a sense, the process is a bit like tailoring – you measure and cut… Continue reading
The prototype harmonograph worked well, but I wanted to create something more elegant and original that would paradoxically evoke the sensibilities of the industrial nineteenth century at the same time as expressing the… Continue reading
The image above has been developed using scans of drawings created by the first prototype harmonograph that I created and displayed over a year ago at the Byam Shaw campus of Central Saint… Continue reading
Central Saint Martin’s college of art, part of the University of the Arts, London, is opening its doors to the public for the degree shows. This year the shows are divided into two… Continue reading
