“I enjoy things on wheels, because they speak of the American life” — George Greenamyer, in the video.
YouTube image below is of Arthur Ganson looking at Faster!, his first piece for the World Sculpture Racing Society.
See Multimedia section for more, including another short video of the same event.
PSR Chief Enginerr Jeff Del Papa’s Message to Artisan’s Asylum Members and to the General Public:
A feature of Cambridge River Fest in the 80’s, is returning from a long hiatus, Sculpture Racing. Creations were pushed, pulled, and occasionally pedaled on a course of up to a mile. Pieces would stop and give little performances to the crowd. Outlandish trophies were awarded. Tongues may have been planted in cheeks. Crowds were over 100 thousand strong.
The Asylum has been asked to build and race an entry in the re-inaugural event on June 6th. Here is a chance for the Asylum community to build a large and somewhat silly piece of art, and show their work (and the Asylum’s name) off to many thousands of people. An object almost as big as Stompy, but providing near instant gratification, as it will be weeks rather than years in the making.
Starting on April 12th with an “organizational” meeting, and continuing Sunday mornings till mid to late May, will be an open building event. This isn’t a class, its a project. If you are a member, participation is free. (If you aren’t a member, you are still welcome to participate, and a 5 pack of day passes should cover things) Festivities will be from 10 am till around 2 PM, in the Tardis (aka MPR2). On April 26 instead of building, we will be part of an exhibition at the MIT museum, a “Signature” event of the Cambridge Science festival, showing drawings, some work in progress, etc.
The prototype is an early 60’s model known to collectors as a “locomotive” style. Its going to have a whole bunch of sponsor stickers, like any good dragster, wheelie bars (that double as the push point), flames on the nose, and the ugliest piece of shag carpet or critter fur I can find as the sanding belt.
Here is a chance to figure out how most theatrical props get made, but this is for more than the foam carving brigade. Costumes would be a great thing, and an area which I am completely clueless. The machine could use lighting and sound effects. Skunk, could SCUL come up with a Disco ball to replace the knob on the front?
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This planet needs a lot more kids who think taking a lawnmower apart is more
fun than playing a videogame
This flyer, using Geoff Koetsch’s images, was designed by Caleb Martin, with minor tweaks by other team members.
Sculpture Credits
Top image: left John Weidman; middle unknown; right Kirby Scudder.
Middle left image: Bill Wainwright (this piece is now erected in Cambridge near the Galleria Mall)
Middle right image: Jo Kord
Bottom image: Pat Keck (with the artist behind)
Wonderful news! The Cambridge Arts Council will take us under their non-profit umbrella through June 30.
Sponsor artists by contributing to our artist support fund. We will distribute honoraria to emerging artists to help them realize their dreams and to professional artists to raise the aesthetic values of the project to a higher plane! You are welcome to offer a named grant in honor of someone or your project.
Thank you, Cambridge Arts Council and CAC Executive Director Jason Weeks!
This opportunity is as “beautiful as the chance meeting on a dissecting-table of a sewing-machine and an umbrella” – Lautréamont, inspiration for Dali’s “Sewing Machine With Umbrella” above.
The 2015 Call for Entries is here! Look under Race!
Please distribute it widely. Also suitable for printing & posting!
Show off your design concepts for the next sculpture race! There will be a mini-poster show and demo event on the last day of the Cambridge Science Festival at the MIT Museum on Sunday, April 26 from 11 AM to 1 PM. This will be a very active day at the Museum, because of the Science Festival, and because it is a Museum free admissions day.
Everyone is encouraged to contribute a design. Schematic or prototype should demonstrate fidelity to the sculpture racing design and engineering guidelines. Conceptual graphics are also welcome.
More information to follow….
PSR Chief Engineer Jeff Del Papa offers a racing sculpture workshop at Artisan’s Asylum in March and April….more to follow.
Photo of Stompy by Chris Devers.