Simon Tait’s Mews No.10

Keith incorporated

It’s Keith’s birthday so he goes to the computer centre to sort out a programme, pops in to the overall shop for a new pair, answers the phone to me… the things you have to do which you like doing but don’t usually have to time for. Thing about Keith Newstead is that even his most complex pieces, the £1,750 Catcopter for instance, take no more than a week to finish. The little astronaut he made as a Christmas present for the real astronaut, Richard Garriott, took him an hour. ‘My palette is simple: brass beads, brass sheets, wood, plastic. Keep it as uncomplicated as you can is my motto’.
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‘Sad Frog’ by Keith Newstead

Keith Newstead has started making wonderful automata from the flotsam which arrives regularly at his local beach in Cornwall. The contents of containers lost at sea sometimes contain large amounts of the same, often colourful cargo, (lighters or legos).

This piece is called ‘Sad Frog’ and is a one-off design.

Height 24cm

£295

SOLD

Sketchbook Moment No. 43

The Garden of Mechanical Knowledge. Converting (A) rotary motion into (B) linear motion.
Click image to enlarge.

Steppy movement from a smooth cam

Interestingly, the motion derived from the smooth helical cam is jerky because the ratchet moves it in a series of 12 steps. The pin in the foreground moves back and forth picking a tooth at a time. The follower, the steel lever at top right, on which rests a brass button, is lifted in 12 increments then drops down.
Click image to enlarge.

Simon Tait’s Mews No.9

Miami icebreaker
Miami has never seen anything like it before. It’s not me saying that, it’s Dr Andrew R Hirschl, respected dentist of that parish, and he’s talking about the exhibition, which opened at the Miami Science Museum last weekend, an exhibition that runs all the way to September. ‘Amazing, amusing machines combine art and science’ says the billboard, and they are, of course, the amazing machines of Cabaret. Read more

Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre

Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre opened their new permanent exhibition in Glasgow at the new Trongate 103 Centre last September.

They have a daily programme of performances of their incredible machines, (prices from £4 per adult, and children are free).

Sharmanka also do a lot of work with school groups, and other educational activities.
http://www.trongate103.com/129,162/partners/sharmanka_kinetic_theatre/

There is also a fantastic Russian restaurant in the building, making a good community of Russian culture. If you visit on a Sunday make sure to book a table, and listen to the live music.
http://www.cossachok.com/

Living Mechanicals

A small collection of CMT automata from AutomatomaniA will be shown during the Manipulate Visual Theatre Festival from 2nd Feb to 6th Feb 2010

Living Mechanicals
Travis Theatre
Edinburgh

Heart in Hand

The perfect gift for Valentines, a one-off piece from Carlos Zapata.

This a very stunning but gentle piece with a fantastic action as the hand opens and closes.

43 cm. high (17 Inches)

Price: £700.00 (excl. VAT)

Automata: Contemporary Mechanical Sculpture

A new exhibition has just opened at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, WI.

The exhibition features the collection and work of Michael Croft, who will also be giving a lecture “Automata: The Art of Animated Figures” on January 28th at 17.30hrs.

Exhibition continues until 14th March 2010

Image - Man Drinking in the Moon, Dean Lucker, 2009

Click here to download a PDF of the exhibition guide.

Simon Tait’s Mews No.8

Tim’s little shop of chuckles

Ever realised there was a product you absolutely needed but that didn’t exist? The kind of thing that chaps used to send new apprentices off to the stores for, like a jar of elbow grease or a bag of shoulder chips - only seriously? Read more