A mobile is a type of kinetic sculpture constructed to take advantage of the principle of equilibrium. It consists of a number of rods, from which weighted objects or further rods hang. The objects hanging from the rods balance each other, so that the rods remain more or less horizontal.
Alexander Calder
Artist Alexander Calder was the originator of the mobile. By suspending forms that move with the flow of air, Calder revolutionized sculpture. It was Marcel Duchamp who dubbed these works ‘mobiles”
Suggested reading:
The repurposed Library, author Lisa Occhipinti
Sandy’s Circus, author Tanya Lee Stone
Alexander Calder, author A.R. Schaefer
https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/movement/kinetic-art
Scavenger hunt
Collect items that are no longer needed and match these descriptive clues:
Game/puzzle pieces from old a discarded games and puzzles
Old deck of cards
Construction/colored paper, left over greeting cards from Christmas past
Pine cones, acorns, pieces of drift wood
Broken pieces of costume jewelry
Empty food cans (washed and dried)
Cardboard rolls from toilet paper and paper towels
Anything you think that might flow freely with the air
What you need:
String, ribbon, fishing line (you choose what works best for the objects you are using)
Tree branches, dowel sticks, heavy cardboard, old metal
clothes hangers (something to use for hanging your objects from, cut into different lengths)
Glue or hot glue
Hole punch, pliers used to bend wire if your using the hangers
Paints (if you want to paint your objects)
Instructions:
- Collect 6-10 objects that are about the same weight as one another. I used cat food can tops
- Tie fishing line/ string to each object, and leave about 6 inches of string left over.
- Start at the bottom level of your mobile, and tie one of your objects to each end of a stick / or whatever you choose to use (wire hanger, branches etc)
- Tie a piece of fishing line/string to the middle of the stick that has the objects tied to it. Find the center of balance by holding the string up and letting the stick hang. Move the string around the center of the stick until the stick is balanced then glue string in place.
- Connect the loose string to the middle of another stick.
- Add objects to the ends of this second stick and repeat step 4.
- Keep working your way up the mobile until you think it’s finished.
- Now, all you need to do is hang it up and watch it turn in the breeze.
When you are done with your mobile you can bring it to the library to display it or send photos to wo.ill@4cls.org to have them put on our web site. All mobiles are due July 31st. Prizes will be awarded for the most creative, most unusual and most mobile.