Frithmobiles Modern Art Blog

Alfamega Mobile

2011-11-12T20:33:00.000-08:00

Stable Stabile Sits On The Table

2011-09-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

Stable stabile sits on the table,

turning it's petals all day.

Quietly it rests, at peace with the world,

until someone walks by it's way.

The petals go round and round,

as huff and a puff blows them turning again.

Finally the stabile sits, heavy holds the bass,

solid and firm the petals soon come to place.

Am I a mobile, am I a stabile?

The wonder of it's being or not.

The stable little stabile sits quietly

on the table pondering all it's thought.

- poem by Julie Frith

Here are a few one of a kind stabiles I have made, some are sold, some not yet. I really feel modern art as a stabile stands alone, strong with 3 diminutional power. HA! No..... really I just like them.

They may be small in size, but I imagine them large like Calder's big stabiles in Europe.

If you'd like to buy any... let me know. Here is my website: www.frithmobiles.com

Raise the Ceiling! Hang a Mobile!

2011-07-27T22:39:00.000-07:00

You know with all this talk about raising the (debt) ceiling, why not! While we are at it, with this new venture (paying bills) ... let's consider the possibilities of what we would do with this new available space (NASA). I suggest... hang a mobile. Lot's of hot air (government talk) makes good movement (peace talks) of air currents (clean air act), which would turn the mobile naturally (gullible warming).

Here are a few photos of inspiration.

To see more "High Flying Art" for empty ceilings.... come to www.frithmobiles.com!

Happy Birthday July 22 to Alexander Calder!

2011-07-21T23:51:00.001-07:00

Google doodle goes mobile for Alexander Calder's 113th birthday.

A piece of kinetic art took the place of the usual Google logo to celebrate the 113th birthday of American artist and sculptor Alexander Calder.

Friday's Google doodle shows a mobile, a type of kinetic sculpture that was invented by Alexander Calder. Mobiles take advantage of the principle of equilibrium and have objects hanging from rods. Kinetic art uses motion for an artistic effect.

Mobiles are usually brightly coloured free-moving creations in abstract shapes made from sheet metal.

The mobile Google doodle sways on its own and can also be controlled by mouse gestures.

Calder was born on July 22, 1898 in Lawnton, US to a family of artists. While his father and grandfather were both sculptors, his mother was a painter.

He graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1919. He then took art lessons. After a brief career in commercial art, Calder moved to Paris and put up an exhibition of a miniature circus with toy-like animals made of wood and wire. In Paris he formed associations with renowned artists and their influence helped him shape his art.

Calder was also a jewellery designer, an interest that developed when he was fashioning a wedding ring for his marriage with Louisa Cushing James. Besides his sculptures, Calder also illustrated a number of books. Besides mobiles, he also earned a name with stabiles, a type of stationary abstract sculptures.

With the years Calder also scaled up the size of his mobile and stabile installations. Calder died at the age of 78 on November 11, 1976. Two months after his death, Calder was honoured with United States' highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Interactive and animated Google doodles have now become a regular feature on the Google home page. The last such doodle was during the total lunar eclipse of June 15-16 when Google put up its first live doodle that refreshed itself every two minutes to reflect the stage of the moon.

For a dozen years, Google has been occasionally swapping its everyday logo for a doodle, a sketch celebrating holidays, inventions, artists and sporting events, and showcasing designs from contest-winning students.

For a look at contemporary mobile designs .... come see modern mobile artist Julie Frith: www.frithmobiles.com

Article from LA TIMES Blogs: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/07/alexander-calders-mobiles-reimagined-in-todays-google-doodle.html

conversation with the collector: alexander calder: a balancing act

from Patrick Richardson Wright on Vimeo.

Share this gif animation I made of the Google Calder doodle!!
http://www.frithmobiles.com/gifs/calder_google.gif

Stabile Art for Conversation

2011-07-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

A stabile is a form of art that has kinetic features like a mobile but is stationary for the base. The driftwood sculpture above is still called a stabile, but does not move, but can be repositions in different balance points.

This is a new design for me called "Wise Guy" I really like this one, he is fun just to look at! 20" wide by 11" high perfect for a bookshelf or coffee table art piece.

I have many different kinds of stabiles for sale. All are custom colored to your liking. Some come in any size, and if you want smaller or even bigger... just ask, I probably can do it. To see more go to my website: www.frithmobiles.com

Art Mobiles - Connections

2011-06-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

Art Mobiles - Connections

Wooden Plywood Mobiles

2011-05-18T10:24:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't wood make a nice natural material for a mobile? Yes, so I tried it and it worked well. My main medium of plastic for years is fantastic, the choice of colors endless. But I started thinking, let me try something more earthy and natural. Like the Eames chair done in plywood.

Here are a few new designs I started making using plywood and stainless steel.

Eclipse 19"w x 12" high

Plymobius 13"w x 17" high

See: Plymobiles

Jupiter 25"w x 13" high

Why not, use plywood to make a mobile? The wood I chose is a birch plywood unstained, smooth, blonde, even texture and strong. I can now do any of my mobiles and even the stabiles in wood. Pretty... pretty.... pretty good! As Larry David might say!

For more information about mobiles go to: www.frithmobiles.com

A True Balancing Act

2011-04-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

http://wimp.com/balancingart/

For more acts of balance, come see my website!!

www.frithmobiles.com

Mobiles: Heavenly Hang-Ups

2011-04-15T23:19:00.001-07:00

ART IN THE AIR

Hovering in harmony with modern homes, today's mobiles energize and calm living spaces with ever-changing views

From the pages of the CA-Modern magazine
By Dave Weinstein

Brad Howe went to Brazil to study international affairs. Instead, he began churning out mobiles.

"I didn't even know who Calder was," he says, referring to Alexander Calder, the art form's chief inventor. But the Malibu-based artist learned about mobiles -- abstract, kinetic art, generally suspended from the ceiling -- from young Brazilian architects who loved their country's wealth of mid-century modern architecture and realized how beautifully the style meshed with these hovering webs of art.

"There was a huge interest in Brazil because mobiles fit wonderfully in modern architecture," Howe says. "Many architects designed spaces for mobiles -- but not many were making them."

He also discovered an affinity for the art form. "I could look at a mobile and build it the next day from memory," Howe recalls.

"I made seven for a Rio architect who sold them all in a week. I made 200 mobiles in a row, and I sold every one. I was sort of sucked into a vacuum."

Howe's story, surprisingly enough, is not surprising -- not to people who know mobiles. They are an art form, after all, based largely on serendipity -- how the parts move in relation to other parts, to the spaces they inhabit and the people who walk by.

Equally serendipitous are the careers of many of their makers. "Serendipity was the word" for the past year, Howe says, and many mobile makers could say the same about their entire careers.

Several, including Brian Schmitt of Sacramento, fell into the field simply by tinkering with mobiles -- then finding a demand for them. A student of industrial design at Arizona State, and a woodworker since childhood when he constructed an immense skateboard ramp, Schmitt began sculpting mobiles out of wood in his spare time.

"What are you wasting your time on?" an incredulous instructor asked.

Matt Richards of Portland, like many mobile artists, including Calder, began as an engineer. "The technical part of me really likes the idea of mobiles," says Richards, whose firm is Ekko Mobiles. "You're using logic to figure out how to get things to move right."

Heather Frazier, looking for a new gig after closing a boutique in San Francisco, indulged her love of garlands by cutting up her old fashion magazines and turning them into mobiles.

The result? Frazier, also of Portland, discovered a major market for mobiles among a particular sub-set of the mid-century market -- parents.

"I wasn't thinking of designing for the children's market. It naturally happened, because decoration for babies and children today, it's huge!" Frazier says.

What is it about a mobile that appeals to people?

"There's a lightness to it, which is nice," says Tom Graham, who has two mobiles in the Sacramento Eichler home he shares with his wife Lisa Foster. "It introduces movement into the room."

"As sculpture it shapes and defines its space," he says. "And the mobile's space is constantly shifting, its shapes and relationships constantly changing."

In their front living area, Graham and Foster have a Calderesque mobile. In their rear, they have a Schmitt 'Camber' mobile floating in front of a clerestory window.

Clearly, motion is key to the appeal of a mobile. "It has a kind of motion, quite often, that will remind you of the same emotion you feel when looking into the flames of a fireplace, waves in the sea, or clouds in the sky," Howe says.

"As a mobile maker, you can vary movement through different linkages, swivels, or no swivels. Whole sections can move together."

"Each mobile," Howe says, "has its own choreography."

Julie Frith, who produces mobiles in Eureka, says, "They're relaxing. They actually move. Buyers are flabbergasted. They lie in bed and watch it move."

"People turn off the TV to watch mobiles," she adds.

"Mobiles add a dimension to the space that wouldn't be there otherwise," says architect Zoltan Pali, whose Culver City firm SPF:architects put a Howe mobile into a medical office. A successful mobile, he says, is more than decorative; it becomes "part of the architecture and part of the space itself."

Mobiles may also appeal, Schmitt suggests, because they are not as intellectually demanding as much modern art. "A lot of art tries to express ideas or requires interpretation," he says. "What I strive for in the mobile, it's an object you want to have in your home. It enriches your environment. You don't have to analyze it."

Not that there isn't plenty to analyze. Alexander Calder (1898-1976), the Philadelphia artist-engineer who gave mobiles to the world in the 1930s, spent time with the French Surrealists and was equally fascinated with chance procedures and the unconscious.

A mobile, Howe suggests, "is almost like a structure that references a dream activity. They are bodies floating in space, they are planetary, they are like cloudscapes or thought bubbles floating above your head."

Frazier says the appeal is simple. "They make people happy."

Schmitt enjoys the unpredictable way they move. "They're almost like a goldfish you don't have to feed," he says.

"Because it's dynamic," he suggests, "it adds a personality to a space you don't get with a static object. In a corner of an atrium, it really sets off the space."

Mobiles work well in modern houses, Frith says, because high, open-beamed ceilings benefit from the energy of mobile art. "Eichlers have angled roofs, so they're perfect to hang a mobile," she says.

Matt Richards, who began his mobile-making ten years ago, building ten-inch table models he hawked over eBay, still sells some production mobiles through Design Within Reach, but focuses instead on large scale, individually designed commissions -- many for hospitals.

Mobiles succeed in hospitals for the same reason they succeed above cribs -- they're relaxing. Many of his mobiles hang in hospital lobbies and atriums. "Patients or family members sit and look out," he says. "It's slowly moving, just a little movement. In the end it gets mesmerizing. You spend ten minutes gazing at it. That's something other art doesn't do, it doesn't allow you to get lost in it."

About half of Brad Howe's mobiles go into people's homes, often to mobile collectors, who number maybe a thousand worldwide, he estimates, with up to 200 in Los Angeles. "Some people love their mobiles like pets," Howe says. "They're very, very fond of them."

While there is general agreement that a 'mobile' has to move and has to hang, and that its movement must be generated by wind or a breeze generated by passersby and not by a motor, definitions vary.

Many say a 'mobile' must involve interconnected pieces, one hanging from another.

"A suspended interconnected, balanced sculpture," is Howe's definition, "with elements that are cantilevered, with linkages that allow for more or less rotation before the next link can move."

Others use the term in a broader sense to mean art using "anything that might move," Richards says, interconnected or not.

Richards uses a broader term 'hanging kinetic art,' within which 'mobiles' are a subset.

Whatever you call them, mobiles have a natural affinity with mid-century modern design.

Calder and other pioneers of kinetic art -- the Russian Constructivist Naum Gabo in the 1920s and the American-born Scotsman George Rickey in the 1950s -- produced one-of-a-kind, avant-garde artworks.

During the 1950s, mobiles went mass market, with production by several European and American firms, including the Danish company Flensted, which remains in business.

Many sculptors from the early 1940s through the 1960s produced a wide variety of mobile sculptures, including the San Franciscan Robert B. Howard, the Frenchman Jean Tinguely, and Otto Piene, who focused on inflatables. French artist Jackie Matisse worked with kites.

Later mobile artists of note include Timothy Rose of Sausalito and Jerome Kirk, who settled in Healdsburg.

Meanwhile, many advances were made in the much broader field, 'kinetic art,' which ranges from mechanically controlled robots to electronics and sound sculptures.

One of the world's most unique creators of mobile sculptures is San Franciscan Ruth Asawa, whose freeform, basket-like wire designs, which she began in the 1950s, have become iconic. Asawa was married to architect Albert Lanier, who designed mid-century modern homes.

The connection between mobiles and mid-century modern design is acknowledged by many current mobile makers. "A lot of my clients come from that mid-century modern mindset," Matt Richards says.

When Schmitt heard a tour of modern homes was planned for Sacramento last year, he scurried to sign on as a sponsor and 'gifted' a mobile to Graham and Foster, whose home was on the tour.

"The style is timeless, clean design," Schmitt says of mid-century modern. "That's how I'm trying to approach my own aesthetic."

If anything haunts the otherwise joyful world of the contemporary mobile maker, it's the ghost of Calder.

Too many people, Julie Frith says, "they think, if it's a mobile, somebody has copied Calder. No, that's not what it is."

Frith, a "100-percent mobile maker" who's been turning them out for 12 years since being floored at a Calder exhibit, insists she's no copyist. "I want to be different from Calder and from everybody else."

Richards too acknowledges the influence. "I cut my teeth on pieces reminiscent of Calder," he says. "When I get the opportunity I like to try something new."

"To me," Howe says, "mobiles don't belong to Calder. Calder was just a virtuoso in the mobile world. Calder didn't invent them and he didn't own them. He pushed the science of mobiles in a lot of different directions."

Science?

"There a quasi-physics to it," architect Zoltan Pali says with a laugh. "A crazy physics."

Ever since Calder, who would often build several models for each sculpture to get the movement just right, artists have twisted, tied, weighted, and otherwise manipulated their works' hanging elements to get the balance and movement just right.

It is how a mobile moves, as much as its appearance, that defines its style.

That's why so many mobile artists began as engineers -- and why Matt Richards collaborates with Ben Cogdill, his in-house industrial designer.

"It has to work. It has to turn," Julie Frith says. "It has to move nicely, to be graceful."

Mobiles, originally mostly metal, today come in plastic, paper, and in a few cases, wood. Schmitt, who uses bamboo and various woods, plans a new line in metal -- and perhaps one in felt.

Metals used range from stainless steel to aluminum, to various combinations. Connections vary too.

"Some mobiles by artists are more Calder-style, using bent wire with paddles," Schmitt says. "Others are connected with rings that limit the motion, so you know the pieces will stay in relation to others in a certain way.

"I strive for every piece to have full 360-degree rotation. I think it makes a more interesting piece."

Getting the right balance isn't easy, Schmitt says. "That's a little bit of a trade secret. It's part of the mystery."

"I can only approach it knowing the elements look good together," he says, "and as they spin it's going to be a fun effect."

At the end, science gives way to art -- which is another serendipitous thing about the art of mobiles.

"You may start with the basic idea," Howe says, "but once in process, a lot of unexpected things occur. The original idea morphs."

"When working on a piece," he adds, "you end up having all these spontaneous new ideas burst out in front of you. So when you're done, you have ten new directions to work in. And each one of them inspires ten more directions.

"It's a self-propelling experience. You end up with more ideas than you could possibly accomplish in a lifetime."

Photos: David Toerge, Carl Van Vechten, Dave Weinstein, Paulo Tavares Pereira, Chris Schroeer-Heiermann, David Zuttermeister; and courtesy Brian Schmitt of Schmitt Design, Heather Frazier of Frazier & Wing, Julie Frith, Brad Howe, Matt Richards of Ekko Mobiles

Origami cranes take flight

Are you seeking a long and prosperous marriage? One thousand cranes may be the answer.

The cranes, cut from paper using the Japanese technique of origami (ori means 'to fold,' and gami means 'paper'), are often festive décor for weddings.

Although origami creations are commonly displayed as static objects, they take to the air very well, says Linda Tomoko Mihara, a leading San Francisco origami artist. One thousand cranes are suspended from trees during a wedding so they can be viewed by the bridal party, she says.

Mihara is best known for an amazing ability to create multiple three-dimensional images from a single sheet of paper.

Mihara herself has created a number of mobile-like origami projects, including an American flag made of origami cranes that's hanging at the Smithsonian Institution, and a curtain of origami butterflies installed at Lear Automotive in Detroit.

"Origami lends itself to the idea of a mobile or structure of mobiles," Mihara says. She enjoyed a photo taken by Ernie Braun [our cover this issue] of a child who seems enraptured by a flock of 1,000 suspended cranes. "The cranes are in flight," she said, "the wings are open."

Recent Mihara projects have included origami crane mobiles for the rooms of newborn babies, and an origami crane installation for a private home in San Francisco.

Mihara has done other hanging origami installations -- including one in which the origami forms the image of an American flag draped in front of Executive Order 9066 -- which ordered the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. It was shown at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

But when it comes to origami in general, she says, "it seems like the cranes are the number-one thing to do for mobiles."

Looking for a mobile?

Type 'mobile' into your favorite search engine and the siege begins. As mobile maker Julie Frith notes, "There are a lot of mobiles out there."

They range from cute -- teddy bears floating above cribs -- to cheesy, to high art. Many resemble Calder. "A small portion of it is inventive," mobile maker Brian Schmitt says, "and a huge portion is reinventing a style that's been done for decades."

If you're looking for a mobile, bear this distinction in mind: Some are made by people like Schmitt, who considers himself both an artist and a product designer and aims his work at 'normal people.'

That means mobiles produced as multiples in the $100-$200 range. Many mobile makers provide their artworks for less.

Other artists produce only one-of-a-kind works, often for specific sites. Brad Howe sells his residential mobiles for roughly $5,000 to $10,000.

Mobiles can be bought in galleries and museum shops, at crafts shows, or online.

For artists featured in this article:

• Brian Schmitt - Schmitt Design schmittdesign.com/mobiles

• Heather Frazier - Frazier & Wing: frazierandwing.com

• Julie Frith: frithmobiles.com

• Brad Howe: bradhowe.com

• Matt Richards - Ekko Mobiles: ekkomobiles.com

• Linda Tomoko Mihara: origamihara.com

CA-Modern magazine is the full-color publication of the Eichler Network. Its content is aimed at mid-century modern homeowners and enthusiasts throughout California, with an emphasis on Eichler homes, Streng homes, Cliff May Ranchos, and Palmer & Krisel homes. Its content focuses on home maintenance features, solutions, and furnishings for modern homes; profiles on special California neighborhoods; breaking news; and much more.

http://www.eichlernetwork.com/camodern.html

Opt-O Mobile by Julie Frith

2011-03-26T23:31:00.000-07:00

Wind Mobile by Julie Frith

2011-03-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

Alexander Calder 1965 Post Aricle

2011-03-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

MOBILES

The swinging art

and the man who created it

an article by Richard Lemon 1965

Saturday Evening Post Feb. 27, 1965

with a Calder mobile on the front cover.

My husband Brian Ladd, is always looking around on the net for cool mobile art related stuff for me. On Ebay he bought me this vintage magazine... The Saturday Evening Post Feb. 27, 1965. I just love it. Not only is it old and in great shape... it didn't smell like mold! It also had a great article on my favorite artist... Alexander Calder. The front cover shows a child reaching up to touch one of Calder's mobiles.

The start of the article shows an action photo of Calder sitting in the center stationary,

and the motion of his mobiles in action. The first piece shown is a stabile, I have not seen it anywhere, it is called "Rat". I love it!! The humor of Calder really shows!

On the left a stabile "Bucephalus", on the right "Five Rudders".

Shown above is the Alexander Calder show at the Guggenheim. Where people were able to actually touch the giant stabiles and mobiles. "Albert Einstein once spent 40 minutes watching the entire cycle of a motorized mobile called A Universe at the Museum of Modern Art, and reportedly said he wishes he had thought of it himself".

"Calder broke all attendance records at the Guggenheim, outdrawing even the mighty van Gogh." I think you will like this article very much. To see the article above go to my website:

Calder Article in the Saturday Evening Post 1965

Feel free to share it with others, I made it large enough to print out for your own copy of history. Enjoy... I am sure Calder would have wanted us too!! http://www.frithmobiles.com

Swinging Art of Tom Shannon

2011-03-11T23:23:00.000-08:00

This video is about the work of Tom Shannon, an artist who directly integrates science into his paintings. Though he does a lot of science themed work, this video focuses on his work with a pendulum. He created a machine that emits multiple paints (at the same time) while moving in a pendulum. He can control, through a remote control, the amount of paint that is emitted. For example, if he had blue, red, and yellow in the machine, he could lesson the amount of blue or increase the amount of yellow. The paintings are colorful and vivid. They create interference patterns and sometimes even recognizable images. I thought this video was interesting because I'm not familiar with many artists who use science, and am interested in both art and science.

by Mark Vondracek

Uplift your Spirits

2011-02-01T09:48:00.000-08:00

Mobiles add a truly uplifting spirit to a room.

This is a one of a kind mobile by me, Julie Frith... it was made with fun in mind! I really like colors, and the circular shapes are really relaxing and calming... (to me). This mobile has that kind of retro feeling, of dots and many dots, like Jean Miro puts in his paintings. A flow of color with 3D fullness. This fits perfectly in a open skylight with the sun coming down making the shapes turn around. For more mobiles go to: http://www.frithmobiles.com or email me at frithmobiles@gmail.com

Modern Art Baby Mobiles

2010-09-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

Doppler mobile makes a great baby mobile

Modern art for babies? What kind of baby would be interested in modern art, they are way too young. Mobiles you say? Oh, then that's something babies love! There are so many mobiles, musical, moving, wiggling, fuzzy, cute... but modern art? That's a whole noth'a level!! Alexander Calder in the 50's designed some pretty unique mobiles, then others took off the ideas of this new style medium of creating. I, Julie Frith was one of them!! Seeing Calder mobiles in art museums always fascinated me, I would look and blow at them (the guards say not to blow). And watch them slowly move, petal by petal, turning so gently. They made me smile.
Mobius mobile in a nursery.
This is the reason why babies like them too, they move so slowly, and it is not crazy fast, but they do change with just the slightest of air movement. Children also get attached to their belongings as a youngster... and even to their baby mobile! They will not want to get rid of their mobile. So why not a modern art mobile! As the kid grows up... he/she will love the mobile and be reminded of the early beginnings of life and how it made them smile. Modern art mobiles for babies and their lives. For more on Julie Frith... see: http://www.frithmobiles.com and I would love to make a mobile just for your new baby.

Piccomo mobile below was named one of the best new baby mobiles 2008-9. Reviewed by Parents, Cookie, and in Dwell.
Baby mobiles are a dime a dozen, but some end up costing quite a penny. Don't bother buying something cheap, it will just be tossed in the recycling or garbage. A well made mobile should last almost forever. There is no reason it shouldn't, unless it is out of style, outgrown, or fallen apart. My art mobiles last forever, will always be in style, and I even have them hanging outside, very durable, but pricey some say. But I feel something well made is worth every penny. You and your baby will be smiling.

A New High School and a new Art MOBILE!!

2010-08-23T23:38:00.000-07:00

Mobile by Julie Frith

Jones High school was burned down. And a new better school was built.

For nearly the last three years, the entire town wanted to know what the brand new, 83,000 square foot facility would look like.

The original high school was destroyed after power lines fell on the building and started a fire in the 2007 ice storm.

Watch this video of the local news

The Multius Hanging Art Mobile

2010-07-12T21:28:00.001-07:00

This beautiful mobile is called "Multius" by Julie Frith. It comes in various sizes, from small to XX large. The Multius has been chosen by a variety of buyers; parents picking this mobile design for their new baby's nursery, architects filling a large open space, interior designers matching shapes and colors to their clients' homes, gardeners choosing an 8' Multius mobile for their outdoor courtyard.

All around the world this design is hanging, moving in the breeze dazzling people's eyes. Organic shapes, all interconnected moving one petal, which then moves the next and that moves another.

As an art form, kinetic hanging mobiles have been around for 80 years now. Alexander Calder is credited with creating the first mobiles and stabiles, and is still considered a leader in the medium. For more information on the Multius mobile see Mobiles by Julie Frith. Website: www.frithmobiles.com

Mobiles and Stabiles by Julie Frith

2010-07-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

Garden Mobiles Hanging Art with Nature

2010-07-07T11:50:00.001-07:00

Mobile Art aside the house ads color to the greenery. Mobiles are so fun, they dazzle your eyes with their movement and color. Make sure you untangle them from the wind.

Some mobiles look so much like plants, they blend right into the flower beds.

Can you see this mobile?

Make a collection on a side wall outside with fun beach collections of driftwood, rocks, flowers, found objects, toys, mobiles and even broken pots.

Multius mobile made of plastic and stainless steel, will never rust.
Mobiles outside are Buddha-ful! That's what my cat "Jazz" says!

For more information on mobiles, go to Mobiles by Julie Frith.

Unique Baby Mobiles for Modern Parents

2010-07-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

Mobius mobile by Julie Frith is in all white to accent the white frames and white crib. It will entertain the baby as she/he sleeps and comes awake. The mobile moves with the slightest of air currents, and will calm and dazzle the babies eyes for hours. Make sure to move the mobile up and out of the babies reach as she/he grows older. But don't remove the mobile form the babies room, this is a part of the child's upbringing and your kid will be attached to it forever remembering his childhood as she/he grows up. They can even take their mobile with them to college, then give it to their child etc. Forever art, that will be in the family heirloom for generations to come.

This is an Eliptusmobius mobile by Julie Frith which matches the rooms decor, the bedding in orange, creams, browns, tans and white. Color coordinating the mobile can be so easy. Just tell the artist making the mobile the colors, and she can make a few color mockups for you to choose from.

Stark and clean and modern.

The combination of the Modernist and the Eliptusmobius mobiles work well together. This nursery has two one from their first baby and the second from their latest baby. Each child has their own. As they grow up they will share their room and their art. Make sure to have the art certificates made out to the child's name.

For more information on baby mobiles see: www.frithmobiles.com

Organic Art Garden Circles

2010-05-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

Making Organic Garden Circles

By Julie Frith

Here is a quick easy way to make a modern circle shape garden.

You could almost even call these crop circles!! lol....

First buy a 6"wide by 25' length black plastic garden border... like at Ace Hardware. It should come with a connector rod. You will also need 8 bags of 2 cubic foot bags... organic planting mix.

Find in your yard where you want your circle garden to be. Place the border down and connect the ends. It comes scrolled you may need to unroll flat first. See in the photos... you will need to dig all around the circle to about 6" down. Make sure you line up any sprinkler system or pipes/ electrical before digging.

Make sure it is level with the yard. Then you will need to dig out the center yard of the circle. Replace some to pack the circle outer edging of the border. Then put the excess dirt for fill in your recycling bin or side gardens. The center then gets filled with the organic mix, you can add 1/2 organic manure supreme mix as well. This should fill the entire circle. I got organic vegi starts and placed in the new dirt, aligning them like a clock, very evenly around the circle. Taller plants in the middle. I have animal problems where I live, who like to dig up plants.... so I put down chicken wire (galvanized - won't rust). And tucked it into the edge of the border ring, holding the wire down with wood posts. The wire also seems to keep away slugs! Yeah! Then cut the wire where the plants go with scissors.

Add some stepping stones.... Voila.. you're done!

Then all you are to do is plant, water, wait and watch grow.... then EAT,
every day... right from your own garden circle.

Keeping the separation from grass to garden keeps the slugs and bugs away.
Make sure you water! Once in the morning and once at night.

My cat loves the circle gardens, so warm. The galvanized
netting mesh keeps her from digging up the dirt.

Lush herbs and lettuce grows just fast enough for you to eat from all summer long.

Modern Hanging Art Mobiles

2010-04-08T12:25:00.001-07:00

Multius Mobile

http://www.frithmobiles.com

Mobiles for home, office, baby and business. Hang a mobile and watch it turn. They are beautiful and relaxing. Fill your empty high spaces with art. Alexander Calder started this style of art in the early 50's and now his mobiles sell for $10,000! As most artist adventure and discover their talents, I too have found what I like to do.... make mobiles! They are colorful, they add dimension to your room, floating sculpture that moves on it's own. How fantastic!

Best Baby Mobiles 2010

2010-04-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

"Eliptusmobius" is 20"w x13"h, has petals for underneath viewing $135. The delicate balanced petals are so beautiful, blowing and watching them move is a wonder. Children that have mobiles near their bed or crib are known to be calmer, sleep better and have a wider imagination than those babies in a blank environment. Stimulation is the key, and a mobile not only activates the child's eyes, but stirs the brain to have more creativity, imagination, possibilities of science, balance and nature.

"Neptune" Foamobile is 26"w x 10"h, lightweight, moves at the slightest wind and very entertaining to a young child's eyes. Great price too $100

"Modernist" mobile is 30"w x 13"h a fantastic mobile for movement, turns from many pivot points to always show various balance configurations. $150

Art for a baby's mind stimulates activity of the eyes and brain, peacefully calming him or her to sleep. An art mobile goes beyond the nursery... right with them to college! A lasting connection from their childhood they will always cherish.

"Bluefish" mobile 20"w x 13"h, a traditional fish design with custom colors to match any room.

"Planets" mobile that does not (or does) have the planet Pluto. 37"w x16"h a glow in the dark mobile that is just fantastic, recommended for ALL ages!

Safety Note: Always hang mobiles out of child's reach.

___________________________________________

These are my top 5 picks for the best baby mobiles of 2010. So many mobiles these days it is very difficult finding the perfect one. I chose to show art mobiles compared to clamp on musical or puffy type mobiles. Those only last for the first year or so. I like to buy items for my child that I know will grow with the kid and that they will enjoy viewing forever. Art becomes a part of the child's room, then as the child grows up not only will they love art, but share with others their upbringing.

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Art Mobiles - Connection

2010-04-06T10:49:00.001-07:00

Art Mobiles - Connection

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Rolly Crump: Earliest Mobile maker and Disney designer 1950's

2010-03-22T15:05:00.000-07:00

Roland Fargo Crump

Here's Rolly Crump's Tower Of The Four Winds,
a 120 foot tall kinetic sculpture unveiled at the 1964 New York World's Fair

Rolly Crump and Walt Disney

Rolly Crump (Roland Fargo Crump)

Roland Fargo Crump born in 1930, Alhambra, CA.

He began his career in the late 1950s at the Disney Studios as an animation in-betweener, where he worked on Sleeping Beauty (1959) and 101 Dalmatians (1961) before moving to Walt Disney Imagineering. In the beginning of his Imagineering career, Rolly worked on early concepts for the Haunted Mansion, as well as the development of various tiki gods and goddesses for The Enchanted Tiki Room, which opened in 1963. Rolly also worked on developing concepts for the 1964 New York World's Fair, notably it's a small world. Walt wanted an architectural landmark to accompany the pavilion, which would capture the spirit of children at play. Walt asked him to incorporate color and lively movement into a tower to be positioned outside the "Small World" building. Rolly's vivid design for the "Tower of the Four Winds" rose from the attraction's forecourt as the tallest symbol of "Disney at the Fair."

- From Company Literature

*****

The following is a speech given by former Imagineer Rolly Crump at a special Ryman-Carroll Foundation tribute event at the Disneyland Resort on October 7, 2000.

*****

All right, I'm going to start ... I'll try to go a little more chronological this time.

I got a job as an in-betweener with the Disney organization back in 1952. And at that time I was a head dipper at a potter's, dipping, uh, you know, glaze. Plaster pieces into the glaze. But I always wanted to work for Disney because I always liked to draw when I was a little guy. And so my mother said, "Well, why don't you apply for a job?" So I said, "OK." So I did. I applied for a job as an in-betweener at the Disney Studios and they called me back and they said, "Yes, we'd love to hire you." Fine. I said, "OK, good." And they said, "And your starting salary is $30 a week."

Well, I was making $78 a week as the head dipper and my wife was pregnant with our first child and the freeway was going through the house I was in. And I thought, "Oh, my god." So I went to my mother and I said, "I don't know." She said, "Honey, you always wanted to work for the company." She said, "Go for it." So I said, "OK."

So I took the job but what I did, like a lot of us who were in animation that didn't make that much money, we got a second job. So on the weekends, I worked with a friend of mine building sewer manholes. I mixed the mud and lowered the bricks and the mud to him so that I could continue working at Disney.

And of course it all paid off because what I learned from the company was absolutely unbelievable. In fact, I have a slide show I did called "Learning from Walt," and what that really means is learning from all of the people that I was with. I only had a high school education and all of the sudden I was put into rooms with guys that were graduates of Art Center, from Chouinard, from all different art schools and colleges. And here Rolly is, you know?

So I begin to work with all of these people and what happened was one of the fellas that I was ... like I said, I was the last in-betweener hired on Peter Pan, so that was slipping right in at the last second ... uh, it was a fellow that was named, uh, Wathel Rogers. And Wathel had a little pushpin on his light, on his desk and there was this little propeller turning on it. And every time I would go to have my scene checked, I would look at this little propeller. And I was really intrigued with kinetic sculpture and I asked him, I said, "How'd you do that?" And he said, "Well, it's a secret."

Well, what it was was a little clip that holds the eraser to the pencil. And, uh, what he did was he'd take it down and he bent it and he'd put it on the end of this thing that was spinning. And I said, "C'mon Wathel." "TOP Secret!" So I went back and I kept trying to make these damn things and I ruined tons of them trying to make these little propellers. Finally, after about six weeks, he said, "I'll tell you what ... I'll sell it to you." So he sold it to me for a penny and then he showed me the way you do it is you take a ball point pen and make a dent in it so that it rides in the little bump. OK.

So one of the fellas from the art department came over and said, "Gosh, Rolly, that's a great little propeller. I had it on top of a little cardboard helicopter that I made and it was hanging off the air conditioning. He said, "How'd you do that?" I said, "I'll tell you. I'm not going to charge you, I'll just tell you."

So then he made one but put paddles on it ... little cardboard paddles. And I went and saw his and his was bigger than mine. So I went back but I started making propellers. And I had my frekin' room filled with propellers. I mean after about six months I was making propellers all day long and once in a while, I'd do an in-between. But anyways, what happened was Ward Kimball, uh, one of the Nine Old Men, saw my propellers and was really intrigued by it and he told Walt, "You gotta see this guy's propellers." You know, so obviously, and I didn't realize this, Walt came down one evening and saw my propellers and, uh, said, "You know, we outta get that kid to come work with us on the Disneyland project."

This was when WED was first developed. WED was his initials - Walter Elias Disney - and that was the company that designed Disneyland. And so in 1959, they asked me if I'd be interested and I said, "Yeah, sure, great." I didn't have a clue what I was going to do but I couldn't do propellers for the rest of my life. So, uh, anyway ... we, uh, Walt ... the nice thing about Walt was that he really believed in you.

So, uh, it was kinda cute because the first day I met Walt, he shook my hand and said, "Roland ... it's nice to have you with us." And I said, "Mr. Disney ... it's nice to be with you." And he said, "No, Roland. It's not Mr. Disney. It's Walt. And don't you forget it." So I said, "Okay, fine." Well, we went a few days where I was Roland and then after a while he started calling me Owen. There was a writer named Owen Crump. He was writing for motion pictures. So, oh, for five or six months, I was Owen. So I went along with that. And then I became Orland. Walt started calling me Orland. And I said, "Fine." You know. I don't care. At least he knows who I am. But the real coup de grace was one day we were in a meeting and he turned to Yale Gracey and he said, "Yale, you and, uh, what's his name here ... I want you to work on the Mansion."

So anyway, that's how I got started.

So I was now transferred over into, uh, WED. But I want you to know that when you're in animation, you grow up with cartoonists. And the gags that cartoonists played on each other went clear back to the '30s. And Walt allowed this, in fact, he thought, any of the gags that the guys came up with, we'd do.

Well, one of the greatest gags -- and the reason I'm telling you this gag is because these gags continued on with what we did here for Disneyland, you know ... a way of working. So one day, one evening while I was working on Peter Pan, I came in and there were two guys on their hands and knees and they were drilling a hole in the wall. And this is on overtime. And I said, "When are you going to work?" "We're drilling a hole in the wall." And I said, "Yeah, I can see that. What are you doing?"

Well, they lined it up with the hole in the animation desk in the other room where the light cord goes through ... And that was Milt Kahl's room. So they lined it up perfectly and what they did was they got a great big squeeze ball and a hose and they would stick the hose through the little hole and go pop with talcum powder and there would be talcum powder all over his crotch. So he would get up to go to the bathroom and "Geez! What's all this?" There's talcum powder all over his crotch. And then they would let it go for about a week then poof. And he would yell and scream when he found this talcum powder.

And so then one weekend, they collected flies. And they had a big funnel and they had jars of flies. They kept tapping this jar of flies and the flies would keep coming up from underneath the desk and he's yelling and screaming about the flies.

Well the final, the final thing was he was going to have lunch with Walt and that day wore a suit and tie and everything and he turned off his light to go have lunch with Walt and they shot him right in the crotch with hot water. And that ended the gag but he had to go over to the Rose room and have lunch with Walt with his pants completely wet.

But that was just -- I could go on forever about the gags that we played. So a sense of humor is something that did carry and kept us as cartoonists even when we were working on the Disney projects. And I'll give you an example. I'll give you two examples of things that took place.

Yale Gracey and I were asked to design all of the illusions for the Haunted Mansion and so we had this big, big room and we blacked out all of the windows. This was in the animation department. And we had skulls and skeletons and we had stuff all around the room ... gory heads. And one of the things that we had was a great big monster that we painted with all kinds of things on it and everything and a weird head. And we had a string attached to its head and when Walt would come in we'd let him ... we were just playing around with stuff. We didn't know what we were going to use it ... we'd take this gun and shoot the monster and the monster would blow up, the lid would come off and there was some black stuff underneath and the head would come off and swing around the room. My wife made a China silk ghost that you'd put over a small caged fan and when you turned it on, the ghost would fill up and start shaking and everything. And so we had all of this stuff.

Well, one day what happened was we get a call from the personnel department and they said, "The janitors have requested that you leave a light on." So Yale and I said, "Oh, all right, we'll leave a light on." And so what we did was we rigged the room. Right in the middle of the room we had an infrared beam and when you first came in the lights were kinda low but they were on. But when you broke the beam, the black lights came on, the real lights went off, the monster blew up and up comes the ghost. So we came to work the next day and the ghost was going all night long and the head was hanging in the center of the room and right in the middle of the floor was a broom. And we get a call from the personnel department, "They are NEVER coming back."

So this was it. No matter what you were doing there was this little craziness that kind of stayed with you when you were doing stuff.

I was working with ... we were working on the World's Fair and we were working on the Ford Pavilion. And Blaine (Gibson), the head sculptor, sculpted this very powerful woman. A BIG, powerful woman. And sent her over to the studio to have a fiberglass body made of her for the Primeval World sequence. And they sent her back and they had the rubber skin on her and they painted her and they had a raccoon skin wrapped around her. And Blaine said, "You know, Rolly, I'm not sure that skin color is the right value. Would you mind taking your shirt off, standing by her and having your picture taken with her? Because the Polaroid is black and white and we'll find out if the value matches." I said, "Hell, I'll do better than that," and I rolled up my pants, took my shoes off and wrapped her raccoon skin around me. And I had my picture taken with her ... And I had my picture taken with her ... And I had my picture taken with her. I basically attacked this woman and we had 8 or 10 of these black-and-white Polaroids of Rolly, you know, with the cave woman and we put them in this little file.

Well, a couple weeks later, Walt's over and Walt is asking Blaine about something and Blaine says, "Oh, I think I have that on file. I have a little Polaroid file and maybe it's in there." So he's going through it like this and Walt's looking over his shoulder. And all of a sudden you see Rolly attacking this cave woman and Walt says, "What's that?" And Blaine says, "Oh, I was just checking some skin values with Rolly." And Walt said, "Let me see them." And he takes them out and lays them out and Walt busted out laughing. Here's Walt laughing and checking out Rolly, you know, attack a cave woman.

Meanwhile, I've got indigestion. I headed across the room to where there was a 7-Up machine and got a 7-Up to calm my stomach down. And this friend of mine is standing by the machine, and he says, "Rolly, what's going on over there?" And I said, "Walt saw the pictures of me with the cave woman." And he said, "What did he say?" And I said, "He laughed." And he said, "Oh." And I turned around and Walt was standing right there and looked me straight in the eye and said, "That's right. He laughed." That shows you the crazy things that you could do or whatever that was a part of what you did for a living.

The next thing, after I got done working on the Haunted Mansion and the illusions for that, our next involvement was to do the Tiki Room. The Tiki Room was originally designed to be a restaurant. And so I remember - and these are the things that I remember that are so special - our sitting in a room with Walt when he would come up with an idea. And then all of a sudden it was one of the attractions at Disneyland. Being there when the idea was first kicked off was very special.

Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room

One thing that happened was Walt said, "I want to do a little Tiki Room. I just want a little Tiki, Tiki Room for over in Adventureland. We're re-doing Adventureland." So we said, "Okay, fine."

So John Hench, one of our lead art directors was asked to do a rendering of what the Tiki Room would look like. And John did. He did a beautiful rendition of birds in cages and the interior of this thing and Walt took one look at it and said, "John, you've got birds in there." And John said, "Yeah," and Walt said, "Well, you can't have birds in there." And he said, "Well, why not?" "They're going to poop in the food." Yeah, he really said that.

And John said, "No, no, no. They're not real birds, they're stuffed birds." And Walt said, "Disney does not stuff birds." And John said, "No, no, no ... they look stuffed. They are little mechanical birds that cheep." And Walt said, "Oh, little mechanical birds that cheep. Well, maybe they can cheep and cavort with each other." And that's how we started the Tiki Room.

And then we went on and on and on and then all of a sudden we started to develop the works of these little guys and the sounds and everything. So all of a sudden that was in production.

And then Walt said to me, "Rolly I want you to design the pre-show Tikis outside so that the people waiting to go in ..." See at that time, it was still a restaurant. "... While they are waiting to go in, there will be a little show that goes on." So I say, "Okay, fine."

So I started doing these little sketches and I got all this information out of the library about the different gods and goddesses of the islands of the Pacific so I'd be authentic because Rongo was the god of kite flying, Pele was the god of fire and everything, so I did all these little sketches and for one of them I got an idea. In the Orient, they have where they drip water into a little piece of bamboo and when it fills, it dumps. And when it comes back, it hits a log and scares the rabbits and the deer away. I thought, "Yeah, I'll do that." Supposedly, what he hits on top is his wife and that's the way the story goes, that's his wife between his legs.

So anyway, I'm showing all these pictures to Walt and Walt looks at them and says, "Are these all authentic, Rolly?" And I said, "Yes, sir, they are." "What's that the god of?" And he pointed right to the one with the bamboo. And I didn't know what to say. Luckily John Hench was standing next to me and said, "That's the god that tells the time." And Walt said, "Oh, okay." So when the meeting was over, John said, "You better find out who the god is that tells the time," which I did. I went to the book and it's Maui.

So anyway, Maui was then designed. All these were were little quick sketches that Walt bought off on. They weren't even in color. They were just little line drawings. And Walt said, "Build 'em." So I took them to the head sculptor and said, "Will you get started on these? Walt bought off on them." And he said, "Rolly, I'm too busy. I don't have time for that." And I said, "Well, who's going to sculpt them?" And he said, "You are." And I said, "I am? I've never sculpted before in my life." I want you to know that the first piece of sculpture I did in my life is Maui in the pre-show of the Tiki Room.

Anyway, what happened was, I said, "Okay, fine." And he started telling me how to build the armatures, how to put the clay on. And it was plasticine clay, an oil-based clay. And when it's cold, it's really hard to work with. And this is in the springtime and it was really cold in this little barn that we worked in. So I take them and put them on wheels and push them into the parking lot. And I actually put the clay and sculpted them in the parking lot. So I want you to know that all the pre-show Tikis before you go in there were sculpted in the parking lot. They were not sculpted in a beautiful studio with north light.

And from there, I sent them to Disneyland and they made them out of fiberglass. They sent them back to me. Once I got them, I painted them. Painted them all up. And then I took them to Disneyland, and I actually took a wrench and installed them. If you were to have that done today, you'd probably have about 50 people. There would have to be renderings done and engineering done. In those days, and that's why I call them my naïve days, we just did it. We did whatever it took to do it. In those days, again there were only 30 of us and that included the janitors and the people who worked in the accounting department and everything. So, it was marvelous.

The humor also carried on in this first building that we were in. I had this motorcycle and I had been riding it at lunchtime. And I came back in and I was just getting ready to park it when one of the secretaries said, "You know, I've never ridden a motorcycle before." So I said, "Get on the back and I'll take you." So I went through the building, right up to her desk and dropped her off. Well, Dick Irvine, the lead art director, opens up the door, looks out and says, "Oh, it's just Rolly," and shuts the door. That's because there was this constant fun that we had and it continued on forever.

Okay, now the next thing is that after we finished up the Tiki Room, and Walt basically said after we were designing it, "No one will leave the restaurant, so we're going to make a show out of it." So when you sit on those chairs, I want you to know those chairs were purchased for a restaurant. Because if that was meant to be a theater, there'd be bench seating all the way around.

And the other thing was that I sculpted the birds, actually, I sculpted 80 percent of the Tiki Room. The bird mobile that comes out of the ceiling, well, they sent me up on a Raymond Lift because I had to work on it 15 feet up in the air. And they sent me up and they let me down only when I had to go to the bathroom and when I wanted lunch. So that was kind of fun doing that. And again, like I said, they sent it over to the machine shop that made this damn thing that opens up and they sent it over and said, "Okay, Rolly, sculpt it." So anyway, that was that.

it's a small world

We had handstand-walking contest, you know, in the middle of the model shop. When I was in animation, that was the rage to be able to walk coming down the hall on your hands. I thought it was pretty cool, yeah, I could do that. And all of a sudden our lawyer came in and I said, "We're having a handstand-walking contest." "Well, can I enter?" And I said, "Why, yes." So he took his jacket off. I didn't realize that he had been a gymnast in high school - All-City. He jumps into a handstand and just goes all over the room. And that was our lawyer. We had some fun with that.

We played Frisbee. I want you to know that Blaine Gibson, who was our head sculptor, was the finest Frisbee player that we had. We had yo-yo contests at break times. I had to give magic shows at break time. And we just had a marvelous, marvelous time.

There was one little gal, Leota ... it's her head that is in the ball in the Haunted Mansion, and Lee was an absolutely gorgeous creature, absolutely gorgeous. And when I was doing Adventureland Bazaar, Lee was hired. And when I came back to do the Tiki Room, she had been there for about six weeks. And you know, I was just playful, having a lot of fun. She was kind of a shy little thing. And she told me later, she said, "You know, Rolly, if you had been here when I started, I would have quit."

In fact, she and I had a lot of fun. We were painting one day, we were working on the birds for the Tiki Room and I reached over and I painted a little heart on her and she reached over and painted a little heart. So we were sitting there painting, we were painting each other, and she was kind of "healthy" so I painted this little line that kinda went underneath her blouse and I had her lift her leg and I painted a line all the way down to her big toe. I said, "When you go home tonight, show this to Harvey, your husband, and say, 'Look what Rolly did.'" And she did. So again, this is the part of never letting go of your sense of humor.

Okay, now, once we finished the Tiki Room and we got that all done, I was in charge of the bazaar, which is over in Adventureland, when you first come in, it's the little one on the right. And they said, "Okay, Rolly, we're going to let you have the chance at doing your own thing." And I said, "Okay, fine." And they said, "You've got to re-do this bazaar and you've got six weeks and that's it." And I said, "Okay, fine."

So what they did was, what they said, "We're going to give you six carpenters, six painters, and we're going to rent a soundstage over at Allied Studios and build that there." I said, "Great." I didn't have a clue as to what I was going to build or what I was going do and I had six weeks to do it in. And so I came down to the boneyard here, I collected old ticket booths. They were out in the dump. I got columns that were in the dump. I got streetlamps in the dump. And all that stuff shipped up to the soundstage that I was in.

And I worked off an applebox and I had a bunch of crates and stuff. And so I'm doing sketches and I'm giving the sketches to the carpenters. And I'm working out what the colors are going to be and I've got my little stack of books. One day the carpenter comes up and says, "I got your sketches, Rolly, but what's the scale?" I said, "Scale? What's scale?" And he says, "Well, do you have a scale ruler?" And I said, "What's a scale ruler?" I didn't have ... this get's back to not knowing what you are doing, you just do it. So he and I took, and I said, "Well, this is about 8 feet tall and this is about 6 feet." So we actually made a little cardboard scale ruler. He had one and I had one. And what it was was one inch and a quarter or a sixteenth, equaled a foot. And so I came to learn about this little scale ruler. So I went back to WED, one day I said, "Do you know what a scale ruler is? Show me what it's all about." And they showed me and I said, "Ew, I like my little cardboard one better." So anyway, what happened, when we got finished the carpenter stuck his head in and said, "If we ever work together again, I'll be all ready for you."

They were naïve years. We just did it and we had a lot of fun. The interesting thing about it is I wasn't ... my boss, Dick Irvine ... never told me that this particular design I was working on, he gave me a week's lead time. So it was really opening a week after he said it was going to open. Then I found out through the grapevine that the reason he lied to me is because he didn't believe in me. And we had it done.

Every Friday, I'd go up and I'd meet with him and I'd tell him exactly where we were and what was going on. So I went up one Friday and I said, "Tonight at midnight the trucks are arriving to pick it up and they'll be delivering it probably at 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock in the morning tomorrow." And he just went pale. And he didn't tell me that he hadn't put the floor in yet. And so he had to get on the phone and call Dick Fowler, who was running Disneyland at the time, and he didn't, he was embarrassed to say anything in front of me, and he said, "What do you mean the floor's not in? Oh, it was on schedule? Oh, okay. Well, the truck is arriving tomorrow night at 3 o'clock in the morning so that floor had better be in." So they did. The guys worked all night long to get the floor in. And I never told Dick that I knew he was playing with me. I had a lot of fun with Dick too. He was a marvelous administrator. He wasn't a very good designer but he was a good administrator.

Once we finished doing the Tiki Room, that's when the World's Fair projects came along. Walt called us in one day and said, "We have one piece of real estate left over at the World's Fair," and he said, "I've got a little idea for a boat ride." A little boat ride? What was this all about? We had done Mr. Lincoln. We had done Carousel of Progress. We had done all of this high technology, of making Lincoln stand up and all this good stuff. And he wants to do a little boat ride. What we were thinking was maybe the boat ride is like Storybook Land and we were thinking, "Oh, that's kinda corny."

Anyway, nine months to the day that Walt said I have this idea for a little boat ride; we installed Small World at the World's Fair. And nothing has ever been done in that time frame, that quickly. And that was because we had Walt. If you were asked to do something by Walt, everybody stepped away - management stepped away. It was between you and him to get this thing done. So, we did. We got it done.

We actually had it constructed in Los Angeles; we had all of the animatronics figures made at the machine shop at the Disney Studios. And then we built the sets, lit them and put in the sound system. Then we set it up dry in one of the soundstages at the studio and we pushed Walt through in a boat on wheels at the right speed so he could look at it like he was really on the ride. And once he bought off on it, off to the World's Fair it went. And so away it went to the World's Fair.

Well, we all got shipped off to help install it at the World's Fair, which was kind of an exciting time frame. Because back there, we didn't realize it, that the guys that were helping us put this together had a sense of humor. And so one morning we came in, and they had put super suds into the trough and we had foam like this going through the ride. So we had to spend the whole day to clean the foam out and then about two days later we came in and it was filled with Koi. In the middle of the night, they had gone next door to where Kodak was and stole the Koi and brought them over and stuck them in the big trough.

So anyway, we had our fun, and it was a marvelous time - a very, very exciting time.

-Photos and transcription by Matthew Walker

Illustration by Roland Crump

*****

About Rolly Crumps mobiles....

Rolly Crump with a
few of his kinetic mobiles and sculptures, 1963.

From Popular Science Monthly, 1954...

It's all about balance.
The completed mobile is shown below.

Mobile made by Julie Frith, 47"wide by 16"high plastic and stainless steel
Created from the Popular Science 1954 magazine article,
making a mobile made and designed by Rolly Crump

*****

For more about Roland Fargo Crump: http://rolandcrump.com/

More mobiles by Julie Frith: http://www.humboldt1.com/~mobiles/

This article was a collection of many articles,
joined together by Julie Frith

Japan Dangles 20' Art Mobile

2010-02-27T22:25:00.001-08:00

Hanging, dangling down the stainwell this large 20' mobile is displayed in Osaka, Japan. Not one , not two, but four mobiles in one, all connected... making it 20' long. Colorful petals delight the viewers eyes as they go up and down the stairs. Kinetically balanced each bar of the mobile moves from the air currents from below, making the mobile move. This mobile was custom designed just for this space.

For more information see: Mobiles by Julie Frith.

Balancing a Mobile

2010-01-27T13:43:00.000-08:00

http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/interactive/mobile.htm

Learn to balance a mobile, with this interactive NGA program for students and teachers. Add weight to a bar, then add another, see what happens when you change their size! Everything is balanced by the other side. Add different shapes, and change their colors. A fun site for learning the art of balancing a mobile.

Make your own Mobile!

2010-01-27T13:42:00.001-08:00

Watch the virtual mobile change and grow as you add branches, shapes, and colors. Adjust the orbit speed and make the pieces spin. See how the mobile casts shadows on the wall, then change your point of view and watch it create spirographic patterns as it moves through space.

National Gallery of Art NGA Kids a great site for all ages! Watch a Flash video showing one of Calder's mobiles and it's shadows.

http://www.nga.gov/kids/zone/mobile/calderroom.htm

Alexander Calder, Cascading Flowere 1949 painted metal, painted wire, and wire 221 x 243.8cm (87"x96")

Art Mobiles - Connection

2010-01-27T13:10:00.001-08:00

Art Mobiles - Connection

Posted using ShareThis

Coffee, Computers and a Mobile

2010-01-26T14:43:00.000-08:00

Starbucks St.Louis, MO - Olive and Craig - a 12' custom mobile made by Julie Frith
Photo by Chrisopher Vaught

I never thought drinking coffee would be so popular that there would be a coffeeshop on every corner of town? Well it has! Starbucks and mom and pop shops are everywhere! They've made it so comfortable inside, they even have free wifi for laptop users to browse the internet while sipping their coffee. Adding more pleasure to the atmosphere ambiance, the shops have added cool lighing, modern designed interiors, comfy furniture and best of all... ART! WOW! Drink up, hook up, and dream away!

A Discussion about Alexander Calder with Charlie Rose

2009-12-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

Mobile Art and their Beginnings

2009-12-21T21:18:00.000-08:00

Alexander Calder "Red Panel"

1951 Lynn Chadwick "Fish Eater" stabile mobile

Mobiles and their beginnings. Where did it all start? Hanging, dangling pieces of metal, wood and plastic? Mobiles have been around since the early 1900's when Russian Constructivist Alexander Rodchenko appropriated the idea of the hanging mobile. From this idea, Alexander Calder (1898-1976) was the first to develop the mobile as a three-dimensional kinetic art form. In 1932 Marcel Duchamp gave the name "mobiles" to Alexander Calder 's new art forms. Calder also made static, sculptural constructions called "stabiles", this term was titled by Jean Arp.

1936 Alexander Calder "Snake and the Cross"

Want to learn more... ? Links to mobile artists, their mobiles and websites galore! How do you make a mobile? Check out this site, it has a lot of mobile links and information.
http://www.humboldt1.com/~mobiles/artmobiles.html

Interior Designers Wanted

2009-12-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

In order to spread cool ideas around, someone has to start with saying "That is a great idea!". Well, here is a great idea. To all interior designers, when making plans to renovate, update or improve a client's home or business, think of adding a mobile to the upper skylights, in an empty corner, above a stairwell, or out in a garden a large stabile.
See more ideas here!

Mobiles are great for a spice of something retro. They are fun and colorful, adding movement to a large open space. Petals turn from the natural light that heats the room. A definite necessity to a baby's nursery room. If you are designing a modern bright colored entertainment room, add a mobile!

Big or small, Mobiles by Julie Frith can custom color, size and design a mobile or stabile that will please you and your client.

Go to my Frithmobiles website: http://www.humboldt1.com/~mobiles

Glow in the Dark Mobiles!

2009-11-07T13:50:00.001-08:00

New Glow Mobiles from Julie Frith. These beautiful designs are one of a kind, all handmade and numbered. A fun idea to add to a babies room, a kids room or even your room!

They are great at night if hung under a center room light that charges the glowing properties... and then when the lights are turned out, the petals glow all night long. It is fun to blow at them as they glow. Moving slowly watching the petals puts you or your baby right to sleep. To see more: GLOW MOBILES

Mobiles in Motion

2009-10-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

Flicker slide show
Watch a slideshow of various mobiles and stabiles.

This is a beautiful modern mobile, called Mobius. Petals of colorful plastic and shiny stainess steel bars makes this mobile a nice choice for a baby's room, a calm reading corner, or even hung outside. For more mobiles by Julie Frith see: http://www.humboldt1.com/~mobiles/

Theo Jansen's Kinetic Creatures

2009-09-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

Theo Jansen (born in The Hague, Netherlands) is a Dutch artist and kinetic sculptor. He builds large works which resemble skeletons of animals and are able to walk using the wind on the beaches of the Netherlands. His animated works are a fusion of art and engineering; in a car company television commercial Jansen says: "The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds."

Photos above are of his latest creatures "Animaris Umerus", just one of his many strandbeasts shown now on display in Zurich Switzerland.

Theo Jansen's website: http://www.strandbeest.com/index.html

Events 2009: http://www.strandbeest.com/events.html
(Netherlands, Shrewsbury UK, Seoul, Tokyo, Zurich, Belgium)

Slideshow: http://www.strandbeest.com/mGallery/index.php?s=y&id=strandbeest__img_0892&slides=on

the Animaris Rhinoceros model

Since about ten years Theo Jansen is occupied with the making of a new nature. Not pollen or seeds but plastic yellow tubes are used as the basic material of this new nature. He makes skeletons which are able to walk on the wind. Eventually he wants to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives.

Art Thieves On the Net BEWARE!

2009-09-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

I was a victim of art thievery for the first time this year in February 09. The thief portrayed himself as a promotional photo/stage artist for Readers Digest's new magazine Fresh Home. He needed the art right away during photo week in New York. I was to send the art, they'd add it to some modern room set ups and then send the mobile back when done. He said it would have good placement in the magazine and tons of people seeing my work would be great exposure. He even had pdf examples of the page. I had two other photo shoots that week, no problem. I sent his request. A week later I tried emailing, calling.... nothing. My other photo shoot items got bought buy the requesters, which is great. But, this Reader's Digest fako never returned my $325 mobile. I then looked up his name, and it was all over the internet, ART THIEF! Not only me, but lots of other artists had done the exact same thing I did. And were very upset, just like me. On facebook, I told my story of the stolen mobile, how the NY DA could not help, the guy was already in jail. I get a phone call out of the blue in July, it is the thief's wife. She says she has my mobile, but doesn't want to get involved. I asked why she would call, she said she was getting a divorce and even her jewelry was being stolen by her husband and sold behind her back. I guess I was to feel sorry or something. I again tell the story on Facebook, how strange this whole thing is. I ask everyone, "Does anyone know someone in NY that could get my mobile back for me?". One of my husband's good buddies from childhood, says... I know someone.... I'll ask. His friend says sure. I tell him the name and address, and ....THIS GUY KNOWS the thief's wife! Small world. A long story cut short ... I got the mobile back... in great shape. Note: don't trust everyone that writes or calls for free requests. Nothing is free.

The mobile is back! I haven't decided to sell it..., sentimental reasons now!! It has with a story!

Feng Shui Balance - Modern Decor

2009-07-26T21:46:00.001-07:00

When designing a room for a client... one of the first things you need to ask, is how arty can one get? Designers can go all out, crazy with color, texture, and money... but when your client asks for simple and clean, this is what they should get. Not too many colors, keeping it clear of chaos and menagerie. This is a great example of good clean design. Simple furniture, simplistic colors and elegance. Mobiles adding a repetitive pattern from the carpet design, to the rocks on the tables. Completing the feng shui balance.

Happy America! Freedom is our Power!

2009-07-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

A Nice Letter

2009-06-30T11:50:00.000-07:00

I just go one of the nicest letters from a customer of mine who just purchase one of my Jujumo medium size mobiles (shown above, custom color #15). Thought I'd share.

__________________________________________________________________

Hi Julie,

We received our mobile yesterday and just opened the box this morning. We wanted to let you know that we couldn't be happier with your design, materials and packaging. We order items quite a bit online and are often disappointed in one aspect or another after we receive the product. It was a joy to open your box and see the care that goes into the manufacturing and the packaging. What you have done here is create a cool, well designed, perfectly hand made item that comes packaged the way products should be. We appreciate the details - the small zip-lock bags for your paperwork and hardware, the bubble wrap and the air cushions. You have created a great customer experience from start to finish that designers and art fans will certainly appreciate. If not already, your designs should be advertised in magazines like ID, Dwell, etc.

Thanks for a great experience and we look forward to purchasing another mobile soon.

__________________________________________________________________

To purchase this mobile: Jujumo mobile

To see my whole website: Mobiles by Julie Frith

If you know someone interested in doing an article in any modern (legitimate) print magazine... please send them my way. I would love to tell the world about my mobiles. And to express how happy they make me feel to create them. - Julie Frith email: frithmobiles@gmail.com

Facebook Extra Symbols

2009-06-25T09:52:00.000-07:00

ϡ ϕ ϖ Ϛ ϟ φ Ψ Ϊ Θ θ ω ψ ϖ ϐ Δ Ξ ε̫̈́ ˬ ˳ ˼ ˚ ˘ ʭ ʬ Ӹ ӵ ᴞ ᴗ ⁂ ※ ⁑ • ₪ ⃝ ⃣ ℗ ℺ ↂ ← ↑ → ↓ ↖ ↘ ↩ ↳ ↵ ⇞ ⇟    � ✓ ✎ ◦ ◊ □ ⎋ ⎈ ⌘ ⌥ ⎇ ⇪ ⅓ ⅋

Facebook Chat Emoticons

2009-06-24T22:44:00.000-07:00

Meaning	Shortcut 1	Shortcut 2
Smile	`:-)`	`:)`
Big smile	`:-D`	`:D`
Wink	`;-)`	`;)`
Happy	`^_^`
Happy eyes	`>:o`
Cat smile	`:3`
Grumpy	`>:-(`
Sad	`:-(`	`:(`
Crying	`:'(`
Shocked	`:-o`	`:o`
Four-eyes	`8-)`	`8)`
Cool	`8-\|`
Tongue	`:-P`	`:P`
Uh?	`O.o`
Nerd	`-_-`
Uncertain	`:/`	`:\`
Devil	`3:)`
Angel	`O:)`
Kiss	`:-*`	`:*`
Heart	`<3`
Pacman	`:v`
Robot	`:\|]`
Face	`:putnam:`

Office Art

2009-06-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

Decorating an office IS a big deal. So many ideas, which colors, which chair, which desk? Now once you have decided that, you might want to go to the next step. Office art. I am presenting these idea of hanging a mobile or a table top stabile to offices of many kinds, from cubicles to home offices, to private business offices, home workstations, to meeting rooms, lunch rooms, to receptionist spaces.
See below ideas that will bring a new light to the area you spend most of your day.

Many styles, and many kinds of offices. Some offices are separtate and large, some are cubicles in a huge room of hundreds of other cubicles. How to make your space individually different from the rest is like painting your house purple in a row of all white houses. It is fun to stand out and be different. Or maybe you need to spuce it up a bit... so add some art! A hanging mobile in a very sterile inviroment is perfect. They are quiet, clean and best of all entertaining to calm you from all your stress at work. Just like babies, adults get tense from new situations they are not used to... a mobile calms a baby, a mobile will calm you, your workers, your boss, your office area, lunch room, meeting room and even at the reception desk. Art in the workplace is a great idea, pass it around see what other employees have to say. I bet they'll say... great idea!

For lots of mobiles and stabile ideas see my Mobile website: http://www.humboldt1.com/~mobiles/

Brand New Website!!!

2009-05-22T12:56:00.000-07:00

Mobiles by Julie Frith http://www.humboldt1.com/~mobiles/
New website! All black and sleek! See all mobiles and stabiles, client photos and much more!

Large Art for Large Spaces

2009-04-13T13:16:00.000-07:00

Large mobiles fill empty spaces with movement and art. This type of art is light in weight and easy to hang, no assembly needed. Mobiles are relaxing to watch move, so if you are designing; say a skylight in a waiting room, this would be the perfect thing to add. Neater than magazines and cleaner than an aquarium! Hang a mobile above a stairwell, as you walk down the stairs the petals float above you... just don't trip with as you are messmerized by the mobile!!! They capture your attention and will cause you to relax and smile. So think of adding a mobile to your next room design. http://www.humboldt1.com/~mobiles/

Steel Meets Plastic

2009-04-10T22:38:00.000-07:00

Steel and Petals mobile by Julie Frith is a beatiful example of a Calder "styled" mobile. It definitely is NOT a Calder, but has the artistic look and flavor of a Calder. The plastic petals remind me of organic shapes, like tree branches in the wind. This mobile turns moving separately the arms one after the other. For more information on the sizes, and custom colors go to: Mobiles by Julie Frith

Art Mobiles - Connections

2009-04-09T13:11:00.000-07:00

Everything you need to know about mobile art. Where the word even came from! Links to mobile artists and websites galore! Ever want to know how to exactly say the word "mobile"? How to make a mobile? How about where the term "mobile" came from. Check out this site, it has a lot of mobile links and information.
http://www.humboldt1.com/~mobiles/artmobiles.html

soozs: How to make a felt and wire mobile

2009-04-08T22:40:00.000-07:00

soozs: How to make a felt and wire mobile

Food Art!

2009-04-08T11:15:00.000-07:00

"Can you give me a hand out? I need some bread, man".

Should we eat the art, or just look at it? Eat what you are, you are what you eat? These are just some fun ideas I got in an email, don't know who did them if you do let us all know, but they are very creative. Thought I'd share.

OP Art Stimulus

2009-03-21T22:53:00.000-07:00

This is a fun site that has an animated op art movie maker. You can make your own op art images, change the colors, sizes and even the speed it turns... and then have them come to life and move.Very exciting, you have to try it.

OPARTICA - Dan Zen, mad inventor meets Internet finds peace, presents an online op art tool for your screen or to project at dances and on bands.

Just run Opartica and click on shapes to add them to projects and you can spin them, move them, overlap them, set colors and centers. When you are ready, you can sequence, save and trade trade your projects through the portfolios link.

Go here to make your own OP Art! Sit and Spin!
http://www.opartica.com/opartica/opartica800x600.html

Andy Goldsworthy Natures Artist

2009-03-07T20:49:00.000-08:00

Born in 1956 in Cheshire, England

Andy Goldsworthy is an extraordinary, innovative British artist whose collaborations with nature produce uniquely personal and intense artworks. Using a seemingly endless range of natural materials—snow, ice, leaves, bark, rock, clay, stones, feathers petals, twigs—he creates outdoor sculpture that manifests, however fleeting, a sympathetic contact with the natural world. Before they disappear, or as they disappear, Goldsworthy, records his work in suburb color photographs.

Goldsworthy deliberately explores the tension of working in the area where he finds his materials, and is undeterred by changes by changes in the weather which may melt a spectacular ice arch or wash away a delicate structure of grasses. The intention is not to “make his mark” on the landscape, but rather to work with it instinctively, so that a delicate scene of bamboo or massive snow rings or a circle of leaves floating in a pool create a new perception and an ever growing understanding of the land.

As Seen In Dwell.com

2009-02-22T21:20:00.000-08:00

Mobiles by Julie Frith

http://www.dwell.com/products/day

If mobiles are meant to stimulate baby brain function, this simple, modern design from Julie Frith should make for some inspired little ones. Totless? Try hanging it in the living room, where it will just as easily delight the adults.

http://www.humboldt1.com/~mobiles/

Paint a Painting!

2009-02-19T22:29:00.001-08:00

BRUSHster (Shockwave, 312k ) is an interactive painting machine that creates abstract art online. Express yourself! Paint colorful abstractions or use the program to design your own note cards, wrapping paper, or screensaver art. The program has forty brushes and two dozen special effects, plus there's an AUTO button that makes BRUSHster fun for all ages.

Facebook has New Art Gifts!

2009-01-28T13:34:00.001-08:00

Are you on Facebook? I am! I love to receive new items as gifts. Here is a new application called Mobiles and Stabiles. Send these art pieces to everyone you know, they will just love it! Keep one for yourself as a reminder what someone can buy for you as a REAL gift, or for your baby, a birthday or for your new home. Add this new application to your list of Facebook Apps! Be a fan.. Join Mobiles and Stabiles group today!

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T23:21:00.001-08:00

Out of this World, cool!

2008-12-28T22:42:00.000-08:00

A new mobile for 2009, called "8 Planets". I wanted a modern planet mobile design different than any out available today. The planets are various in sizes from 3/4" to 1.5" and they glow great in the dark all night long. They are full colored 3D plastic, and OUT of This World... cool. It is 40" wide by 18" high stianless steel bars. Very kinetic in nature, one planet arm moves, the next moves and so on. There is a great video on YouTube (below). Write me and let me know if you like it! I can custom design this to be longer, shorter, wider... you tell me, and I will make it just for you. Perfect for the newborn, kids room, classroom, school library... a waiting room, doctors office... I could go on and on. only $120!
contact me: frithmobiles@gmail.com

Metal vs Plastic Mobiles

2008-12-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

Hi I am trying metal petals and actually liking the easiness of cutting the shapes. For years, I thought cutting metal would mean you need a blow torch, goggles and heavy shears. But I got thin aluminum, which holds its firmness quite well, I was surprised! So here are a few new pieces I did with aluminum sheet metal. A new stabile I just love called "Alloyd" how it is a combination (or mixture of alloyed and Frank Lloyd!) of plastic and metals. The sturdy solid plastic colored base can be colorized and is fun to look at the color possibilities. I wanted to keep the petals a brushed metal to reflect light and flutter in the wind. Let me know what you think. For more info: Mobiles by Julie Frith

Art Meets Science

2008-11-19T23:16:00.000-08:00

Dodge and destroy Alexander Calder’s mobile constellations in
the cosmic spacecraft of Ed Logg’s Atari Asteroids!

Blast Calder’s mobiles to a million brightly coloured bits! Instead of being a mere spectator to the play, irony, and humour of the toys in Calder’s Circus, or a spectator to the free play of the motion of Calder’s mobiles, in Calderoids you get to play with his art yourself when you climb in your spaceship and fly around his sculptures, laughing as you zap them to pieces!

Few artists approached the world with as much of a sense of play as the inventor of mobiles: "Alexander Calder chose, aesthetically and morally, to play, to play for keeps at playing the game, because art at the time was a game or it was nothing. That’s how Calder understood it, and that’s how the best minds in that Paris which was a ‘moveable feast’ understood it as well" (Francisco Calvo Serraller, Gravity & Grace, 2004). Calder’s workshop would have found a home in the playland of the early Atari development lab: "Work is a word used very loosely at Atari. Most of the Atari employees I saw projected an aura of almost delirious bliss. They didn't seem to think of themselves as working. This isn't a company, I said to myself, it's a candy factory" (David Owen, Esquire, 1981).

Calder’s first major artwork was the animated Circus, a series of wire automata whose motion delighted and amused avant-garde Paris. Crashes between his abstract Circus forms foresee the cosmic conflagrations of Calderoids: "It was possible to move colored discs across the rectangle, or fluttering pennants, or cones; to make them dance, or even have battles between them. Some of them had large simple majestic movements, others were small and agitated" (Calder, Mobiles, 1937).

With mobiles, Calder plays with the fourth dimension of time: "Just as one can compose colors or forms, so one can compose motions" (Calder, Modern Painting and Sculpture, 1933). In Calderoids the gravity and grace of his mobiles arc through space with the zero-g elegance of Ed Logg’s spaceship: "Asteroids fulfilled the fantasy of being out in space, with no gravity, and free floating. The spaceship had a very elegant grace. A lot of motion in the game had grace, even the way the boulders floated around" (Rich Adam, original Atari programmer, The Atari Library).

The same two artists who most influenced the genesis of Calder’s mobiles also provided the same spark in the creation of Calderoids: Piet Mondrian and Joan Miro.

Calder’s first visit to Mondrian’s studio led directly to the invention of mobiles: "Mondrian lived at 26 rue de Depart. It was a very exciting room. Light came in from the left and from the right, and on the solid wall between the windows there were experimental stunts with colored rectangles of cardboard tacked on. I suggested to Mondrian that perhaps it would be fun to make these rectangles oscillate. And he, with a very serious countenance said: ‘It is not necessary, my paintings are already very fast'" (Calder, An Autobiography in Pictures, 1966).

"It was more or less directly as a result of my visit to Piet Mondrian’s studio in 1930, with the sight of all his rectangles of color deployed on the wall, that my first work in the abstract was based on the concept of stellar relationships" (Calder, A Propos of Measuring a Mobile, 1943).

After creating Pac-Mondrian, we were on a mission to create a videogame art mashup for Atari’s greatest selling arcade hit, the space shooter Asteroids. The first artist suggested whose work lent itself to the form of the game was Joan Miro, whose pen and ink ‘Constellation’ series resembled a field of asteroids. Ian Hooper declared Calder’s mobiles filled a far better formal fit, given their fanciful free flight. Creating the first body of sculptures that moved, Calder called his early sculptures ‘Constellations’ after Miro, and presaged their videogame destruction in 'Vertical Constellation with Bomb'. Although Mondrian’s squares provided the initial inspiration, the biomorphic forms in Calder's mobiles were directly influenced by his friend and sometime collaborator Joan Miro. Ian Hooper’s conception of Calderoids mirrors Calder’s own aesthetic merging of Mondrian & Miro in the mobiles. After consuming the brightly coloured squares of Pac-Mondrian, and contemplating Miro’s constellations, the motion and form of Calder’s mobiles led directly to shooting stars in Calderoids.

Similarly, the collaborative development of Calderoids followed that of Asteroids. Atari engineer Lyle Rains thought of shooting rocks that disintegrate into smaller rocks, and Ed Logg spent months designing and perfecting the game. While Ian Hooper first conceived of combining Calder and Asteroids and went on to create the arcade side art and marquee, Mike Horgan designed the complex interaction of the zero-G Asteroids space ship and the physics of an exact model of Calder’s mobiles, achieving a fine balance worthy of the praise original Atari programmer Ed Rotberg had for Logg: "It's an incredibly intense game. The tuning in terms of how fast the spaceship turns and how fast the bullets move and how far they go and how fast the [Cald]eroids can go, just all the tuning that [Mike Horgan] put into that, is real artistry. [Cald]eroids is a video game artistic masterpiece" (Rotberg, The Atari Library).

Calderoids was adapted from source code for the Virtual Calder applet found at Zachary Booth Simpson's home page.

See Webpage: http://pbfb.ca/calderoids/

Donald E. Frith - Modern Ceramic Art

2008-11-13T22:17:00.000-08:00

Teapot Exhibition
November 1 - December 31, 2008

Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts
in the Beato Gallery
8560 Ojai-Santa Paula Road,
Ojai, CA

Intverview with
Donald E. Frith

On Making a Teapot
Part I

On Making a Teapot
Part II

Click on images below for a larger view.

Teapots by Donald E. Frith
Teapot # 719 Glazed porcelain & acrylic 7.5" x 3.5" $375.00	Teapot # 691 Glazed porcelain & acrylic 8" x 4" triangle $325.00
Teapot # 711 Glazed porcelain & acrylic 8" x 4" cube $375.00	Teapot # 714 Glazed porcelain & acrylic 8" x 3.75" square $325.00
Teapot # 715 Glazed porcelain & acrylic 9" x 3.5" $495.00	Teapot # 720 Glazed porcelain & acrylic 8" x 4" $495.00
Teapot # 700 Glazed porcelain, acrylic, redwood burl 8" x 4" triangle $350.00	Teapot # 716 Glazed porcelain & acrylic 8" x 3.5" $425.00
Teapot # 707 Glazed porcelain, acrylic, cherry 10" x 3" d $575.00	Teapot # 574 Glazed porcelain, acrylic, cherry 10" x 2.5" $575.00
Teapot # 638 Glazed porcelain, acrylic, cherry 8" x 2.5" $275.00	Teapot # 706 Glazed porcelain & acrylic 10" x 2" $575.00
Teapot # 606 Glazed porcelain & acrylic 12" x 3.5" $385.00	Teapot # 545 Glazed porcelain & acrylic 12" x 3.5" $275.00
Teapot # 675 Glazed porcelain & acrylic 10" x 2.5" $525.00	Teapot # 722 Glazed porcelain & acrylic 10" x 3.5" $495.00
Teapot # 723 Glazed porcelain, acrylic, cherry 11" x 3" square $595.00	Teapot # 627 Glazed porcelain & acrylic 12" x 2.5" $475.00
Teapot # 708 Glazed porcelain, acrylic, ebony 9" x 2" $585.00	Teapot # 725 Glazed porcelain & acrylic 10" x 2" square $585.00

In the Beato Gallery we will be presenting teapots by Donald E. Frith, a retired professor of ceramics who has been working in ceramics for more than sixty years. Look at each of Donald Frith’s works with a careful eye, and enjoy the combination of technical expertise he uses in porcelain, precious wood, and acrylic, to create a small teapot. Then, go back and look again. And remember, they’re not only incredible works of art, they pour very well!

Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts 8560 Ojai-Santa Paula Road
Ojai, CA

Tel: 805.646.3381 email: janat@beatricewood.com

Donald E. Frith : email: Wclark1109@aol.com

Slideshow of Client Photos

2008-11-11T12:57:00.000-08:00

Hanging Mobile Art - Mazatlán Mexico

2008-10-31T08:52:00.000-07:00

A fantastic place, Mazatlán must be to have such a modern building, right on the beach. AND of course the mobile is one of mine, lol.... called Megamo...it looks fantastic to don't you think?

My house where I make all my mobiles the ceilings only go 8 feet. I never get to see my mobiles in their full glory until the client sends me a photo. I got to tell you... I am impressed, I know I know, ego ego blah blah blah, but it looks great. The same as if I were my client who designed and made this building, I would be quite oh so proud. Beautiful place. Love the palm tree in the middle!

For more information on ordering YOUR own 8' Megamo mobile, go to my website.

Something a little different

2008-10-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

GuyPod Stabile by Julie Frith For those of us who like art ... like to buy art. When shopping around, we try to buy things that represent ourselves ... but just in a different form. Well this piece has a bit of me in it. This stabile is called GuyPod (I know, I know...I am not a guy), maybe because of its dangles (HA!)? I think it is because, my last stabile I designed was called WiseGuy. So I was getting kind of a theme going here...¿
WiseGuy Stabile by Julie Frith See... a theme. But this guy's a thinker! Lots of thoughts going around in his head. I have fun creating all these art pieces, I hope it shows. For more information visit my website: Mobiles by Julie Frith

Mobiles Calendar 2009!

2008-10-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

A beautiful wall calendar of mobile and stabile sculptures by Julie Frith. My very first calendar, and I want to do more.... it turned out fantastic! So order yours today, and get a few or more for gifts, for your office, kitchen, work room, studio, shop, gallery, you name it.... Order Here

Modern Art for Babies

2008-10-13T13:47:00.001-07:00

Decorate your little boys nursery in neutral colors, add some art for inspiration. Shown is a mobile called Silhouette, from small to large circular shapes, it flows well in the corner reflecting the shapes of the modern art on the wall. See more photos here: Clients Photos

Sidewalk Art

2008-10-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

Pastels On the Plaza 2008. I decided to draw a square, after walking around and seeing a few empty squares. I had an hour and a half to burn, so why not do it. The coordinator was still there, so I asked to jump in, since I was an artist...you can draw for free. So she gave me two boxes of pastels, and I used every bit, rubbing the crumbs into the concrete. The first red petal was one stick! Theme.... well, I am always thinking of mobiles .... :)

frithmobiles.etsy.com

2008-10-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

Babies, Mom's and Dad's love Mobiles!

2008-07-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

The best way to calm and entertain your new baby, is with a mobile. Art for stimulation! Art for the imagination. Art for a lifetime. Shown is the Modernist mobile, you can custom color and choose you size right on line. Whether you are the Mom or the Dad, you both will also gain peace and quite time with an art mobile.

Frithmobiles Client Photos reflect satisfaction

2008-07-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

This is a custom design I did for a client who wanted a mobile hung outside in his courtyard. It is an 8' Multius mobile, that I boosted the size of the stainless steel rods for stability from wind. I also coated the petals with a sunscreen to keep the colors vibrant. My plastic and stainless steel combination will last forever without rusting and is perfect inside or out.

Modern Baby Mobiles - Foamobiles

2008-03-28T22:15:00.001-07:00

There are many different kinds of baby mobiles these days, dainty, cutesy-pie, stuffed and musical to name a few. Above is an art mobile called Neptune. My mobiles have a very Calder influence, yet having a new whimsical modern feel. Shown pictured above, is one of my Foamobiles (made of EVA foam and stainless steel), they are all able to be colorized picking from 28 colors to match your bedding or room decor. Beautifully balance, this mobile entertains not only the baby but the parents too! See more mobiles here: Mobiles by Julie Frith

True MOBILE Blogging

2008-02-09T11:50:00.000-08:00

Photo above is a collection of mobiles and stabiles I (Julie Frith) make. In this blog post, I wanted to talk a bit about my work. I read all kinds of blogs and alot are just repeats of other blogs. I wanted to do something different. On my blog I wanted to show a variety of mobiles and stabile photos that I normally would not have on my website...because I can't show them all (too many). Every one I make is an original from a main base design. I use templates to match, everything is measured and cut by hand, so this gives it originality and uniqueness... making all my work indiviual art pieces. All are handsigned dated and stamped...just because...in the future you may want to know who made your mobile, then can't read the signature! So the stamp says "handmade by Julie Frith". I think this is very helpful. Here are some extra photos, you wouldn't find on my site: The Eliptusmobius mobile with its flat horizontal petals for underneath views and vertical petals to catch the wind, makes this a great baby mobile.

Mobius mobile comes in a large variety of sizes, from 20"high to 8 feet tall! The larger the mobile the heavier gage stainless steel bars!

Modernist Mobile

2008-01-28T11:59:00.000-08:00

Are you a modernist? I AM! I love mid century modern homes ... like Eichlers, modern furniture, Knoll, Saarinen, Rohe, Miller, and Eames styles. I love the crazy architecture of style of Frank Gehry, the art of Alexander Calder, Miro and Kandinsky. So I designed a mobile titled "Modernist" to express my love and desire of the modernism movement and lifestyle. For more information on this mobile: Go Here

Mobius Mobile

2008-01-28T09:42:00.001-08:00

The perfect mobile? Maybe. It has beautiful shaped petals, holes making for interesting designed shadows, it moves gently with the softest of air currents. And babies love it! One client said she got the typical stuffed baby mobile that hooked to the crib, with a windup music for her baby. She also hung this Mobius mobile in the corner of the room so that the baby could see it too. She found out her child after 6 months dropped interest in the stuffed, and still loved looking at the Mobius mobile. She would blow at it, and it made him laugh with amazement and he would smile. Even now as an adult, a mobile would be fun to look at. As this child grows up, his mobile will too... right along with him. He can even take his mobile with him to college, as it will remind him he is loved, and his mobile will make him laugh and smile. For more sizes and info on this mobile: Go Here.

Animo Stabile

2008-01-27T23:21:00.000-08:00

Animo (an-ni-'Moe) stabile by Julie Frith. Comes in one size 23"W x 15"H to sit perfectly balance on your Noguchi coffee table. This stabile can be custom colored with any of my 21 plastic color choices. I titled it because I thought it looked like an animal, with it's head and tail. And softly tap the head on the side or up and down, the tail wags!

To custom colorize it online go here:
For more mobiles go to: Mobiles by Julie Frith

Lustron Mobile

2008-01-27T23:02:00.000-08:00

Lustron (Lus-s'troawn) mobile by Julie Frith. Comes in SO MANY sizes from small 23"W x 13"H to as big as 10' Large! This mobile can be custom colored with any of my 21 plastic color choices. This is also a very good choice for a babies mobile. The vertical petals pick up any air movement making the mobile turn arm by arm and never stops. A slow and gentle movement to put any baby to sleep. I've had a client say they turned OFF their TV to watch their Lustron instead. HA! : )
To custom colorize it online go here:
For more mobiles go to: Mobiles by Julie Frith

Eliptusmobius Mobile

2008-01-27T22:38:00.000-08:00

Eliptusmobius ('Eee lip-tus mo bee us) mobile by Julie Frith. Comes in two sizes small 19"W x 12"H and 31"Wx21"H. This mobile can be custom colored with any of my 21 plastic color choices. The horizontal flat petals are good for a babies view of the mobile. The vertical petals pick up any air movement making the mobile turn arm by arm. A true delight!

To custom colorize it online go here:
For more mobiles go to: Mobiles by Julie Frith