The Rolling Ball Web
An Online Compendium of
Rolling Ball Sculptures, Clocks, Etc.
By David M. MacMillan et. al.
This article covers a renovation of the George Rhoads sculpture Science on a Roll (The Imaginative Chip) at San Jose's "The Tech Museum of Innovation" (where it suffers from the effects of air pollution).
This article is available from the Mercury News' database. The original article has a photograph by Michael Rondou; I have not seen this photo.
This is the most extensive article on George Rhoads' sculptures that I've found yet. It also has the best pictures.
Among the several biographical bits noted, this article cites Rhoads' childhood fascination with a display of enlarged clock escapements at the Museum of Industry and Science (Chicago), his early work as a painter, his meeting with Hans Van de Bovenkamp (a sculptor of fountains), "shopping mall magnate" David Bermant's interest in his sculptures, and Rhoads' ongoing involvement with Bob McGuire, once an English teacher and now the owner of Rock Stream Studios (fabricators of Rhoads' work). Later, it cites the artist's interest in roller coasters ("especially the large, scary one called 'The Bobs' that used to be at River View Park in Chicago") and carousels.
It illustrates (with photographs): Having A Ball, 42nd Street Ballroom, and Ball Game (identified by its location at Forest Fair Mall, Cincinatti, OH). It reproduces a diagram by Rhoads of the layout of Archimedean Excogitation (identified by its location at the Museum of Science, Boston).
In this article, Rhoads cites a wonderful passage from Issac Bashevis Singer's novel Shosha:Since we are sure of nothing and there is even no evidence that the sun will rise tomorrow, play is the very essence of human endeavor, perhaps even the thing-in-itself. God is a player, the cosmos a playground. For years I have searched for a basis of ethics and gave up hope. Suddenly it became clear to me. The basis of ethics is man's right to play the games of his choice. I will not trample on your toys and you will not trample on mine. I won't spit on your idol and you will not spit on mine.The narrator in this passage attributes these ideas to the Scottish philosopher David Hume.
Also cited: Ball City, a second, untitled sculpture at West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Alberta, Electric Ball Circus (identified by its location in Rochester, NY), Perpetuball Motion Machine (identified by its location in Watertown, NY), Magic Clock II, Tower of Babel, Whatchamaballit (identified by its location in Plattsburgh, NY), Global Circus, an unnamed swing outside of Bob McGuire's house, a "hula pole" in a Chicago mall, Boola Boola, Blue Shamrock, Splendule, Windamajig, Rotomabob, Goldberg Variations (1986; "Goldberg Variations #1) and Exercise in Fugality (identified by their location at Boston's Logan Airport), and an unnamed sculpture in New Haven.
The text (but alas, not the visual content) of this article is available at The Tech Museum of Innovation's website at:
http://www.thetech.org/tech/exhibits/rhoads/rhoads-smithsonian_1988.html
The bio of Richard Kostelanetz says that he is a NY visual-audio artist, the author of Metamorphosis in the Arts and the editor of the book Esthetics Comtemporary
Kostelanetz, Richard. Dictionary of the Avant Garde. 1993.
I have not read this.
This piece begins with, and has an illustration of, 42nd Street Ballroom. It gives a short biography of Rhoads which notes that he began making kinetic fountains after meeting Hans Van de Bovenkamp (born in Holland) in New York City. It notes that Rhoads has designed children's games and a two-person pinball machine. Also illustrated: Good Time Clock IV.
This article contains one of the best quotes regarding this type of sculpture. Apparently there was concern about vandalism when 42nd Street Ballroom was to be installed at the NY and NJ Port Authority Bus Terminal. This has not happened. Kostelanetz says "One artist explained it to me: 'Nobody vandalizes what everybody loves.'"
Also cited: Good Time Clock II, Boola Boola, Goldberg Variations (1986; "Goldberg Variations #1") and Exercise in Fugality (identified by their location at Boston's Logan Airport), Archimedean Excogitation (identified by its location at Museum of Science, Boston), Ball City, Perpetuball Motion Machine (identified by its location in Watertown, NY), Tower of Babel (identified by its original location in Kamloops, BC [this sculpture is no longer in Kamloops]), Whatchamaballit (identified by its location in Plattsburgh, NY), Electric Ball Circus (identified by its location in Rochester, NY), and unnamed sculptures in malls in Chicago and New Haven.
Melrod, George. "George Rhoads at Ruth Siegel." Art in America. (April 1992): 158-159.
This is basically a review of the opening of a show of George Rhoads sculptures at the Ruth Siegel gallery. There were seven sculptures, all named after mythological characters. The article covers: Daphne, Loki, Pomona, Uridice, and Ulysses.
This very brief article describes how one of Wayne Sorce's photographs in the Kostelanetz Smithsonian piece was done. Unfortunately, in the microfilm copy the photograph is completely blank. I don't know if this is for a technical or a legal reason. I can't determine which sculpture it was, and the text doesn't help.
Sheriff, Ed. "Marvelous Marble Roll." Woodwork. No. 37 (February 1996): 47-51.
The author is a jewelry box maker in Birmingham, Alabama. He constructed an elaborate wooden marble roll which he has donated to the Alabama Sheriff's Boys and Girls Ranches. It's a lovely sculpture, about 18 inches square and 54 inches high. Sheriff describes its construction and several of the mechanisms, including the making of curving and spiral tracks, horizontal ("switcheree") and vertical ("switcheroo") switches, loops, "rocky roads," cascades, and a "bucket dropper."
The address for Woodwork back issues is:
Woodwork Magazine
PO Box 1529
Ross, CA 94957
(415) 382-0580
(415) 382-0587 FAX
USA
Spring, Justin. "George Rhoads: Ruth Siegel Gallery". Art Forum. (April 1992).
It would be difficult to find a writer who has more thoroughly missed the point of ball run sculptures. In this review of the George Rhoads one-man show at the Ruth Siegel Gallery (1992), Spring finds the motion of the sculptures "distracting," a "novelty," and something characteristics of toys ("and who doesn't grow bored with a toy?"). Grasping for something positive to say, Spring finally finds "some of" the sculptures "quietly beautiful" when turned off.
A picture of Pomona appears.
The author teaches woodworking at Richmond Middle School, Hanover, NH. The article describes some of the marble rolls that he and his students have made. It includes instructions and diagrams for several essential mechanisms, including an automatic starter, switches, spirals, tilting ramps, and musical steps.
I was able to obtain an offprint of this article from the publishers of Fine Woodworking:
The Taunton Press
63 South Main Street
P.O. Box 5506
Newtown, CT 06470-5506
USA
Winter, Metta. "Art in Motion." Shopping Centers Today. (May 1988)
This article focusses on a sculpture called Watchamaballit at the Salmon Run Mall in Watertown, NY. It claims that the oldest mall sculpture is Electric Ball Circus in the Long Ridge Mall in Rochester, NY (1971; the Rhoads catalog gives 1974). And it tells you more than you really want to know about who owns shopping malls.
Also cited: 42nd Street Ballroom (identified by its location at the NY and NJ Port Authority's 42nd Street Bus Terminal), Ball City, Having A Ball, Chockablock Clock (identified by its location, Strawberry Square, Harrisburg, PA), Goldberg Variations (1986; "Goldberg Variations #1) and Exercise in Fugality (identified by their location at Boston's Logan Airport), Pelota Pagoda (identified by its location at the Micronesian Mall, Guam), Ball Game (identified by its location at Forest Fair Mall, Cincinatti, OH), and Having a Ball II (identified by its location at the Ontario Science Center).
The text of this article is available at The Tech Museum of Innovation's website at:
http://www.thetech.org/tech/exhibits/rhoads/rhoads-sct_1988.html
The biographical tidbits here claim that Rhoads was making calendar clocks out of wood, pennies, and sheet metal by the age of 10. There is a discussion and illustration of Archimedean Excogitation.
The sidebar has a brief discussion of Lunaticks, which may not be a ball run sculpture, but which sounds interesting.
The location of Rock Stream Studios is given in the sidebar as Mecklenberg, NY. They are presently (1996) in Ithaca, NY.
Also cited: Goldberg Variations (1986; "Goldberg Variations #1) and Exercise in Fugality (identified by their location at Boston's Logan Airport), Pelota Pagoda (identified by its location at the Micronesian Mall, Guam), Chockablock Clock (identified by its location, Strawberry Square, Harrisburg, PA), and Having a Ball II (identified by its location at the Ontario Science Center).
Winter, Metta. "Mesmerizing Machines." Sky Magazine. (May 1988)
This article discusses Exercise in Fugality and Goldberg Variations (1986; "Goldberg Variations #1"). (Both sculptures are at Boston's Logan Airport.) It also give a brief biography of Rhoads and quotes the sculptor on his work.
Also cited: Archimedean Excogitation (identified by its location at Museum of Science, Boston), Pelota Pagoda (identified by its location at the Micronesian Mall, Guam), Having a Ball II (identified by its location at the Ontario Science Center), and Time Clock IV (identified by its location at LaGuardia Airport, NY) [Good Time Clock IV?].
The text of this article is available at The Tech Museum of Innovation's website at:
http://www.thetech.org/tech/exhibits/rhoads/rhoads-sky_1988.html
[unknown]. "Timely Projects." The New York Times. December 1988.
I have not read this piece.
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2.7, 1998/06/18.
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