This gallivanting gastropod is an engaging and extraordinary creature who'll enrich your day with art that is interactive, whimsical, and constantly in (slow) motion. Get in touch to view this larger-than-life mollusc, or hire our pedal-powered snail to roam through your next garden party! Capable of carrying two passengers in addition to the two pedallers.
This project was supported by the ACT Government under the City Renewal Authority's City Grants program, and brought to life at MakeHackVoid, a Canberra makerspace.
Madonna Queen of Pop.....Corn
A four-wheeled, two-person machine, this art car is capable of pedaling over the steep and sandy beach dunes as well as paddling through the salty bay and nearby river. This is a photo of the 2019 Kinetic Sculpture Grand Championship in Northern California where we won the First Place Art Award - a highly regarded accolade among the long time race participants who have been competing for more than fifty years.
As you can see this is another larger-than-life moving sculpture that focuses on the power of puns and bringing smiles to community members with striking art that rotates, opens, and ‘POPS’! In this photo, one may observe the ‘hood’ of the vehicle that opens to display an engine of popping corn, but you are unable to view the end of the vehicle which reveals a heaping serving of oversized popcorn surrounding a velvet queens throne that participants can ride on.
This project was sponsored by the community hardware and crafts store which is known for its abundance of complimentary popcorn.
Lionfish - Wind on Water Festival
In the beginning of 2019, we built a sculpture for the Wind on Water Festival in Geraldton, Western Australia. This is the pop-art Lionfish that we created for the City of Greater Geraldton. Similar to the Glass Snail, this machine has two recumbent pedalers who power the movement of the fish as well as the interactive articulations of the mouth, the top fin, side fins, and tail. There is a passenger bench seat accessible by stepping into the mouth while the operators allow the bottom lip to open wide enough. This seat carried hundreds of laughing children during the weekend of display along the foreshore of the festival.
The fish rides were entirely free which is in line with my artistic belief that focuses on welcoming the community at large into whimsical, smile-lifting, expressions of mechanical and artistic endeavors. Along with this piece of work, we organized multiple days of workshops with children where we demonstrated how we built the fish and helped them create their own miniature version of the kinetic sculpture. We truly value the added benefit of involving the community in as many ways as possible, this includes displaying our works of art in unexpected locations, offering rides to interested passerby, teaching children how to make projects themselves, and bringing in the ideas and inspirations from the local area before the building process happens.
BikeCentennial of Love
Fifty years after California's 'Summer of Love' we celebrated with our very own baby blue 1969 VW Kombi Bus which was of course - PETAL powered. This sculpture won Spectators Favorite as we spread the love barefoot through the streets with our patchouli oil, peace flags, and groovy music blasting.
The art of the machine was built on top of the same mechanical chassis which we used for Madonna, as well as Organ Trail. We pride ourselves in bringing our full efforts into creating a new art theme and sculpture every year.
Organ Trail
'No Guts No Glory!' This covered wagon sculpture was towed by a beating heart, with reigns ( whoops, I mean veins) coming from the 'Died from Dysentery' skeleton driver. Our artery twitched as our pageantry filled pioneers struggled across the sand in our brain helmets, long skirts and bonnets.
Pigasus
One of our first creations was the magnificently large, winged pig with wings and flying goggles............... INTRODUCING PIGASUS! There is more than meets the eye with this friendly giant, Pigasus has an entourage of more than 30 piglets riding on bikes, skateboards, and scooters behind. Pigasus also was made of 100% recycled materials. Despite the magnitude of size, Pigasus was a fast trotter and floated magnificently on the Bay.
The machine withheld the test of Engineering and won an ACE metal in the Kinetic Grand Championship, which is one of the most prestigious awards one may receive.
Videos
Perth Artifactory Featured Maker WoW Kinetic Sculpture
Perth Artifactory Featured Maker WoW Kinetic Sculpture
Summer of Love: 50th Anniversary
