Throughout my life as a creative maker, I have enjoyed creating toys. As a child, this begin in the most rudimentary of ways by modifying toys I already had. One particularly memorable example was deliberately damaging a small Matchbox car (that I didn’t particularly like) so that it would appear to be in a crash. I would then substitute that pre-wrecked car while playing with other cars.
As I matured and become a professional, I continued to appreciate artist-made toys and occasionally made them myself. This baby rattle was made as part of a trade with a co-worker at Fournier Enterprises while I was a grad student at Cranbrook. He custom painted my welding mask and I designed and made this rattle for his new baby.
I see small kinetic sculptures as a type of a toy and have found them an excellent challenge for students in my teaching, both in 3d Foundations and in Metalsmithing & Jewelry-Making.
© James Thurman
Contact: jathurman@hotmail.com