"I guess I've always liked old toys and mechanical things," artist Tom Haney says. "As a kid, I would take things apart to see how they worked. I wanted to be an inventor." Instead of inventing he became an artist, but he carried his interest in all things mechanical over into his artwork. Tom creates what he calls "articulated art".
To the casual observer Tom's art pieces look like they were found in someone's attic -- forgotten toys from a by-gone era. And, that's exactly the effect Tom wants. He purposely designs his pieces to look old. "I want my art to resemble something from a time before electricity. A time when people had to make their own entertainment," explains Tom. When asked to describe his artwork he says, "I don't really have a name for what I do. The best description I can come up with is articulated art." But that is a pretty good description. Tom's uses a number of different disciplines in his craft. His work is primarily made of wood, and usually includes hand carved figures as the central focal point. Far from looking refined, his figures evoke comparisons to a primitive art style. The articulated part of his artwork comes in to play after Tom design mechanisms that give movement to these figures. And, it's the engineering of that movement that Tom seems to relish most. He designs elaborate systems of spindles, gears and levers. Keys and cranks which when pushed or turned bring his figures to life. And some, like "Paula and the Bird" (figure A), tell a story. One example comes from something that happened to his girlfriend Paula. "She found a bird with a damaged wing," Tom relates. "It couldn't fly. So she took it and nursed it back to health. As the bird began to get stronger, she would tie a string around its leg and take it outside to let it fly in circles for exercise. Ultimately the bird made a complete recovery, and Paula set it free." Tom took inspiration from this incident and created a piece that tells this story. It's a box with a hand crank attached. On top of the box is a turntable-like device and on top of the turntable is a painted, hand-carved figure of his girlfriend. Attached to the figures' hand is a wire that leads to the bird. When the handle is cranked the turntable rotates and the figure of his girlfriend goes around in circles. At the end of the wire the bird is flapping its wings. It's whimsical and delightful in its simplicity. On the average, it takes Tom about 150 hours to make one of his pieces and each one is distinctively different and tells its own story. To find out more about Tom and his articulated art, visit his website at www.tomhaney.com.
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