Modern Mobile Making

THIS CLASS IS NOT CURRENTLY OFFERED DUE TO COVID-19

Alexander Calder is the master of making monumental metal look lightweight and easy. Secret is though, it ain’t that hard, once you learn the basics of how to balance. Come learn how to make steel float through the sky in this six session class.

In this class, were going to make like Calder and make some mobiles. Either big or small, up to you, but we’ll build them big or small using a variety of hot and cold tools. There will be jigsaws for curvy cuts, jump shears for straight cuts, band saws for not-so-curvy cuts, and expert advice for short cuts.

The first three weeks will be guided exercises to introduce you into the realm of mobiles, including a presentation on Calder, the difference between tree, articulated, and petal mobiles, and some basic welding practice and tool usage. We’ll make three mobiles and you’ll get to take home the second two (the first is just a practice one that’s not very pretty anyway). The following two weeks, we’ll work on our own mobiles, building them up from cardboard and graph paper, starting to analyze the balances (with small peppering of math and/or counting) , and working on the balance. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can even make a base for you mobile, or just leave it free-hanging (though attachment to the ceiling is recommended at some point).

For lovely examples of Calder Mobiles and his other work, check out these links:
Calder Foundation
Calder Circus at the Whitney (Longer Version)
Google Image Search of Calder

Class Details: Six session class building three instructional mobiles and one personal project. Project materials for most projects under 4′ are included in the materials fee. Instruction fee is $210, Materials and shop fee is $210 (Total: $420) Six student max. Note about wait lists.

Requirements: No experience required. Must be 18 or older or have instructor permission. Standard clothing.

See the full class list
See the full calendar

: Incredible finished piece by @bryanmgreen

: Unauthorized 4th Calder Mobile style (shhhhh!)

: Work in progress, with reference sketch.

: Series of mobiles.

: Horizontal alignment. Simple yet gorgeous.

: Inspired by leaves.

: With shadow.

: Beautiful one with stand.

: Super fun one.

: With rolled sheet.

: Lightweight one.

: More geometric style.

: Nice circle one with stand.

SIGN UP ABOVE (hopefully the widget has loaded by now)

Refund/Rescheduling Policy: We hope you can make the class, but things happen. If you need to cancel, we can refund your money 7 days ahead of the start of the class (minus a $25 registration fee). You can reschedule the class 7 days before the start of the class as well. There are no refunds or rescheduling within 7 days. By not budgeting for missed classes, we can keep the prices as low as possible for everyone.

For six week classes, the first two classes cover the most critical material. If you miss one of those, we’ll need you to make it up with a private lesson before continuing on with the class (at a discounted rate of $45/hr). After the first two, you can make up one class for free during open shop hours when it’s slower (so not Weds or Saturdays). After that, regular open shop rates apply. There are no refunds after the first class of a multi-session class.