Alexander Calder came from a whole family of artists. As a child, he loved to make toys and sculptures out of scrap pieces of wood and metal. He experimented with metal, wire, balance, and weight.
Later, Calder wanted his sculpture to move when he wasn’t expecting it to, so he invented a hanging sculpture that moved in the air. Calder’s friend, the artist Marcel Duchamp called them mobiles. Calder liked the name, so it stuck.
When the air makes Calder’s sculptures move, they sometimes remind people of things in nature or space, like planets and stars, a school of fish swimming, a bunch of leaves blowing, maybe even a flock of birds flying. Maybe the shapes remind you of something.
For a moment turn yourself into a sculpture. Yeah, Stand on one foot, and put your arms out to balance. Can you stay still, or did you just move like Calder’s mobile and sculptures?
