Meridith Pingree has wanted to be an artist nearly her whole life. But when she told her parents when she was four years old that she wanted to create art, it's not likely that she imagined making larger-than-life kinetic sculptures.
Pingree's work has earned her praise in The New York Times and Art Week. One of her more recent projects is the "Magic Curtain" – a multicolored veil of strung glass beads connected to motors, making the curtain sway independently.
As a part of Duke's Visiting Artist Lecture Series, "Immersed in Every Sense," Pingree will speak at 6 p.m. today (Wednesday, Nov. 30) at the Smith Warehouse, in Bay 4, C105, at the 1st Floor, FHI Garage.
We asked Pingree a few questions about her work.
How did you get into robotics?
I started making geometric welded sculptures in college at the University of Utah. Toward the end of the four years, I got more and more ideas for objects with moving parts. I made a gazebo-like sculpture with a round metal mesh floor suspended by bungee cords. As you stepped on the floor, it pulled a cord attached to a piece of chalk that made a mark on the ceiling. After that, I went to Rhode Island School of Design for grad school. My first ideas were very similar to the chalk piece. My professor said, "Why don't you just do this with electronics?" Nobody had any specific knowledge on how to do it. I picked up bits of advice from different people. I bought some 12-volt solenoids and a 12-volt power supply and put them together and was amazed when they worked. I put more parts together -- sometimes they would work and sometimes they wouldn't. I later took a real electronics class and then later some programming. I still learn new things through trial and error in current projects.
Besides the obvious, how is your work different from that of other artists?
I hope to be original. It's hard to say what exactly is different from all other artists. I put a few different layers into my work. I like a piece to be interesting formally -- like abstract sculpture. Each piece is based on a rigid mathematical structure or systems on top of systems. As the geometry gets more complex they start to look chaotic or organic. I like the kinetic element, and the sensing elements because they also create the effect of chaos. I like to incorporate parts that are nostalgic or remind me of dreams. I like to reference living systems and systems that mimic life.
What's your favorite medium to work with?
I like different mediums for different reasons. I like making line drawings with a black pen, because I can get my idea across and finish something in a day. I like the kinetic sculptures because I never know exactly how they will turn out. I start with a plan, but it always changes at least slightly along the way, because I can't predict exactly the way a specific shape will move.
When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I always wanted to be an artist. When I was four years old, I told my parents I wanted to be an artist. They said artists didn't really exist and that it wasn't a real job. I said that if I couldn't be an artist, I wanted to own a restaurant. They told me that wasn't the most practical job either. When I was 11, my dad died and I decided that life is short and I should do what I really want, not what is most practical. The experience also made other "hardships" in life not so hard in comparison, so the "impossibly difficult" lifestyle of an artist became not so impossibly difficult.
What influences your art?
Math, geometry, science, music, rhythm, plant life, artificial intelligence, chaos, energy, dreams. And many artists, such as Tim Hawkinson, Arthur Ganson, Theo Jansen and Olafur Eliasson.
What should Duke expect from your upcoming talk?
I'll try to tell some fun stories and of course, show the art.