Art & Tech class visits studio of kinetic artist Anne Lilly

Sue McCrory’s Technology and Art class made a trip to the studio of Somerville-based kinetic artist Anne Lilly on 5 October, whose machined stainless works of sculpture are powerful, elegant, and mesmerizing to behold.

 

Lilly “uses carefully engineered motion to shift and manipulate our perceptions of time, space and energy. … Employing opposing modalities—analytical and intuitive, rational and emotional—Lilly’s sculptures elicit new connections between the physical space outside ourselves and our own private, psychological domain. They are usually fabricated in machined stainless steel, but require the viewer’s touch to initiate movement: pressing clinical qualities against the sensuous response of each piece.” (From artist’s website) See examples of her work.

 

In class the boys study the technology behind art, examining the sort of innovative engineering and technological practices that explain how a pagoda was built without nails or a massive dome was built without collapsing, as well as the technology behind other arts—sculpture, painting, and printing. See photos from the visit.