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John Dorrance's Kinetic Sculptures, Mini-Maker Faire, 2015 by Ronald Horii
This is a memory from 2015. It was at the Mini-Maker Faire at the History San Jose Museum on 9/6/15. John Dorrance had an exhibition of his pencil sharpener-powered kinetic sculptures there. I knew John because he was the Park Interpreter at the Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch in Santa Teresa County Park in San Jose, from 2003 until he retired in 2018. Here's a story about John in the Friends of Santa Teresa Park's 2018 newsletter (page 8):
http://www.stpfriends.org/FOSTP-Newsletter-July-2018.pdf.
In his spare time, John created animated sculptures powered by pencil sharpeners. I saw some of them that he kept in his office at the ranch. He later had them on display in museums, galleries, and exhibitions, like this one at the Mini-Maker Faire.
This video shows how he came up with the idea:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eGectl-gHljEran4Swn2WwqBX-7U3oR2/view.
This video shows a pencil sharpener that draws flowers: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11p1Sq2d4KOSCtPYzVdH7M60F06BROnZj/view. It's a more recent creation that uses laser-cut wooden parts.
John will have a solo exhibition of his work on display at the Colibri Gallery, 17505 Monterey Road, Morgan Hill from July 15 to August 19, 2023. It's at the corner of Monterey Road and 1st Street in downtown Morgan Hill. There's a free opening reception with refreshments on Saturday 7/15/23 from 3-5 pm. See the invitation at the end of the album.
This is a memory from 2015. It was at the Mini-Maker Faire at the History San Jose Museum on 9/6/15. John Dorrance had an exhibition of his pencil sharpener-powered kinetic sculptures there. I knew John because he was the Park Interpreter at the Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch in Santa Teresa County Park in San Jose, from 2003 until he retired in 2018. Here's a story about John in the Friends of Santa Teresa Park's 2018 newsletter (page 8):
http://www.stpfriends.org/FOSTP-Newsletter-July-2018.pdf.
In his spare time, John created animated sculptures powered by pencil sharpeners. I saw some of them that he kept in his office at the ranch. He later had them on display in museums, galleries, and exhibitions, like this one at the Mini-Maker Faire.
This video shows how he came up with the idea:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eGectl-gHljEran4Swn2WwqBX-7U3oR2/view.
This video shows a pencil sharpener that draws flowers: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11p1Sq2d4KOSCtPYzVdH7M60F06BROnZj/view. It's a more recent creation that uses laser-cut wooden parts.
John will have a solo exhibition of his work on display at the Colibri Gallery, 17505 Monterey Road, Morgan Hill from July 15 to August 19, 2023. It's at the corner of Monterey Road and 1st Street in downtown Morgan Hill. There's a free opening reception with refreshments on Saturday 7/15/23 from 3-5 pm. See the invitation at the end of the album.
