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John Dorrance's "Contraptions" at the Colibri Gallery, 7/15/23 by Ronald Horii
I've known John Dorrance since 2003, when he started as the first Park Interpreter at the Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch in Santa Teresa County Park in San Jose. I used to help him with events in the park. He retired in 2018. Here's an article that I wrote 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 at History San Jose in 2015: https://tinyurl.com/437yt8ef. This video shows how he came up with the idea for using pencil sharpeners to create animated sculptures: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eGectl-gHljEran4Swn2WwqBX-7U3oR2/view. This video shows a more recent work, a pencil sharpener that makes Spirograph-like drawings: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11p1Sq2d4KOSCtPYzVdH7M60F06BROnZj/view.
In recent years, John got a laser cutter, so he can make more elaborate parts for his newer works. John has an exhibition of a sample of his pencil-sharpener-powered kinetic sculptures at the Colibri Gallery 17505 Monterey Road, Morgan Hill, CA. It's at the corner of Monterey Road and 1st Street in downtown Morgan Hill. It's open Tuesday-Friday 11 am - 6 pm and Saturdays 10 am - 5 pm, closed Sundays. Here's the website for the gallery:
https://www.colibrigallery.com/
Here's information about John's exhibition, which will be on display from July 15 to August 19:
https://www.colibrigallery.com/event-info/contraptions-by-john-dorrance. On 7/15/23, there was a reception for the exhibition. These are pictures from the reception.
I've known John Dorrance since 2003, when he started as the first Park Interpreter at the Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch in Santa Teresa County Park in San Jose. I used to help him with events in the park. He retired in 2018. Here's an article that I wrote 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 at History San Jose in 2015: https://tinyurl.com/437yt8ef. This video shows how he came up with the idea for using pencil sharpeners to create animated sculptures: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eGectl-gHljEran4Swn2WwqBX-7U3oR2/view. This video shows a more recent work, a pencil sharpener that makes Spirograph-like drawings: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11p1Sq2d4KOSCtPYzVdH7M60F06BROnZj/view.
In recent years, John got a laser cutter, so he can make more elaborate parts for his newer works. John has an exhibition of a sample of his pencil-sharpener-powered kinetic sculptures at the Colibri Gallery 17505 Monterey Road, Morgan Hill, CA. It's at the corner of Monterey Road and 1st Street in downtown Morgan Hill. It's open Tuesday-Friday 11 am - 6 pm and Saturdays 10 am - 5 pm, closed Sundays. Here's the website for the gallery:
https://www.colibrigallery.com/
Here's information about John's exhibition, which will be on display from July 15 to August 19:
https://www.colibrigallery.com/event-info/contraptions-by-john-dorrance. On 7/15/23, there was a reception for the exhibition. These are pictures from the reception.
