lucker and wood’s mechanical pictures

In 1987, armed with degrees in sculpture and printmaking from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Ann Wood and Dean Lucker began creating mechanical sculptures that require the viewer’s participation to bring the art to life. Lucker and Wood’s Mechanical Pictures and Dexterity Games are a sheer delight for the perpetually curious. Art that moves – that engages me in the process – is infinitely appealing.

You Are Amazing, 7.5″ x 6″ x 1″,
archival paper and ink, wooden back, plexiglass front and printed paper sides

[When the lever is pressed down, the young lady places a card on top of the stack of cards and the message "You Are Amazing" is revealed]

Catching The Moon

[This piece is about a tender acknowledgment of the larger cycles we all live in. When the lever is lifted up, the moon drops down as the woman's arm lifts to greet the moon]

In addition to their collaborative work, the website showcases their individual art, which is equally impressive. Wood works with the unlikely combination of dyed eggshells and seed beads to create her paintings, and Lucker carves his figures from wood and resin, adding electrical motors to the mix to create blooming flowers, spinning fortune wheels and automated figures.

Leaking Moon, 40″ x 12″ x 10″

Swan and Balloon, 34″ x 34″ x 2″, egg shells, seed beads

During the past five years, I have created dense surfaces made of dyed, cracked egg shells and seed beads hand set with surgical tweezers.  It is my intention to make beautiful, personal images which describe a powerful spirit in a mysterious manner.  By jumping through time and choosing figures of differing ages, I hope to make a physiological imprint of my life’s story. Ann Wood

This short clip shows one of Lucker’s sculptures in action. I turned the sound off when I watched it – the mechanics were noisy – the only shortcoming to this interesting body of work.