Kinetically giddy with Alexander Calder!

During this current semester of college I am taking a class called Art Appreciation, which 
orginally was not in my class plans. I was supposed to take Beginning Painting, but it got cancelled. Wanting to fill the spot that it left open, I decided on Art Appreciation since art is a huge interest of mine already. Being exposed to even more art could only be a plus.

Which brings me to Alexander Calder. Last night during Art Appreciation class I had the great fortune to be exposed to him for the first time. The teacher usually plays videos featuring artists or a type of art every class period, and immediately prior to this one she said, "This will be the most entertaining video you will see in this entire semester." Of course, this only intrigued me more. A few minutes into the video, I understood why she said what she did.

He rocked that moustache for many years.

Alexander Calder lived until the age of 78, and during those years not a day went by that he didn't create something. A manipulator of wire, he would build very abstract sculptures that utilized space and kinetic energy to produce movement. A man who was said to be very child like in his personality, even to an old age, he created everything from children's toys to jewelry to enormous sculptures that graced the plazas of many populated cities. I was surprised to find out that he is the inventor of the mobile. I will never look at a mobile the same way again.

Here is but a few examples of Calder's unique vision.

Since a lot of his art is best seen in motion, I went ahead and found a YouTube video that is a clip from the video I saw in class.