Anthony Howe (born 1954,
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
, Utah) is an American
kinetic sculptor who creates wind-driven sculptures resembling pulsing, alien creatures and vortices. He makes use of
computer-aided design
Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...
, shaping the metal components with a
plasma cutter
Plasma cutting is a process that cuts through electrically conductive materials by means of an accelerated jet of hot plasma. Typical materials cut with a plasma torch include steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass and copper, although other c ...
, and completing his work by use of traditional metalworking techniques.
Howe notably designed a cauldron and accompanying kinetic sculpture for the
2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...
in Rio, Brazil.
Education and work
Howe attended
The Taft School
The Taft School is a private, coeducational school located in Watertown, Connecticut, United States. It teaches students in 9th through 12th grades and post-graduates.
About three-quarters of Taft's roughly 600 students live on the school's ...
between 1969 and 1973, and for the next 6 years was enrolled at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
and
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture is an artists residency located in Madison, Maine, just outside of Skowhegan. Every year, the program accepts online applications from emerging artists from November through January, and selects 65 ...
. In 1979 he built a house on a remote mountaintop in
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
. Here he painted beautiful landscapes for a wonderful five years, and displayed his work at 'Gallery on the Green' in
Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by Native Americans, and was firs ...
. His paintings may be found in the collections of
Teradyne
Teradyne, Inc. is an American automatic test equipment (ATE) designer and manufacturer based in North Reading, Massachusetts. Teradyne's high-profile customers include Samsung, Qualcomm, Intel, Analog Devices, Texas Instruments and IBM.
His ...
,
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, the
William Small
William Small (13 October 1734 – 25 February 1775) was a Scottish physician and a professor of natural philosophy at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, where he became an influential mentor for Thomas Jefferson. Early life
William Sm ...
collection and other public and private collections.
In 1985 Howe moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and turned from painting to kinetic sculpting. Four years later his first work was hung from old elevator cables stretched between buildings. In 1993 he joined the
Kim Foster Gallery in New York, and the following year moved to
Orcas Island
Orcas Island () is the largest of the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest, which are in the northwestern corner of San Juan County, Washington.
History and naming of the island
The name "Orcas" is a shortened form of ''Horcasitas,'' fro ...
in
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, where he once again built a house and opened his own gallery.
[
]
He claims one of his methods of testing the sculptures is by fixing them to top of his van and then driving down the local airstrip.
In August 2015, Howe was offered the role of designing a
cauldron
A cauldron (or caldron) is a large pot (kettle) for cooking or boiling over an open fire, with a lid and frequently with an arc-shaped hanger and/or integral handles or feet. There is a rich history of cauldron lore in religion, mythology, and ...
for the
2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...
in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. The games' organizers had decided not to have a larger cauldron and flame as part of an effort to be environmentally conscious, resulting in the construction of a small cauldron with a larger kinetic sculpture to accompany it; the sculpture, which consists of ring of rotating bars, a 40 ft (12.2 m) in diameter, with reflective plates and spheres, was meant to enhance the appearance of the smaller flame, providing an effect inspired by the "pulsing energy and reflection of light" of the sun. The sculpture was designed at his studio on Orcas Island, with final construction occurring in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
before being shipped to Rio.
[
]
References
External links
* Official website.
Video by Elizabeth Rudge* Compilation Videos of Howe's Works -- -- -
Short Versionan
Long Version'Anthony Howe's Otherworldly Kinetic Sculptures''Orcas Island, WA: Anthony Howe's kinetic sculptures'The Creators ProjectVideo of 'Octo' sculpture'Big Wind Whelp''Study for potential kinetic sculpture'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, Anthony (kinetic sculptor)
Kinetic sculptors
1954 births
Living people
Artists from Salt Lake City
Taft School alumni
Cornell University alumni
Sculptors from Utah