Time Flies

This piece was commissioned by someone who inherited a grandfather clock from his grandmother. He wanted the clock to run and operate as before, but asked me to change the case in my fashion...

I had only done a few commissions before, so this was a challenge, and it went through many different concepts and materials before it came to its current and final form.  It's called Time Flies, after the small winged creatures flying up through the case and out the top. I carved the wooden bodies, and the wings are made of mica. These photographs show the case without all the interior clockworks -- the pendulum, weights, and chimes. I hope I will get photographs of the clock after it is installed in its owner's home, and the clock is actually working!

Each side has a small door on the top that I covered with a quote stamped into brass foil sheets. This is the left side, with a quote from Albert Einstein: The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.

The photographs here of the right and left sides show the clock without the Time Flies coming out the top. Sorry about that! I had just had an accident with the clock face, and I was a bit freaked out.

There are three groupings of the numbers 1 - 12 on each side, made from found objects, old and new building numbers, and stick-on vinyl digits. Here is a high resolution image of the first sequence on the left side.

And here are the next two sequences:

And on to the right side!

The quote on this side is from Bil Keane (the cartoonist who created the Family Circus): Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.