Video: Philip Rickey

As described in the title, Rickey combined engineering and aesthetics to create his eye-catching moving sculptures from what he called “ordinary shapes.” This piece continually folds and unfolds as it morphs from a square-in-progress to complete three-dimensional square. As it moves, the square sometimes acts as a frame for the surrounding landscape. The constant motion even can be considered a metaphor for nature, with its cycles of birth, death, and renewal. 

Video: Philip Rickey

Rickey described many of his pieces as “excentric,” meaning their elements are on a pivoting shaft set at 45 degrees so they move in a conical arc, and “gyratory,” meaning their elements revolve 360 degrees around their central post in a circular movement. In addition to both motions, the elements are Ls, so they have vertical and horizontal planes that add to animated visual effect. Notice how Rickey purposefully uses shape, space, speed, and scale.

Video: Philip Rickey

The floating horizontal line, which Rickey also called a “blade,” is deceptively sophisticated. The precise balance and swing required intricate engineering solutions. Rickey chose to use long blades because “the lines permit the most economical manifestation of movement… a kinetic line drawing in space.”

Video: Philip Rickey

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Video: Philip Rickey

Video: Philip Rickey

Rickey often used triangles in his sculptures, manipulating their closed and straight-edged outlines as frames. He balanced the positive space of each stainless steel triangle with the negative space of the area within the triangle. As the triangles move, see how they reframe and reflect the trees, skies, and even the buildings around.

Video: Richard Benefield and Marian Day

The artwork had personal significance for Rickey as it originally hung over the dining room table in his East Chatham, NY, home, much like it is shown here at Naumkeag. The hundreds of small pieces that make up the sculpture sway to even the slightest air current. Although this man-made cloud is meant to be seen inside, it still references nature and natural forces as the source of movement.

Video: Philip Rickey

Video: Philip Rickey

Unlike some other artists who created kinetic sculptures, Rickey never used motors to power movement. This graceful piece is particularly responsive to air currents, so can only be exhibited in a sheltered environment like the walled Chinese Garden. Because each of the ten pairs of rods moves separately and each of the rotors spins individually, the motion resembles a wave. Within the garden environs, the sculpture acts like an abstract water feature.

Video: Philip Rickey

Rickey began creating Space Churns in the mid-1950s, just as the Cold War space race began heating up. The majority of these distinctive moving orbs were made between the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik in 1957 and Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon in 1969. In this Space Churn, the atomic shapes and the use of the color red reflect contemporaneous Mid-Century Modern design.

Video: Richard Benefield

Video: Philip Rickey

The word “column” is most often associated with a vertical band, but in this sculpture, Rickey engineered the squares to rearrange into either a vertical or a horizontal column. Even a gentle breeze can move and transform the elements. Works with evocative titles such as this suggest the inherent impermanence of Rickey’s shifting sculptures and, somewhat paradoxically, the transience and the power of art.