Mark Zirpel in the studio.
GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet: What are you working on?
Mark Zirpel: I’ve been quite busy lately completing some small- to medium-sized kinetic sculptures in the form of orreries, which are small models of the solar system common in the 1700s. An orrery depicts the rotation of the planets and their moons around the sun. This idea of rotation around a central point is a recurring element in my work, and its description of both planetary motion on a large scale as well as subatomic particle motion revolving around their nucleus on a small scale is something that fascinates me.
Much of my work is about the behavior of physical matter. With my job as an assistant professor at the University of Washington’s 3D4M interdisciplinary design department, I have access to new machine tools that allow me to explore a level of precision and reliability not previously available to me. I enjoy the repurposing of found objects, using them in new ways. For example, I bought 13 old sewing machines — beautifully made machines filled with useful parts. I’ve been using the bobbin-winder mechanisms to provide the basic circular motion for my models of the solar system.
Mark Zirpel, Orrery #4, 2009. Mixed media. H 50 1/2, W 26 1/2 in. courtesy: traver gallery, seattle
These orreries are all solar powered, so when the sun shines the planets spin. Larger models are built form a variety of materials including flywheels from car engines, old hand-drill mechanisms, plumbing floats, marbles, golf balls, etc. Anything small and round can serve as planets and moons. Anything that rotates can be employed, and, as I got into making this body of work, I had to restrain myself from turning everything I saw into some kind of planetary model, things such as a turntable, a bicycle wheel, a cement mixer, my lawnmower, and so on.
It was a particular challenge to design counter-rotating systems in which the sun and the planets spin in opposite directions, with moons spinning around the individual rotating planets. As I often do, I avoided studying the original designs from the 17th century so as to not influence my own solution to the various mechanical requirements of the model. Another challenge in this investigation was the power source to make the models rotate. I decided early on that I wanted them to be solar powered. So this provided an opportunity to study photovoltaic cells, high efficiency DC gear motors, low friction bearings, and other new technologies.
I’m particularly interested in photovoltaic cells as they relate to glass. The early cells were mostly pure silicon, which to me means “glass.” Imagine glass objects that produce their own power to perform whatever function they are designed for. Since a lot of my work is kinetic this is a useful feature. It allows the sculpture exist and operate (in a power-consuming fashion) wherever there is light. I will continue my study of glass and its ability to generate electricity. I originally wanted the central planet in these systems (the sun) to be a flaming ball of gas, but was warned not to go in that direction for obvious safety reasons.
GLASS: What artwork have you experienced recently that has moved you, and got you thinking about your own work?
Mark: This is a question that usually stumps me. At least in terms of the artists I’m inspired by. There are many, and they inspire me for many different reasons. I do like the spirit of investigation that art can inspire. I like to see curiosity and a sense of wonder embodied in art. I’m not a big fan of traditional practices in art because I think of artist as explorers, wandering around the fringes of the known world, bringing back strange things to share, expanding our notions of what’s possible. I’m fond of that famous quote: “Genius lies not in the perfection of technique, but in its invention.” I’m truly moved when I witness someone who has dedicated a significant amount of energy to become accomplished at something. I mean this not just in terms of making art, but in any field. Virtuosity in any form is a beautiful thing to experience.
Mark Zirpel, Orrery #3, 2009. Mixed media. H 56, W 32, D 32 in. courtesy: traver gallery, seattle
I’m very interested in music and sound, as well as all things oceanic. I read about psychology and perception in the writings of Oliver Sacks as well as Carl Jung. I’m interested in string theory although I hardly understand anything about it. I guess I’m pretty impatient for those guys to figure out how we can avoid having to always obey the rules of gravity, space, and time. I’m very interested in the notion of reality as an individual invention versus reality as a factual portrayal of the universe.
I’m attached to working with actual physical material and processes, and a laggard in utilizing computer and web-based telematic art practices. For me, to go into my studio to make art with my cell phone would be really depressing. I’m interested and challenged by making things, not just art.
I’m currently constructing a studio compound out in the woods in northern Washington state where I’m growing fruit trees, building a studio, having a garden, creating a compound where I can live, work and subsist in a beautiful natural environment. I believe we have the opportunity to construct our life in whatever way we choose. Society seems to thwart that impulse, but I’m persistent and stubborn.
GLASS: Do you have any upcoming exhibitions you can talk about?
Mark: I just had an exhibition at Traver Gallery in Seattle that ended last month. I was invited to exhibit at the Cheongju Biennale in Korea. In November 2010, I have an exhibition at the Bullseye Gallery. Last fall, I took a teaching position at the University of Washington, charged with introducing glass as a sculptural material in their three-dimensional design and sculpture program. Coming up with the time for serious studio work is one of the greatest challenges I’m faced with now. A lot of the things I work on don’t necessarily end up as finished successful pieces of art. But I’m usually pretty steady producer in the studio, working on things whether or not I have an exhibition lined up. In fact, I prefer to not have the deadline of an exhibition. It supports a more open-ended experimental process of making. It’s an activity that unfolds over a lifetime, and a daily reminder that we are responsible for making our experience here whatever we hope it to be.