Spring 2023 – Maple, Walnut
Designed and built in collaboration with Max Cerami. Scheduled to be shown at Soil Art Gallery in 2025.
The clock moves in time with the rising and setting of the sun, cycling once per day. The light maple arc represents daylight, framed below by the dark walnut of night time.
The goal of this project was to create an artifact of timekeeping grounded in our natural environment. Days in our latitude are particularly dynamic, in the summer lasting almost 16 hours before sundown, and in the winter lasting barely 8. This project aspires to reflect both innate difference in how we experience the world in daylight vs darkness, and the dramatic influence of seasons over this light/dark relationship.
The project was also a novel technical challenge. Max and I worked together to design and assemble the electronics & motor system. Max handled the 3D printed components. I wrote the software and fabricated the wood components.
Here are some additional technical details. The clock uses a GPS chip to determine it’s location and the current UTC time then calculates the local dawn/dusk schedule via this process published by NOAA. The clock’s speed and timing automatically adjust based on it’s location. For example, if the clock were moved to the far north where the sun does not set for a season it will move very slowly indeed, taking days or weeks to reach the end of it’s daytime arc.
Below are photos of the electronics hidden behind the lower half, as well as photos of early prototype versions.
Workshop 227a 