This piece was made for the Catharsis show in 2012. Catharsis means to purge or clean out and I made this�machine � to suggest such a possibility! I had been looking at lots of Shaun Tan type devices and my pile of scrap had a number of pieces which wanted to be used.
It is entirely whimsical although both the bell and the hammer do make appropriate sounds. Unfortunately the big horn hasn�t got going so although this piece is a catharsis of some of my lovely bits of junk there is a large part that hasn�t been �purged� ( and my pile is still pretty big.).
I am not sure if what I have constructed refers to my past teaching life where the bell was the end of the period and all the students were removed.. and the hammer.. was a way of relieving frustration( not on the students) but by creating something at home!. Perhaps I am now going through a catharsis by trying to purge all the ideas I had building up in me! It is a friendly machine though. And rather lumbering� sort of like me!