Rowing and art
Carl Douglas
http://www.rowingservice.com/new.html
has drawn attention to a Row2k.com interview with noted sculler &
sculptor, Ellen Kennelly.
Ellen dropped in at our workshop some years ago, not long after I'd seen
pictures of her powerful bronze of a sculler's hands.
While I bang on about the relevance of engineering science to our sport,
I also see good sculling as an art form - the two are complementary, not
mutually exclusive. Ellen's work beautifully depicts the art within
rowing, not least in her wonderful new work, Endurance, installed at
Harvard's Weld Boathouse.
Those wanting to know more of Ellen's work should visit:
www.ellenkennelly.com
A nice person, a fine artist & a great sculler.
Cheers -
Carl
--
Carl Douglas Racing Shells -
Fine Small-Boats/AeRoWing Low-drag Riggers/Advanced Accessories
Write: Harris Boatyard, Laleham Reach, Chertsey KT16 8RP, UK
Find: http://tinyurl.com/2tqujf
Email: ca...@carldouglas.co.uk Tel: +44(0)1932-570946 Fax: -563682
URLs: www.carldouglas.co.uk (boats) & www.aerowing.co.uk (riggers)
Charles Carroll
How glad I am to hear you say that you also recognize good sculling as an
art form?
Am I to take this that there is hope for you yet? That you are not purely
and exclusively an engineer?
You have written so many times that your shells just "happen" to look
beautiful.
But I never quite believed you. I have always suspected that in all this
"time and chance," in all "just happening to look beautiful," one might also
find a just bit of guiding feeling. It is the artist in you. It is the
unmistakable impulse to make your shells conform to an aesthetic, to an
ultimately unknowable idea of rightness. You can't help it, even if you can't
explain it.
Ken Auletta has been giving interviews all over the North American continent
on his latest book, "Googled: The End of the World as We Know It." He has
been telling all who would listen that an engineer is someone who refuses to
recognize anything he can't measure. It is good to know that there exists at
least one engineer in the world for whom such an idea is bollocks.
By the way, you beat me to it. I was going to put the links up to Ellen's
website this morning. I just hadn't gotten around to it. Her work is just
extraordinary. Lucky those who are privileged to scull out of Harvard's Weld
Boathouse. Phil Weld was a member of my father's class at Harvard. A very
interesting man! He held the World's record for the fastest crossing of the
Atlantic, in a trimaran I believe. http://www.newfilmco.com/acbook.htm. He
is one of David Lay's great heroes and a man my father also admired greatly.
Also, did you notice that Ellen credits r.s.r.'s own John Flory for adding
support and inspiration to her new piece, "Endurance?"
Cordially,
Charles
Carl Douglas
You know I'm of the "form follows function school", Charles. Generate
the right designs, select the most appropriate materials, execute well.
But, for added job satisfaction, make the aesthetic most of all you
do. After all, if you care, you really do care. And good engineering
has its own elegance, as any admirer of IK Brunel will know.
I hadn't known connection between Phil Weld & the Weld Boathouse -
thanks for that.
Which takes us to that great sailboat designer, Dick Newick, who made
Phil Weld's boat, Moxie - see http://www.wingo.com/newick/ and the vid
on that page. Not sure what the guy is doing on the stern, but if I
were sat there I know what it'd make me want to do...
Newick also designed & built radical, minimalist sailboats - such as
Cheers, seemingly barely larger than a couple of kayaks, for e.g. the
single-handed transatlantic race.
BTW "Laminate" samples are on their way to you, or may already have
reached you.