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Kenneth Snelson

American

BiographyBorn 1927 in Pendleton, Oregon, Kenneth Snelson "constructs his sculptures from stainless steel rods and tension wires, which he combines in modular configurations that repeat across each work. The rods and wires distribute a scheme of compression and tension, or push and pullthe rods refuse to collapse and the wires are stretched to their limits. The principle of structure by compression and tension, a method created by Snelson and which he has named "tensegrity," gives his forms an intrinsic stability through the choreography of what he calls "essential forces" (Mark Daniel Cohen).

The artist builds maquettes first, creating them by hand, piece by piece, proceeding by impulse. Snelson's education background includes: the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon; Black Mountain College, Black Mountain, N.C.; and Fernand Leger, Paris.

Recently, Snelson has become interested in the atom, "finding in our growing understanding of the atom's structure a source of inspiration for a new series of dynamic models, sculptures and computer graphics" (www.grunch.net).

His contemporary sculpture is held in museum collections throughout the world and has brought the artist a continuing series of honors and awards, including the 1971 Sculpture Award from the New York State Council on the Arts, a DAAD Fellowship for Berlin Künstlerprogram in 1976, and in 1981, the American Institute of Architects' Medal. In 1985, Snelson was awarded an honorary doctorate in Arts and Humane Letters by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. In 1999, he became a Biennial Honoree at the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York, and will be given the International Sculpture Center's Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award.

Source:
Mark Daniel Cohen, Sculpture Magazine at: www.sculpture.org information from an interview on August 8, 1999.

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