Not far from where I used to live in Venice is an eclectic antique store and gallery named Obsolete. What a great name for an antique store. But don't go looking for old pictures of sailboats or a fifties dish set, your grandmother would probably not recognized anything on display here. Seemingly from an undetermined era, the carefully curated collection of unique objects, art, and furnishings on display are so cool and offbeat I would say they lean more towards trendsetting than obsolete! The store also doubles as a gallery and regularly features equally unusual artists. Each new artist is always a pleasant discovery but the one showing this month really hit home for me, since I love miniature installations. The artist reception for Tom Haney's mechanical sculptures, Undaunted, was Saturday November 13. I went the next morning and had the chance to take several pictures while the store was quiet and the sculptures were resting after an undoubtedly busy opening night.

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What can you make with an old can and a couple wire hangers? Aaron Kramer will tell you, a kinetic sculpture! I like things that move, but typically my thoughts go to animation rather than moving mechanical parts. You would think the opposite, since in some distant past I managed to complete a degree in mechanical engineering. But somehow I was better at the math part of it, which is probably why I now write code instead of designing machines. So anyway, back to the sculpture. Aaron gave a workshop last Sunday on how to make a moving one that anyone can learn to put together.

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