a tale of two harrys, part one

About thirteen years ago, I would drive my younger brother to Guzzetta Hall at the University of Akron for his weekly classical guitar lesson. While sitting in the lobby during his lesson, I would occasionally glance at this odd sculpture that looked like groups of brass mallets and abstract pussywillows. I figured that they made some sort of sound but never had the opportunity to find out due to the blue velvet ropes and silver stanchions barricading the sculpture from nosy admirers with sticky fingers.

Many years later I came across an article on Harry Bertoia in a magazine called The Wire. Bertoia was an American artist who created sonic sculptures: metal gongs, rods, bars, and various other arrays, all designed to produce melodic tones when struck. And this article struck something in me--I had seen one of his sculptures in person before! But where? Finally, it hit me: the lobby at U of A where I could only look but not touch all those years ago. My mission became clear--I was going to revisit that sculpture and clang the cobwebs off of it.

So I drove through a light rain from Cleveland to Akron to capture the sights and sounds of Bertoia, barricades be damned. Leaving my car under the watchful eye of an unemployed parking meter, I strode past a pack of soggy band geeks and entered Guzzetta Hall [digression: who designs their psuedo-military uniforms? Sgt. Pepper should find that guy and kick his lame ass up and down Penny Lane].

Approaching my target, I saw that the velvet ropes were now positioned behind the sculpture. Had the university changed its position on interactive art, or had the cleaning crew merely been lazy after mopping? Who cares! I began snapping photos, merrily banging the mallets and reeds together as the occasional piccolo player walked by with a puzzled expression. Chimes are great because there is never a wrong note--the same was true for Bertoia's creation, all of the tones and overtones merging together into one shimmering cloud.

Bertoia's sculpture should really be installed outdoors. That way, everyone on campus could hear the wind stir up tones such as these: