The Art of Joy Alyssa Day

And so goes the whole dynamic of the developmental process. You can never say for sure when the thing will be done. You’d think people who are in the business of education and science would understand this concept, but they don’t seem to… or at least the ones who hire us don’t seem to.

When we first got approached by the group that wanted the orrery, they were looking at one of our mobiles – a free flowing model of the solar system. No motors, no electronics, no precision regarding dates. The planets could swing clockwise or counter, depending on the breeze. You could reach up and bump one and change it’s dynamic. They looked at it, loved it and asked “Can you build an orrery?”

The really cool thing about getting new art projects is that I usually get to learn something new. We’re working on building an orrery currently. An orrery is one of those old fashioned solar system models that you used to find in old museums and libraries. Nobody seems to make them anymore.

When we talked with the college that wanted one, we said “How hard can it be?”, so we took the job. It has turned out to be Very Hard, but certainly worth it, and will come out beautiful when we’re done.