Galimoto, was written by Karen Lynn Williams, and Illustrated in beautiful watercolor by Catherine Stock. It is published by Harper Collins, and available at libraries and bookstores alike. As I stated last week, I first heard about the book through the PBS program Reading Rainbow, which was hosted by Levar Burton.
While I don't recall much about the episode in which it was featured, the subject of the book stuck with me, and serves as a source of inspiration for my sculptures. As prefaced in Galimoto, on the copyright page, "galimoto" is the Chichewa word for "car," but the word "galimoto" also refers to a push toy that is made from various odds and ends, e.g. scraps of wire, cloth and the like.
The story follows Kondi, an imaginative and industrious young Malawian boy who sets out to make himself a galimoto from nothing more than a few spare scraps of wire.
While I don't have as much trouble getting supplies as Kondi does in the story, I feel we are of kindred spirits, in that both he and I enjoy making things with our hands, and that we want to share the joy of the things that we make with others.
My first exposure to wire sculpture came as a child in the sixth grade, in art class, when I made a static scuba diver, a shark, and some coral using both annealed bailing wire for the framework and colorfully insulated pieces of copper wire that our teacher harvested from stripped telephone and computer cables, as we learned about proportions and golden sections. I can't say that I remember the first time I saw Galimoto on Reading Rainbow, or even if it had any sort of initial impact on me during my childhood, but I can tell you that whenever I prepare to build a new sculpture, whether it be static or kinetic, my thoughts always drift to Galimoto, especially when I am making a vehicle.
Whether you are a child or an adult, Galimoto is very much worth a read, and I highly recommend it.
And now, an Announcement!
After I have completed my kinetic Unicyclist, I will be making a galimoto, but not just any galimoto, it's gonna be a "Dusie," an articulated model "J," complete with rack and pinion Steering! Also soon to be in the works is a bone shaking, Penny Farthing bicycle.
