Influences & Acknowledgements
It seems only appropriate to honor the genius minds who are now gone, but have left us with the legacy of their brilliance. We should not forget these visionaries and what it now means to us that they had the inspiration, the energy to persist, and desire to bring their own dreams, into realization. All the while, perhaps not fully knowing how they would be benefiting us today. We can continue to honor them, by the artworks we create and by continuing to discuss and admire their contributions to keep their names alive.
Sir William Crookes (1832 – 1919) An English chemist, physicist, and inventor is one of those who we can honor and remember in such a manner. Sir William Crookes developed many types of experimental vacuum tubes. And who, in his research discovered that a low pressure tube filled with gases would emit “cathode rays” when electrified. He was also one of the very first to develop the new research into plasmas, and also invented a test instrument to detect nuclear radioactivity, the spinthariscope.
Nikola Tesla (1856 – 1943) The Serbian inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer is one of the better known, yet not fully celebrated geniuses of our time. His command and seemingly innate understanding of electromagnetic energy, remains unsurpassed even to this day. Without Mr. Tesla’s many accomplishments, we may have not even have had the luxury of electrical current transmission until much later in human history, and with perhaps much more limited capability.
Georges Claude (1870 – 1960) Is yet another. The French engineer, and inventor who in 1902 created the first tube of Neon lighting. Claude’s name is nearly unknown today, and yet we also owe him a great deal for his concept that is now used in so many applications, from commercial lighting and signage to artworks that could only be created from such a medium.
There are also a few select artists alive today who continue to influence Michael’s work, and whom he feels created and maintain the cutting edge of the plasma and illuminated sculpture realm.
Larry Albright is one of those artists; he is widely recognized as the father of the plasma sphere and successfully developed the “Eye of the Storm” plasma globe, for the consumer market. His work has been an integral component in many exceptional Hollywood films. He has pioneered the development of the high frequency transformers used in plasma sculpture.
Ed Kirshner has continued to expand the plasma realm in ways that have never been seen before. His vision and development of pioneering techniques in working with production glass pieces, have set him apart from his predecessors, he is highly respected and at the forefront of the technology today.
Here are a few more places of interest:
FLOAT Floatation Center Art Gallery, a one of a kind, artist-owned gallery and floatation center located in Oakland, CA
Styrous Professional Photography
Plasmasculpture A blog about plasma art