Flight and Fancy

By Dennis Smith

My sculptures are often made of things I find. An eggbeater is the propeller of a submarine and typewriter parts make instruments for flying machines. Yet my wheels turn only in the imagination.

Like small boys I turn abandoned machinery into battleships, planes, racing cars, and submarines—vehicles for adventurous imaginings. The whole world seems to be at our fingertips.

It is sometimes difficult for grown-ups to recall feelings of their childhood that helped them dream their dreams and cope with the reality of growing up. Treasure your imagination; it is the key to the appreciation of adulthood and eternal growth.

From Dennis Smith’s journal:

“August 5, 1975—Chairs are important to me, as are wheels, wings, and children—from small to adolescent. And farm machines, memories of youth, of past, rusty machines, … hanging plane shapes, ship shapes, water, and children in water.”

Apple Crate Plane #3, courtesy Mr. and Mrs. John Cobabe

One-man Sub #2, courtesy Michael Graves

Swallow-tailed Flyer, courtesy Sunstone Capital