Photo Credit: David Dietrich
Wing I
© Estate of Kenneth Snelson
Snelson’s elegant sculptures of industrially produced materials embody the structural principle of discontinuous or floating compression in which tension and compression members are separated. The catalyst for Snelson’s sculpture was his studies at Black Mountain College with maverick inventor and designer Buckminster Fuller in the summers of 1948 and 1949. In the intervening winter, Snelson created a stable model in which wooden elements were held in suspension by nylon thread. Fuller named the invention “tensegrity,” a fusion of the words “tension” and “integrity.” This structural principle formed the foundation for Snelson’s sculpture as well as a number of Fuller’s domes. Snelson was a sculptor, inventor, filmmaker, and photographer.
Exhibition Title: Asheville Art Museum: An Introduction to the Collection
Label Date: 2021
Type: Catalogue Entry
Written by: Mary Emma Harris
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