Timothy Rose — Artist (1941–2008)

Timothy Rose

Mobile Sculptor & Kinetic Artist · 1941–2008

Timothy Rose with his mobile sculpture

“We are hardwired as hunters, our brain responds to movement.”

— Timothy Rose

In Memoriam Tim Rose May 7, 1941 – March 27, 2008

A biography and tribute by Susan Shea

Tim has passed away, but his spirit remains. Here’s a little history, for those of you who may have known him only in one time of his vibrant life:

Tim’s major works include a 180-foot mobile installation in Charleston, South Carolina’s aquarium; mobile sculptures in public spaces at several American colleges, universities, and hospitals; and a number of significant lobby sculptures in architect-designed office buildings around the country. His latest commissions in California include a 30-part hanging piece at Watsonville’s new court house which he oversaw the installation of in early March, and a painted, abstract lobby mobile in the new arts center in Tracy. To his immense satisfaction, his son Alexander, his brothers Jerry and Chris Rose, his son’s wife Gwen Rose, and Susan made up Team Rose for the ambitious installation at the new courthouse in Watsonville, California.

Tim’s work is in private collections in the United States and Europe. He also collaborated with designers on special kinetic sculpture projects, one of which was a pair of mobiles made up of historically significant street signs for the three-story lobby of the redesigned Chicago History Museum.

In recent years, much of his work was in the form of public and private commissions. His work was featured in galleries in San Francisco, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Washington, DC.

Tim made so many contributions to the art community, and in the last few weeks of his life young and established artists came daily to thank him for that and for giving them persistent encouragement. Beginning right after he moved to Sausalito in the mid-1960s, he helped the Sausalito Art Festival become more artist-focused and co-chaired it in 1969. He joined Jean Varda’s wild and crazy circle of young artists, and in future years, Tim frequently quoted Varda’s admonition that art needs to show “the hand of man.”

From 1970 to 1973, Tim and Annette Rose lived in Paris, where he was inspired first by Calder, then by Wassily Kandinsky. Tim has written that “what followed was a body of work breaking away from the Calderesque rhythms.”

Beginning with small, wire “liquid cubes” that he sold in Paris in the early 1970s, Tim built a large body of work that became, in his words, “paintings in three dimensions.”

Tim, Annette, June Morrison and a few friends began what became the community of artists’ ateliers at the Industrial Center Building in Sausalito. When he returned from Paris, he inaugurated an annual exhibition and sale at the ICB that continues today. For decades, Tim spearheaded the annual ICB show, which attracts thousands of visitors and collectors to meet and buy directly from professional artists.

From 1973 to 1979, Tim and Annette owned and operated the Rose-Bernardi Gallery in Sausalito, which earned Bay Area fame for themed exhibitions such as a food sculpture show that included a live model jumping out of an edible cake. Leah Schwartz, Isabella Kirkland, Richard Kammler, Elsa Gonella, Art Grant, and Marge Rector were a few of the well-known artists whose work was shown at Rose-Bernardi during that era.

In 1992, he co-founded with Marin painter Kay Carlson the enormously successful Marin Open Studios two-weekend event; in the first year, more than 225 artists participated from all over the county. *MOS is now a self-operating non-profit organization.

Tim moved his studio from the Industrial Center Building to Mare Island, Vallejo in 1999 to accommodate the larger mobiles he was creating. He opened Coal Shed Studios in a former Navy building and invited a new community of artists to share the space.

Tim attended George Washington University, Mexico City College, and received his degree from San Francisco State University. Susan Shea and Tim were loving companions for the last 17 years of his life. His spirit, energy, and creativity live on in his work and in the many lives he touched.

About the Artist

Timothy Rose created mobile sculpture for more than 40 years. First inspired by the work of Alexander Calder, he began exhibiting professionally in 1965. He lived in Japan, Mexico, and Paris. It was in Paris that the work of Wassily Kandinsky began to influence his ideas and sculpture — particularly Kandinsky’s later work, consisting of small drawings of overlapping layers of floating hard-edged shapes.

Later, back in Sausalito, California, Rose developed a passion for figure drawing. The result, combined with a maturing vision, produced a body of work where the viewer sees a more sensuous, highly varied group of mobiles — often colorful — that combine the engineering of a Calder work with the humor and liveliness of artwork characteristic of California. He worked from his studio on Mare Island, near San Francisco until his passing in 2008.

Selected Commissions

  • 2008 — Watsonville Courthouse. 75-ft long, 31-mobile construction in stainless, brass, and copper reflecting the nearby hills.
  • 2006 — Chicago History Museum. 14-ft lobby mobiles: a collaboration featuring historic street intersections.
  • 2006 — Design Museum of London. Collaboration for Designer of the Year 2006.
  • 2005 — Chevron, San Ramon, CA. Lobby construction.
  • 2004 — Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA. Stainless Double Pan Mobile.
  • 2002 — University of Tennessee, Knoxville. “Africa Diaspora” mobile.
  • 2000 — South Carolina Aquarium, Charleston, SC. Water / Fish / Bird — 180 ft × 12 ft × 9 ft, 215 stainless steel mobiles representing water, fish, and birds.
  • 1996 — Yerba Buena Center for the Arts / SF MOMA. Installed 15 mobiles for the Urban Land Institute Trustees banquet.
  • 1988 — Chula Vista Nature Center. 20-ft painted plexiglass “Amoeba Mobile” for permanent exhibit.
  • 1987 — Chula Vista Nature Center. “Sea Gull Mobile”: 55 wooden sea-gulls (40′ × 20′).
  • 1971 — Paris, France. 2,000 individual “liquid cubes” for the Paris Herald-Tribune.

Awards & Exhibitions

Selected Awards: North Bay Multimedia Association “Best of the North Bay” Award in Digital Art (1998); Apple Computer International Award for unique application of QuickTime Virtual Reality (1998); Movers and Shakers, Sebastopol Center for the Arts (1997); Marin Art Festival Cash Award (1997); California State Fair Cash Award (1989); Sausalito Art Festival Cash Award (1988); Marin Society of Artists Sculpture Show Cash Award (1983); Marin County Fair Cash Award (1980).

Selected Exhibitions: Whitney Museum of American Art Store, New York (1993, 1998); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Store (1987); Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco (1994); Mariposa Gallery, Albuquerque — solo exhibition (2004); Velvet Da Vinci Gallery, San Francisco (2003); Somerhill Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC (2002); Contemporary Crafts Gallery, Portland, OR (1997); Falkirk Community Center, San Rafael (1994, 2005); Sausalito Art Festival (1968–1993).

Publications: “Inter Activity, Exploring the Fine Art of Mobiles” — Chronicle Books, San Francisco (2000); “From West Side to East End” — WallPaper Magazine, July/Aug 2001; “Wire In Design” — Krause Publications (2001).

Gallery

Books & Legacy

Tim published books on mobile-making and produced an instructional video, sharing the craft with artists and enthusiasts around the world:

“The Secret: Start from the bottom and work to the top. There are many ways to design a work of hanging sculpture, and as many materials, but the assembly is always the same: start from the bottom.”

— Timothy Rose, from his Interactivity Kit

Contact & Available Work

Timothy Rose passed away in March 2008. His son Alexander Rose continues to curate and sell some of Tim’s remaining artworks.

Timothy Rose