Thom McInnis

In attempting to capture an abstraction of gravity, physics, and balance in the universe, one also becomes conscious of the faith humans put into the unseen from physics to spirituality.

This table mobile, based on a Calder design is named “Gravity” in consideration of the week I completed it, scientists announced that after 50 years of research, the first recording of a gravity wave was confirmed.  Gravity waves come from collapsed stars proving black holes exist and affirming the last unproven prediction of general relativity.  This wave was over 1 billion years old.  It’s doubtful anyone felt the impact as it only contracted the 4km observation arm by 1/1000 of a proton.  

Aluminum, wire: 15”H X 20”W X 20”D
2 of 5
2016

Bumper crop is emblematic of a typical summer day on the prairies with a pink, blue and white sky, making for an iconic sunset.  The two triangles together create the exact shape of Saskatchewan and represent fields of canola and flax.

Aluminum: 46”H X 16”W
1 of 3
2016

My love of these artists is apparent in the shapes and colours of this mobile.  In my conversation with them I imagine Mondrian in De Stijl minimal fashion and as the most reductionist of the abstracts, discussing how he is driven to paint and illustrate spirituality in its purest essence and Calder is simply having a good time making shapes dance.  I’ve joined the poetry of our shared space and am represented by the three discs that jumped on for a ride.

Aluminum, stainless steel: 23”H X 46”W
2016

Mitch is no ordinary bull. Rebuking the cultural iconography, this bull is balanced, creative and passionate. He doesn't chase his tail, or get distracted, in fact he sees through the red cape and defines integrity. 

Aluminum, wire: 8”H X 19”W X 19”D
2 of 5
2016

In fall we witness beautiful prairie skies and the miracle of migration.  In this mobile, the lower portion is an interpretation of seven geese randomly taking off then circling to the top where they end up ‘in formation’.  The round arc symbolizes the earth’s magnetic pull which may be what birds use to navigate.  Each group of seven geese started as the shape of Saskatchewan, prior to being cut.

Aluminum, wire, stainless steel: 36”H X 24”W
2 of 5
2016

Art begins with scribbling. As children we start out with a fist around a crayon creating pure joy in the physical act. Initially we care about process and result, not so much about the representation. Soon we begin to control line, colour and placement, and along with it we develop a sense of autonomy. Next we learn perspective and the rules of drawing.

Similarly in life, there are stages, and in this piece, my first since I turned 60, I wanted to portray these stages.  I selected ovals because they are graceful and complete, and represent the unity and mystery of the universe.  

The groups of shapes begin as organic, irregular, childlike ovoids, then become perfect ovals.  “Six” ovals are filled in, while three have boxes in them representing the conventions and rules we learn.  Eventually one grouping of three defies the rules, yielding a horizontal piece and the perfection of the egg shape symbolizing the gift of a new life and liberation at 6.0.

The tiny pair of wire eyes looking in were traced from my young children’s drawings celebrating their confidence and creative energy.

Aluminum, wire, stainless steel: 23”H X 45”W

2017

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This table mobile is representational of my recurring dream of flying.  I’m suspended symbolically on my first solo sculpture, barely hanging on, but loving the flight! 

Aluminum, wire: 13”H X 18”W X 9”D
2016

This piece was based on watching the Mediterranean tides from my apartment balcony in Villefranche-Sur-Mer, France.  Besides the effect on sea-life and fisherman, I wondered if there is a tidal effect on us prairie folks…there must be…that’s why Saskatchewan is shaped the way it is!

Aluminum, wire: 42”H X 14”W
1 of 5
2017

Portara is the entrance to an unfinished temple from 530 BC on the Greek island of Naxos. It faces directly north toward Delos, Apollo's birthplace. 

Under Venetian and Turkish rule the temple was dismantled so its marble could be used to build a castle. The massive 8 meter doorway was so large and heavy it could not be used, so it remains standing alone among the ruins.  

During my visit to Naxos, I experienced how the arch evokes a portal to another world, and I wanted to capture its contemplative, soothing aspects.  Large and small portals remind us not all ideas have to be big.  The colours are emblematic of traditional Greek blues and whites, with flashes of yellow energy.

Aluminum, wire, stainless steel: 21”H X 52”W
2017

Blue Whale is an activist piece which starts a conversation on the environment. These magnificent creatures, the largest on earth, need to be cared for. There are 500,000 grains of sand in the bottle.  On an average day, the world’s plastic bottle production is not 10 times that, not 100 times that, but 200 times the grains of sand displayed.  Research shows 25% of fish contain plastic in their stomach. Daily production of 100 million bottles is mind boggling and tragically most end up as garbage polluting our environment, killing our wildlife and destroying our planet.

Aluminum, wire, plastic, sand: 8”H X 22”W X 22”D
2016

The aesthetic proposition of this mobile invites the viewer to consider the paradox of "it is the best of times and the worst of times."

We live in a time of extreme anxiety, social imbalance and political strife, currently amplified by witnessing several countries running backwards. We see some parts of society becoming fragmented, and people becoming isolated.  We are "alone together." Can we rise above our differences, shake hands, co-operate, pull up others as we explore the line between individuality and group association.

How does one deal with the ironies in life? 

Are we in turmoil, or simply living the new norm of a wonderful but delicately balanced life?

Laser cut stainless steel, wire: 20”H X 47”W
2017

I’m not sure these two ever met, however if they had, this piece envisions their conversation.

I imagine hearing initial polite compliments to each other... on the ‘poised delicacy’ of Mackintosh's style, and Mondrian’s reductionist simplicity of shape and colour. 

The serious conversation between these two may have started awkwardly as both men were introverted. This feeling is portrayed in the  wide view of the mobile with both men at either end, perhaps being stand-offish. 

As the mobile rotates ninety degrees the passive space becomes dynamic, loosing its tension. The sculptural energy in the centre of the piece captures them discussing Theosophy, life and art. I am positioned as three thought bubbles happily taking it all in.

Aluminum, stainless steel: 25”H X 30”W
2017

How do we live with paradoxes?  We are all born equal, but some are born more equal than others. 

Most of “us” are born into a life of privilege. It’s not so much "nature nurture" anymore, it's the luck of the geographic lottery.

Nature and DNA are represented in the middle, with ‘luck of the draw’ portrayed at the top and bottom. The “swinger” or “chairman” at the top is happily oblivious to the instant and life long struggles of many trying to climb the broken ladder.  

Is there precision in the universe or randomness?

Laser cut stainless steel, wire: 88”H X 10”W
2017
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I love thinking about time and space. We may think that time and life are linear, but in reality we are living many dimensions at once. Time itself, like these doors, may be an optical illusion. 

This piece is a nod to Vasarely the father of OP art.

Aluminum, stainless steel: 13”H X 31”W
2017

This piece was inspired by and named after my niece Natasha. I had just seen her give a beautiful dance performance and wanted to capture her depth and grace. This “standing mobile” is my interpretation of her ability to masterfully combine modern dance and ballet. The bottom of the sculpture represents ballerina legs that support the more whimsical abstract top section which is Natasha putting her own modern spin on dance. Metaphysically the sculpture represents her growth (and mine) in the quest for balance between the two dissimilar worlds of fine arts and science.  Playing at the intersection of these two worlds is something we both share.

Aluminum, wire, stainless steel: 53”H X 18”W X 18”D

2016
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In this piece I wanted to further explore a meditative response. Repetition of shapes provides the mantra and the viewer provides the focus. 

Windows frame our thoughts and can open into new spaces.  Doors can either be unlocked and opened to let us in, or closed when we are ready to move on. We hope if we go through enough doors, we will find something. We often say we need to “find ourselves”, and maybe this piece can enrich that introspection. 

I think the sculptures moving shadows are equally consequential. It’s important to be comfortable with our shadows, our darker parts, to accept ourselves and to remember the purpose of life isn’t to be perfect, it’s to be whole. 

Hopefully and ironically by focusing on our individualistic self we see life isn’t just about ourselves.

Aluminum, stainless steel rod, wire : 36”H X 36”W

1 of 5

2019

I love travelling to far-flung places which inevitably stimulates or provokes a thought that I need to explore and capture in a sculpture.

A recent trip to Japan inspired this piece as I was maneuvering through Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo.  It’s the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world as it connects the world’s two busiest subway stations. When the Shibuya traffic light changes at the scramble corner, one is surrounded by thousands of people all seemingly going in opposite directions yet getting to their destinations with fluidity and ease. Organized chaos at its finest! The experience of the intersection prompted me to investigate connections, with so many people, so many stories, most of which we will never know. 

The more I worked on the piece the more ways I saw it as a way to interpret the world by our connections.  My thoughts evolved from how we are connected physically via our DNA, and by our shared beliefs, but also by the simple human desire to connect to others.  As Einstein pointed out “when we survey our lives we soon observe that almost the whole of our actions and desires are bound up with the existence of other human beings… We eat food that others have grown, wear clothes that others have made, live in houses that others have built.  The greater part of our knowledge and beliefs has been communicated to us by other people through… language which others created… The individual is what he is and has the significance that he has, not so much by virtue of his individuality but rather as a member of a greater human society.”

I hope looking at the piece gives one pause and possibly alleviates some complexity in what at times feels like a world of irrationality and chance connections.

Aluminum, galvanized rod: 68”H X 30”W

1 of 5

2018

In this piece I am having a conversation with Op-artists and am interested in using shape and colour to produce 3-D looking objects. I was pleased with the 3-D effect in my Three Doors mobile and wanted to see what I could achieve with manipulating the shape of these irregular but flat quadrilaterals enhanced with two colors. The Op-art figure-ground relationship is at work here as your eye thinks the pieces are bent.

Aluminum, stainless steel: 11”H X 33”W

2018

One of my salvaged airplane parts was a wooden wing rib from a replica German Albatross DVa biplane my friend built and currently flies in airshows.  There were almost 5,000 Albatross’ flown in WW1 including an iconic red one by Baron Von Richthofen. Richthofen scored a few kills in one until the wing cracked, and curiously enough the wing rib I received also had a perfect break in the front leaving a small perch for me to add something!

I didn’t know any of this history when I made the ‘flying fish’, all I saw was the perfect shape for a fish body, waiting for a head, tail and dorsal fin which I could fashion out of my chosen medium of aluminium. 

The trial and error approach to sizing and bending the three support wires was exceptionally challenging because the physics dictate that the higher and larger the top section is, the less stable its vector is to stay upright. For example the large head section needed a unique shaped support wire and significant ballast from the lower front fins to maintain its position.  This is where lead fishing weights (appropriately enough!) come in, as well as carving a thicker heavier gauge aluminium for the lower sculpted fin.  

In addition to the shape of a fish, I wanted all the pieces to have movement suggestive of a fish so there is just the right amount of counterweight to allow each piece too respond to any air movement.

Aluminum, lead weight, wire: 12”H X 52”W

2018

The motivation for this piece synthesized after reading a piece in Psychology Today observing that people have recently taken advantage of a new societal freedom to construct their own moral compasses. For centuries institutions such as the church did this for us. We were taught right from wrong, things were black and white, and we enjoyed the certainty. The truth also used to come from facts but today we regularly see the facts being manipulated…we now see he who controls the media controls the truth. 

In this piece I am portraying people holding on to old morals, while others are recklessly creating their own.  We seem to be going forward and backward at the same time and some appear to be hiding something. I am questioning if we as individuals are capable of defining our own morals…steering our own planes. 

The parts came from a Pitts S1, a single seat aerobatic biplane. My friend Dave won the Canadian National Sportsman Aerobatic Championship with this plane. It’s familiar with turbulent experiences having spent most of its flights doing rolls and loops, flying upside down, regularly pulling 5 or 6 G’s while thrilling crowds.  I love the parallel that this old compass and instrument panel actually guided pilots for years as they teetered between doom and delight.

Aluminum, airplane dash and compass: 19”H X 27”W

2018

Even without being named Thomas, I think I would have been a doubter. I saw the actual Last Supper painting in Milan recently and after I couldn’t help but think about coming to terms with my own reconciliation. This piece is a response to how I sometimes feel like the odd man out, and experience the melancholy of introspection. 

I wanted this wingtip to be flying in the heavens again and telling its next story. It’s salvaged from a bright yellow 1930’s wood, aluminium and fabric winged Piper Cub airplane. I love the sensual bridge-like curve of the wingtip and while reflecting with it (okay playing with it) and a stack of my stainless steel men which happened to be nearby, the Last Supper popped into my consciousness. 

I liked the industrial feel of the unpainted aluminium and how it contrasts with the warmth of the wood. I took the wingtip completely apart to clean it up and sanded and restained the oak yellow to match the Cub’s original colour.

Sadly the morning I finished this piece Anthony Bourdain committed suicide. He was exactly my age and also being a foodie, travel lover, and a loner, his death resonated with me...so this piece is also a salutation to “his” last supper. That afternoon I felt there was a little extra wood on the outer wings edges that weren’t quite symmetrical, so I cut pieces off at either end and joined them making a small yellow cross. He wasn’t religious at all, but I made him a saint...St. Anthony. 

…“I was raised without religion. I don’t believe in a higher power. I am instinctively hostile to any kind of devotion. Certainty is my enemy. You know, I’m all about doubt, questioning one’s self, and the nature of reality. Constantly.”   

-Anthony Bourdain

Aluminum, airplane wing, oak: 20”H X 58”W

2018

In this piece I also wanted to use shape and only one colour to produce a pyramid. It’s similar to my Blue-Orange Pyramid, but I wanted to go one step further (or simpler) and see if one bend with only one colour can give me the same 3-D effect as the orange-blue version. Interestingly the bent 3-D effect seems to produce the shaded colour, having the same effect. 

Aluminum, stainless steel: 11”H X 34”W:

2018

I like working on a piece that reflects how I am feeling on my birthday. I wasn’t that happy turning 60 last year however my 61st birthday seemed easier. I am more at peace with myself. In this mobile I’m celebrating the joy of being alive, and just “being” as “imperfect” as I am. I love the fact an apostrophe in the wrong place changes everything! 

One half of this mobile uses six perfect red circles and one white one, while the other half consists of six imperfect red shapes, and one imperfect white shape. This is my biggest piece yet, and I’m glad to be celebrating the balance and beauty of imperfection. 

Aluminum, galvanized wire: 24”H X 60”W

2018

July 22, 2018 was Alexander Calder’s 120th birthday and to commemorate this day I wanted to sculpt a piece that also taught me how to master a new style.  I had Calder’s 1948 standing mobile “Aspen” as my inspiration.  I found the perfect piece to sculpt with in my stash of used airplane pieces from my pilot friend Dave.  It’s from one of the five aerobatic Pitts Specials he’s owned.  I used a triangular aluminium piece with round corners which had come from the distinctive turtle deck or hump on the luggage space of the aircraft. 

A Canadian Airlines pilot originally built this particular plane in BC.  Dave flew it home going “solo” over the Rockies in the trip of a lifetime dodging the mountains. The day after Dave and the plane arrived home safely in Saskatoon, one of his pilot friends cartwheeled the plane on the runway destroying most of it, but was himself unhurt. Ironically Dave just informed me that same plane C-GEMS is now being restored here in Regina. 
Instead of sculpting a quivering Aspen, I wanted to sculpt a cake to celebrate Calder’s birthday…a “plane cake for Calder” complete with flickering candles. 

When you take my sculpture for a spin, not only do the candles flicker while the platform pitches, rolls and yaws, but parts of the base lift off the ground…holding true to the past wild, rollicking ride of an aerobatic airplane.

Airplane part, aluminum, wire, lead: 42”H X 18”W X 18D”

2018

Private collection

STRATOCASTER FENDER-BENDER FLYING “V” STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

I can listen to the opening guitar solo in Money For Nothing by Dire Straights endlessly…and it has to be loud.  Who doesn’t want to be that guy up on stage!

When I was making the cardboard maquette for this guitar mash-up I realized how sensual guitar shapes are.  When you are freehand drawing one, its almost like your hand knows where to go. I don’t play the guitar, wished I did, but I do find utopia banging the drums with peeps like my buddy Steve.  He’s got a guitar or two, and I think he can play Stairway to Heaven!

Aluminum, wire, celluloid: 28”W X 28”D

2018

Our waking consciousness is mostly made up of memories and expectations.  So when something unexpected happens you notice it and likely will remember it.  Seeing owls in a friend’s backyard in my city was stunning.  Not just one magnificent bird but three, sitting there, looking right through us.

Owls are wise because they don’t try to be anything other than…owls! Humans on the other hand, we think we have to be producing something, proving something, or doing something to be someone. People spend a lot of time and energy looking for the assurances from others that they are valuable.  

Instead we need to just “be” and learn to celebrate the ordinary.

Aluminum, wire: 27”W X 37”H

2018

This mobile brought a previously empty corner in my client’s art filled home alive with form, color and motion. It represents my hope that we can all “Eclipse” time and not be its slave. To help reflect on this, the mobile invites one to take a relaxing journey through an abstraction of space. 

The top section of the mobile has two rotating arms, symbolizing the ever expanding reach of the universe.  These two arms have delicate triangular shapes on them, and while some may think of rotating hands on a clock, the shapes are actually an inside nod to my good friends (one piece supports a cool soul patch, the other has the wisdom of the pyramids and enduringness of a phoenix.) The middle section of the mobile, with more triangular shapes and round elements represents the dynamic properties of the universe, the planets rotations, and the dance of life. Several elements have holes in them allowing partial views to another plane, and perhaps the odd eclipse. At the bottom of the piece and completing their dance of life, are representations of their two children.

Before cutting the pieces, I exposed the aluminum sheets to the August 2017 partial eclipse in Regina.  The sheets were laid out in my yard to be infused with the energy and extraordinary light. I was elated by the unplanned reflected view of the eclipse which the smooth aluminum afforded me.  They became quite hot in the sunlight, and I was amazed at their instant cooling…which rather incredibly was caused by the moon.

It is about time, to try to “eclipse" time.

And if you must still measure time, measure it in circles of wonderful people, the wise ones, the soulful ones. 

This commissioned piece is named “Harbour Landing” after the neighbourhood where my clients’ stunning, modern and art filled home is located. It’s on land where the old Regina airport was located, which was named “Harbour Landing” because “airships” landed there. I was elated to be given carte blanche on the piece and immediately wanted to get flying! 

A few months earlier I had obtained a complete front engine cowling of a pre-WW2 yellow Piper Cub J3 airplane from my buddy Dave. It was once owned by Canada’s oldest pilot, and based in Yorkton, which is also my clients’ hometown.  The plane survived a windstorm with some damage and rested in a barn for the last 20 years until Dave bought it to rebuild. After five years it’s ready to fly again, and so are some of it’s recycled parts in this mobile! 

There are two sides to the mobile. One half is composed of yellow triangular aluminium pieces I cut from the recycled front engine cowling.  I specifically cut pieces with rivets into abstract airplane shapes, stripped and repainted them Piper Cub yellow and arranged them as if banking for a final approach on my clients kitchen countertop.

The other half is composed of red, white and yellow abstract clouds which move in concert with the airplanes. The cloud shapes begin with one cloud echoing a shape in a nearby colour field painting by Saskatchewan artist William Perehudoff. As the clouds become smaller, they too become more triangular.

I had an inspiring time creating this commissioned piece by playing with my stainless steel men in my psychology sandbox and conceptualizing a sculpture that reflected my time with my new friend Stephan. And it bore a new genre I’m calling a Kinetic Painting! The inspiration came from a night we talked about my Doubting Thomas sculpture. I was fascinated that even Stephan, a minister and theology graduate could have doubts about the nature of the devine. Religious discussions can be so polarizing, spanning those with “no doubt” and those who “know doubt”. As a Doubting Thomas I love talking to people who are willing to explore their doubt…and I wanted to investigate this idea in a sculpture. 

The concept for this reflective piece was to evoke shapes of windows and doors.  Metaphorically the windows frame our thoughts and can open into new spaces. Doors can either be unlocked and opened to let you in, or closed when it’s time to move on. 

Society (and psychologists like Stephan!) put so much effort into theories to help us navigate life, and ultimately find our truth. We hope if we go through enough doors, we will find something. We even say we need to “find ourselves” and maybe this piece can enrich that introspection. 

The doubter in me asks what if there is no real destination in life, and you just find ….yourself?  Thankfully looking at art is like looking at ourselves, and we need to check-in with our inner self regularly as we are always evolving.  

This mobile is never still, and I think the moving shadows are equally consequential. It’s important to be comfortable with our shadows, our darker parts, to accept ourselves and to remember “the purpose of life isn’t to be perfect, it’s to be whole.”  

I think we need to kNOw there is actually power and peace in DOUBT. 

This piece was commissioned by my Norwegian friend Kari, for her home in Oslo, Norway. Receiving the commission on my birthday was an extraordinary present from her to me! Kari’s interesting life spans running for office, being a librarian, a physiotherapist, an activist, a world traveller and living in two countries at the same time. Kari is fun, worldly, well read, and there isn’t a song she can’t sing!

I was seeking to make a piece that celebrated her love of books and poetry so I chose to use the shape of Henrik Ibsen’s unique beard as a starting point. Ibsen, a Norwegian is considered to be one of the greatest playwrights of all time. Next to Shakespeare he is the most performed dramatist in the world having written plays such as A Doll’s House, and An Enemy of the People.  He is the founder of Modernism in literature, and like Kari, isn’t afraid of breaking the mold.

I’m sure Ibsen would stroke his beard when writing and suddenly when the idea hits, the pages would start flying and a story unfolds…this process is what I am trying to capture in my piece.

Aluminum: 21”W x 21”D x 19”H

2020

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Aluminium: 30”W x 34”H

2020

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Aluminum and galvanized wire

34”w x 30”h

2020

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Aluminum: 36”W X 30”H

2020

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Aluminum 16”W x 50”H

2020

Aluminum: 26”L X 16”W X 13”H

2020

Aluminum and polystyrene: 44”H X 52”W

2020

Aluminum: 55”H X 70”W

2019

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