Join the Museum of Craft and Design (MCD) in Oakland to tour the studios of kinetic sculptor Nemo Gould and David Cole, guest curator of "Dead Nuts: a search for the ultimate machined object" on view at MCD through December 1, 2019.

David Cole is a practicing metalsmith based in Oakland, California. His work ranges from fine jewelry, made with precious metals, to large-scale public art, and architectural details for historic buildings. The importance of craftsmanship and a sense of stewardship for the techniques and tools he has acquired over 30 years drive his love of making. His quest for the “exquisite object” is reflected in his collection of machines and devices that tell the story of manufacture and invention at the end of the analog age. They inspire him to create artworks that speak to people’s emotional connection to materials and mechanisms.

Nemo Gould builds robots and creatures from salvaged material – discarded gadgets, broken tools, and other objects that have lost their value in daily life. Gould’s artistic vocabulary is steeped in nostalgia for outdated machinery and the fantastic realm of comic books and science fiction. His sculptures are characters with personalities suggested by the sum of their carefully re-contextualized parts.