NORMAN TUCK - Biography & Resume

Norman Tuck’s interactive, kinetic sculpture has been widely displayed in art and science museums throughout Europe and the United States.

Norman was born in 1945 and spent his childhood in Miami Beach. His earliest work, done at the University of Florida, positioned polished aluminum panels behind rotating layers of translucent fiberglass to produce luminescent effects.

During graduate school he began his signature series of large, simple kinetic pieces constructed of wood and metal rods and strips. These open, linear constructions were influenced by the balsa wood internal structures of the model airplanes that he had made in childhood.

Norman moved to New York City in 1967, where he would live and work until moving to San Francisco in 1994. In New York he worked as an art installer and gallery aid at several downtown art galleries. Tuck’s work was shown extensively in New York, with solo exhibitions at the O.K Harris Gallery in 1974 and 1977 and at Art Galaxy in 1984.

In 1986 his work began to be exhibited in interactive science museums, where it has been used to demonstrate the physics of motion and aspects of electricity, sound and magnetism. Between 1991 and 1996 a large retrospective exhibition of Tuck’s work traveled between various art and science venues. Over 80 pieces are currently on display in the collections of science museums, worldwide.

His most recent work harnesses the small amount of electricity that is produced when various metals are submerged in seawater.

M.F.A. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 1972
B.F.A. University of Florida, Gainesville, 1967

Selected Solo Exhibitions:
  1999 Art Machines, Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul.
  1998 Art Machines, The Discovery Center of Idaho, Boise, ID.
  1996 Art Machines, Inventure Place, Akron, OH.
  1994 Art Machines, The Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA.
  1994 Art Machines, Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, NJ.
  1993 Art Machines, Technorama Museum, Winterthur, Switzerland.
  1993 North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, Durham, NC.
  1992 Art Machines, City Gallery of Contemporary Art, Raleigh, NC.
  1992 SciWorks, Winston-Salem, N.C.
  1991 Mindless Mechanisms, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art,
                Winston-Salem, NC.
  1984 Art Galaxy, New York, NY.
  1982 Fashion Moda, Bronx, NY.
  1978 Fine Arts Gallery, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC.
  1977 O.K. Harris Gallery, New York, NY.
  1974 O.K. Harris Gallery, New York, NY.
  1972 M.F.A. Exhibition, Penn. State Univ. Gallery, State College, PA.

Selected Group Exhibitions:
  2015-16 MechanixX, phaeno Museum, Wolfsburg, Germany.
  2009 Automatas, Arte y Mechanica, Parque de las Ciencias, Granada, Spain.
  2008 PhantasieMechanik, phaeno Museum, Wolfsburg, Germany.
  2000 Small Objects for Light and Sound, Sonoma Mus. of Visual Art, Santa Rosa, CA.
  1999 Fusion: Art and Science, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC.
  1997 Electricity is Your Friend, Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
         Homemade Instrument Day, Lincoln Center, New York, NY.
  1996 Natural Phenomena, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA.
          M.I.T. Cambridge, MA.
  1995 Sculpture on the Move, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY.
          Universe of Meaning, Brattleboro Museum, Brattleboro, VT.
  1993 Experimenta '93, Villa Gualino, Turin, Italy.
  1992 Navigation, The Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA.
          Centennial Biennial Invitational, O.K. Harris Gallery, New York, NY.
  1991 Art from the Exploratorium, Traveling Exhibition, New York, London, Haifa.
  1988 Clockwork, List Visual Art Center, M.I.T. Cambridge, MA.
          San Francisco Festival, The Kennedy Center, Washington, DC.
  1986 Physics, Piezo Electric Gallery, New York, NY.
          Two Person Exhibition, Exit Art Gallery, New York, NY.
  1984 Labor Intensive Abstraction, The Clock tower Gallery, New York, NY.
          Mechanisms, P.S. 1, Long Island City, NY.
          The Sound Art Show, The Sculpture Center, New York, NY.
  1983 Terminal New York, Brooklyn Army Terminal, Brooklyn, NY.
  1981 The Monumental Show, Gowanus Memorial Art Yard, Brooklyn, NY.
  1979 Sound, P.S.1, Long Island City, NY.
  1978 Contemporary Artists Series, Rutgers University Gallery, New Brunswick NJ.
  1973 Sculpture 3, Opening of the World Trade Center, New York, NY.

Academic Employment:
  1978-79 Assistant Professor of Art, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
  1982-83 Visiting Director, Fine Arts Gallery, Wake Forest Univ., Winston-Salem, NC.
  1986-87 Visiting Professor of Art, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC.

In the permanent collection of:
  The Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, AK.
  The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, Ann Arbor, MI.
  The Arizona Science Center, Phoenix. AZ.
  Beijing Oriental Plaza, Beijing, China.
  The Big Bang Museum, Osaka, Japan.
  The Children's Discovery Center, San Jose, CA.
  La Citta della Scienza, Napoli, Italy.
  Copernicus Science Center, Warsaw, Poland.
  Discovery Science Center, Santa Anna, CA.
  Discovery World, Milwaukee, WI.
  The Don Harrington Discovery Center, Amarillo, TX.
  Experimentanium, Moscow, Russia.
  The Experimentarium, Hellerup, Denmark.
  The Exploratorium , San Francisco, CA.
  The Explorium, Mobile, AL.
  Fundacion Tiempos Nuevos, Santiago, Chile.
  GWIZ Gulfcoast Wonder and Imagination Zone Sarasota, FL.
  The Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland, OH.
  Hong Kong Science Museum, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
  Japan Science Foundation, Tokyo, Japan.
  The McWane Center Birmingham, AL.
  Museo de la Ciencia, Barcelona, Spain.
  Museo Sol Del Nino, Mexicali, Mexico.
  The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque.
  The New York Hall of Science, Queens, NY.
  The North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, Durham, NC.
  phaeno Museum, Wolfsburg, Germany.
  Parque de las Ciencias, Granada, Andaluci, Spain.
  Patronato Museo Sol Del Nino A.C., Mexicali, Mexico.
  The Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN.
  The Science Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, VA.
  Science World of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada.
  SciQuest, The North Alabama Science Center, Huntsville, AL.
  SciWorks, Winston-Salem, NC.
  SEE Science Center, Manchester, NH.
  Science Center Singapore.
  Stichting Flanders Technology International, Brussels, Belgium.
  Techniquest, Cardiff, Wales.
  Technorama Museum, Winterthur, Switzerland.
  Trans Studio World, Bandung, Indonesia.
  The Whitaker Center, Harrisburg, PA.
  Wonderlab, Bloomington, IN.
  The Whitaker Center, Harrisburg, PA.