 |
 Pandora's Box |
 |
|
|
|
Pandora's Box |
|
|
|
The strong light of his mind seems to shine through each kaleidoscope image
by Don Doak. Active in the arts and crafts industry for more than thirty-two
years, Don has been a self-taught scope maker since 1986. His goal is to spend the
rest of his creative years making scopes that explore all the possibilities
and variations of his latest patent on specific multiple geometric images.
In 1995, Don's kaleidoscope Pandora's Box (probably his best-known work) won the Brewster Society's People's Choice Award
in the category of Limited Edition, Best Image.
|
|
Images from kaleidoscopes by Don Doak Click the images for a larger view |
|||
 Cube from "Picasso's Dream" |
 Dodecahedron from "Pandora's Box" |
 Star Dodecahedron from "Starlite" |
 Imploding Dodecahedron from "Living Lantern" |
 Star Icosahedron from "Plato's No Jive Five" |
 Icosahedron from "Plato's No Jive Five" |
 Pure Sphere from "Spherical Aspirations" |
|
Recently, Don has been concentrating on larger kaleidoscopes. He currently has several on display around the
world (Switzerland, Japan, New York). With the 3-d illusions that he has patented, he finds it is much more
pleasing to the eye to build them large. Below are some examples of his latest creations. Click on the pictures to
see an enlarged version of the image.
The last image above, The Amazing DonDoakahedron, is located in Catskill Corners, Mt. Trempor, New York.
It has over seven hundred fifty square feet of front surface mirror and approximately twenty people
at a time can step into a darkened chamber and view the swirling illusion. The scope itself is made up of three
tapered, flat surfaces, joined at the edges to form a large, elongated tube. When standing inside the darkened
chamber at the large end of this tube, the viewer is treated to a three-dimensional illusion of a thirty-four-foot-tall
star dodecahedron, surrounded by a larger three-dimensional, red-glowing, tubular outline of an
icosahedron which in turn is surrounded by numerous and even larger, bright-yellow meridian lines. The feeling is
that you are standing at the edge and looking into....another universe. Floating around at random inside this universe are
three-dimensional spheres that appear to have swirling, moving atmospheres. Looking closely, you will
see that all these illusions appear to be suspended in the center of a sixty-four-foot diameter three-dimensional
polyhedron and on each panel making up this polyhedron you will see reflections of yourself and others around you
looking in at the primary illusion of the star suspended in the center. This is similar to theatre in the round, except
that the viewer sees himself in every seat from every possible angle, up, down, left, right, or across.
Click on the image at left for a larger view.
|
Don builds all his own tools - including kilns, furnaces, and special heating elements - in
his mid-Michigan studio. He has even patented a special magnetically guided
glasscutter for making the absolutely precise cuts needed to create unique cube and
dodecahedron images. Don has made this device available in order to help other artists
improve their optics.
In addition to perfecting and patenting geometric mirror systems that create very
unusual and complex three-dimensional images, Don also enjoys the kaleidoscope as a tool
for relaxation and meditation. "Viewing a kaleidoscope is better than seeing a doctor,"
he says. "It heals my soul. Perhaps the kaleidoscope's universal appeal is the result of
each individual's innate understanding that we, like the shattered, seemingly
meaningless pieces of glass in the object cell, fit together perfectly to form a
more beautiful picture than any of the parts could ever make alone; that each of us,
flawed as we are, is essential and fits perfectly into this large mosaic called humanity."
