One of my favorite creative pursuits is taking a simple idea to a compelling extreme. It helps remind us of the flexibility of ideas, and how every new thing we create is inspired by thinkers who worked before us. Our challenge is to bring our individual voice, passion, and tenacity to a project, sometimes to great effect.
Lately, I've been inspired by Jelle's Marble Runs. If you haven't yet encountered them, here's a couple short ones so you can see what they are all about:
Very silly, but combined with so much creativity, both in terms of building ideas and an overall sports narrative. Lest we think it is too silly to merit our attention, I will add a reminder that a favorite art piece housed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is basically the same idea, albeit confronting all sorts of other wonderful aspects of urban life. It is called Metropolis II by Chris Burden:
The beauty of marble runs are that they are so accessible: any age can build them, as evidenced by the adult versions above, but we can also simplify them into a kindergarten-appropriate activity, the marble maze. In a marble maze, we use paper construction techniques (see my Derby Hat post) to create obstacles to navigate a marble around. Here's a simple one I made with kindergartners:
Of course, a larger marble run opens up all sorts of other possibilities, and their construction is limited only by imagination. Here is one from supplies you probably have at home right now:
Toy manufacturers have created all sorts of variety of marble run, from the simplest preschool version to high speed rails with metal marbles for older kids. We have two sets here and though I generally hate redundant toys, it seems that my kids are equally enthralled by each of them. Then again, sometimes they are happy with a few old rain gutters and a play structure (disclaimer: it is never a safe idea to stand on a chair on another chair, and if I had realized what he was doing before I took the video, I would have stopped him; he got a lecture after):
Ultimately, though, any simple idea has extraordinary possibilities, as shown by Junior Jacquet's toilet paper roll faces, Christian Faur's crayon stacking art, or Nathan Coley's cardboard buildings in The Lamp of Sacrifice.
So whether you are 4 or 40, have a studio full of tools or a house with a meager recycle bin, take that simple idea and run with it. And show me. I'd love to see.