Robert Longhurst
Encyclopedia
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
who was born in Schenectady, New York
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
in 1949. At an early age he was fascinated by his father’s small figurative woodcarvings.
Longhurst received a Bachelor of Architecture from Kent State University
Kent State University
Kent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...
in 1975. He began his artistic career in 1976 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His first commissioned works were three figurative sculptures in black walnut for Cincinnati businessman Joe David who owned Midwest Woodworking company. In 1978 Longhurst completed a life size figure in pine of an Adirondack hermit, Noah John Rondeau
Noah John Rondeau
Noah John Rondeau was a widely known hermit in the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains of New York State.-Biography:...
for the Adirondack Museum
Adirondack Museum
The Adirondack Museum, located on NY-30 in the hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake in Hamilton County, New York, is a museum dedicated to preserving the history of the Adirondacks...
in Blue Mountain Lake, New York
Blue Mountain Lake, New York
Blue Mountain Lake is a rural hamlet in the Town of Indian Lake of Hamilton County, New York located at the intersection of New York Routes 28 and 30 with a population of 146 according to the 2000 United States Census. Blue Mountain Lake also refers to the lake on the banks of which the village is...
.
Although Longhurst's career began with figurative works, it soon evolved into non-representational abstraction in exotic woods, marble and granite that draws on his background in Architecture. Many of his pieces are defined as being at the intersection of where the fields of art and math overlap, and they have been discussed by Mathematicians such as Nathaniel Friedman, Reuben Hersh
Reuben Hersh
Reuben Hersh is an American mathematician and academic, best known for his writings on the nature, practice, and social impact of mathematics. This work challenges and complements mainstream philosophy of mathematics.After receiving a B.A...
, and Ivars Peterson
Ivars Peterson
Ivars Peterson is an award-winning mathematics writer.He is currently Director of Publications for Journals and Communications at the Mathematical Association of America....
. Some of his sculptures portray minimal surface
Minimal surface
In mathematics, a minimal surface is a surface with a mean curvature of zero.These include, but are not limited to, surfaces of minimum area subject to various constraints....
s, which were named after German geometer Alfred Enneper
Alfred Enneper
Alfred Enneper earned his PhD from the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in 1856 for his dissertation about functions with complex arguments. After his habilitation 1859 in Göttingen he was from 1870 on Professor at Göttingen. He studied minimal surfaces and parametrized Enneper's minimal...
. Nathaniel Friedman writes, "The surfaces [of Longhurst's sculptures] generally have appealing sections with negative curvature (saddle surface
Saddle surface
A saddle surface is a smooth surface containing one or more saddle points.The term derives from the peculiar shape of historical horse saddles, which curve both up and down....
s). This is a natural intuitive result of Longhurst's feeling for satisfying shape rather than a mathematically deduced result."
Longhurst participated in the International Snow Sculpture Championships in Breckenridge, Colorado
Breckenridge, Colorado
Established in 1859, the historic town of Breckenridge is a home rule municipality that is the county seat of Summit County, Colorado, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the town had a population of 4,540. The town also has many part-time residents, as many people have vacation homes in the area...
, in 2000 and 2001, by joining a snow sculpting team from Minnesota. Two of his sculptures representing minimal surfaces were enlarged and carved from blocks of snow measuring 12' high x 10' wide x 10' deep. In the 2000 championships, the team received second place, Artists' Choice Award, and People's Choice Award.
Robert Longhurst lives in Chestertown, New York
Chestertown, New York
Chestertown is a hamlet in Warren County, New York, United States, in the Adirondack Mountains, in the Town of Chester. The population was 2,187 at the 2000 census. The community is located by the junction of Route 8 and U.S. Route 9....
.
Selected Collections
- Adirondack MuseumAdirondack MuseumThe Adirondack Museum, located on NY-30 in the hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake in Hamilton County, New York, is a museum dedicated to preserving the history of the Adirondacks...
- Blue Mountain Lake, New York - American Financial Corporation - Cincinnati, Ohio
- Amoco Corporation - Chicago, Illinois
- ANA (All Nippon AirwaysAll Nippon Airways, also known as or ANA, is one of the largest airlines in Japan. It is headquartered at the Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It operates services to 49 destinations in Japan and 35 international routes and employed over 14,000 employees as of May 2009...
) Hotel - Tokyo, Japan - AT&TAT&TAT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
- Chicago, Illinois - Bank of Tokyo - New York, New York
- Bastion Industries - New York, New York
- BMC SoftwareBMC SoftwareBMC Software, Inc. is a multinational corporation specializing in Business Service Management software, with record annual revenue in fiscal 2009 of $1.87 billion...
- Houston, Texas - Bohlke Veneer Corporation - Fairfield, Ohio
- Brown-Forman CorporationBrown-Forman CorporationThe Brown-Forman Corporation is one of the largest American-owned companies in the spirits and wine business.Some well-known brands of the corporation include Jack Daniel's, Southern Comfort, Finlandia Vodka, Woodford Reserve Bourbon, Canadian Mist, Early Times, Old Forester, and Korbel champagne.-...
- Louisville, Kentucky - Burlington Northern RailroadBurlington Northern RailroadThe Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996....
- Fort Worth, Texas - Champlin Oil Corporation - Fort Worth, Texas
- Chester B. Stem Incorporated - New Albany, Indiana
- Cornerstone Holdings Corporation - Aspen, Colorado
- Crown Associates Realty Incorporated - Beverly Hills, California
- Dana-Farber Cancer InstituteDana-Farber Cancer InstituteDana–Farber Cancer Institute is part of a Comprehensive Cancer Center designated by the National Cancer Institute. It is a major affiliate of Harvard Medical School and is located in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts.-Overview:...
– Boston, Massachusetts - Danis Industries - Dayton, Ohio
- Duke UniversityDuke UniversityDuke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
- Durham, North Carolina - Empire Capital Corporation - Southport, Connecticut
- Ensign-Bickford Industries - Simsbury, Connecticut
- Fuqua Industries - Atlanta, Georgia
- Ideal Textile Company - Los Angeles, California
- International Woodworking Fair - Norcross, Georgia
- Gary Kaplan & AssociatesGary Kaplan & AssociatesGary Kaplan & Associates is an executive search firm founded in 1985 by Gary Kaplan in Pasadena, California. By 2008 the firm had expanded its operations nationwide, with associates working on both the west and east coasts...
- Los Angeles, California - Kimball InternationalKimball InternationalKimball International is a manufacturer of furniture and electronic assemblies, serving customers around the world. Kimball International consists of two groups: the Furniture Segment and the Contract Electronics Segment. It is the successor to W.W...
- Jasper, Indiana - Louisville Courier Journal & Times - Louisville, Kentucky
- Midwest Woodworking Company - Cincinnati, Ohio
- Museum of Arts and Design - New York, New York
- National City Bank - Marion, Ohio
- National Reinsurance Corporation - Stamford, Connecticut
- Northern Natural Gas Company - Omaha, Nebraska
- Norton Simon Collection - New York, New York
- Prime Holding Company - Austin, Texas
- Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines - Oslo, Norway
- Seamless Technologies Incorporated - Morristown, New Jersey
- Seemac Incorporated - Carmel, Indiana
- Seven Bridges Foundation - Greenwich, CT
- Shipman Goodwin - Hartford, Connecticut
- Smithsonian American Art MuseumSmithsonian American Art MuseumThe Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C. with an extensive collection of American art.Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum has a broad variety of American art that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States...
- Washington, D.C. - Southwest Psychiatric Associates - Torrance, California
- Sperry CorporationSperry CorporationSperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the twentieth century...
- New York, New York - Takasago International CorporationTakasago International Corporationis a major international producer of flavors and fragrances headquartered in Japan, with presence in 22 countries worldwide and net sales of $900 million in . Major competitors include Firmenich, International Flavors and Fragrances, Givaudan and Symrise.-History:...
- Rockleigh, New Jersey - Corning Tropel Corp. - Fairport, New York
- Valley National Bank - McAllen, Texas
- University of MichiganUniversity of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
- Ann Arbor, Michigan - Victor Wire & Cable - Los Angeles, California
- Wigand Corporation - Dallas, Texas
External links
- Robert Longhurst’s website
- http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~sequin/SCULPTS/sculpts.html The website of Dr. Carlo H. SequinCarlo H. SequinDr. Carlo Heinrich Séquin was originally a physicist and has been a professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley in the USA since 1980. Séquin is recognized as one of the pioneers in processor design...
, a professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley] - Hyperseeing (The Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Mathematics, and Architecture), November 2006
- Hyperseeing (The Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Mathematics, and Architecture), July 2007
- Longhurst's Surface, a part of Minimal Surface Archive created by Dr. Matthias Weber, a professor of Mathematics at Indiana University
- Cline Fine Art Gallery