Rolling Ball Sculptor
Matthew
Gaulden
Matthew Gaulden — Kinetic Artist
I'm a kinetic artist based in the US - Lakeport, California. I design and build one-of-a-kind rolling ball sculptures by hand and accept commissions for custom sculptures for homes, businesses and public spaces throughout the United States and worldwide.
Since 2003, I've designed and built hundreds of original sculptures, from small tabletop pieces to large custom installations.
Every sculpture is built by hand in my workshop.
I form and TIG weld the stainless steel track, build the ball lifts, and create the switches, loops, drops and other mechanical elements that control the movement of the balls.
I don't begin with a computer-generated path for every ball. Much of the sculpture develops organically as I build. I can visualize where a track needs to go, build it, test it, and allow one section to suggest what should happen next. That's a large part of what keeps the work interesting after all these years.
My rolling ball sculptures have found homes around the world and have been created for private collectors, businesses, television productions, science centers and large custom installations. But whether a sculpture is enormous or sits on a tabletop, I'm still fascinated by the same thing: watching a ball move through something I made.
Many years ago, my brother Larry gave me a $6 thrift-store find: an old Spacewarp Black Wolf marble-run set. I became fascinated with the tracks, loops and mechanical elements—and eventually started looking for more Spacewarp parts.
That search introduced me to metal rolling ball sculptures.
I remember realizing: I can make these.
So I did.
The earliest sculptures were soldered. Before long I moved into welding, eventually settling on TIG-welded stainless steel. Stainless gave me the strength, permanence and clean appearance I wanted, while allowing me to build increasingly complex tracks and mechanisms.
I grew up near Kelsey Creek in Northern California, where I spent countless hours playing in the water with my dog, Hershey. I would build little dams from rocks and sand, redirect the water, tear them apart and build them again. I loved watching how changing one thing changed everything downstream. That fascination with movement never really left me. Years later, that fascination would find its way into something completely different: rolling balls, stainless steel track, gravity, motion—and eventually the kinetic sculptures I build today.