In NW Minnesota, he turns gears, wire and marbles into art that moves
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In every corner of Minnesota, there are good stories waiting to be told of places that make our state great and people who in Walt Whitman’s words “contribute a verse” each day. MPR News sent longtime reporter Dan Gunderson on a mission to capture those stories as part of a series called “Wander & Wonder: Exploring Minnesota’s unexpected places.”
Jeffrey Zachmann makes a living playing with marbles.
The Fergus Falls sculptor has crafted more than 1,000 kinetic sculptures the past three decades, weaving wire, gears, metal and marbles into moving contraptions that fascinate those who come across them in public libraries, private collections and museums around the world.
His art is a mix of engineering, creativity and noisiness that can sometimes literally speak for itself. He loves to watch people watch his sculptures move, although after 30 years of building he says he still struggles to explain his creations.
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“I like the system of building the thing, making a working piece of artwork,” said Zachmann, 67. “At the same time, it makes people happy when they see it. They're smiling and laughing. And I really think people don't get enough of that in their lives.”
‘I really haven’t grown up a whole lot’
Zachmann’s always been an artist. He worked as a potter for 15 years after graduating from Moorhead State University.
But he kept playing with an interest that dated to his childhood growing up in a burgeoning Twin Cities suburb. As developers dug basements and piled up dirt, 8-year-old Zachmann built trenches and ramps and sent marbles rolling through them.
"I really haven't grown up a whole lot,” said Zachmann during a recent visit to his studio filled with tools and bits of salvaged metal. “I play for a living, you know, and so few people actually get to do that.”
He tried incorporating marbles into pottery, but it didn’t work. Then he saw an artist sculpting with wire and found his muse.
He’s built 1,129 kinetic sculptures in the three decades since. He uses salvaged metal to build a frame 3 to 6 feet tall. Then he creates intricate wire tracks for marbles to roll along. The marbles leap off of ramps and fall into baskets on a noisy journey to the bottom where an electric powered device lifts them to the top to repeat the cycle.
"I get weird comparisons sometimes,” said Zachmann as he talked about the public response to his work.
One person thought a sculpture sounded like a hamster wheel, another compared it to the sound of wire hangers at a dry cleaner.
Most of his pieces are in private collections across the U.S. and as far away as Japan and Australia. Early on, though, he doubted anyone would pay thousands of dollars for a whimsical sculpture. He said prices typically range from $4,300 to $16,800 depending on size.
But at art shows across the country, his booth is always packed with people.
“It's just amazing,” he said. “Even after all these years it stuns me the number of people who just can't look away.”
‘Cool or Lame?’
Zachmann wants to slow down but can't keep up with demand, so he’s planning to pass his passion and his business to his son Carl, 42, who also builds kinetic sculptures using gears and motion.
They share a studio now. Carl jokes that he wins more awards but his dad sells more work.
“My father is one of the very few humans I've ever come across that thinks like me, and it's really wonderful sharing a studio with my father, who is also my best friend,” he said.
He’s started learning to build the rolling ball sculpture to take over the business, although he doubts his father will ever retire from the work he loves.
“Someday you're gonna find me flat on my face in the studio and you’ll go, Oh, he retired,” said Jeff Zachmann with a laugh.
“It's been really fun teaching him how to do this, and in a way, a little frustrating,” he added. “Because I really thought the first couple he'd make would kind of suck, and they were like, ‘Wow! Why didn't I think of that?’”
The two share an easy vibe as they talk about the work. They play a game they call “Cool or Lame?” to vet new ideas.
“And you explain it and there's a razor thin edge between the two of, ‘oh, that's kind of lame,’ or ‘oh, that's really cool,’“ Carl said.
The two also share a love of digging through salvage yards, looking for scraps of metal they can repurpose in a sculpture.
“But the problem we have is who gets that really sweet piece of red barrel,” said Jeff. “Yeah,” said Carl. “It’s like a race to make a sculpture so we can use it first.”
