Latest from Steampunk Artist Bruce Rosenbaum: A Giant Flying Shoe

Bruce Rosenbaum is known for large-scale steampunk art installations, and his latest is a sculpture of a flying shoe that now sits in front of the newly renovated McElwain School Apartments in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The apartments occupy the former William H. McElwain Grammar School, whose namesake ran a large shoe factory in the area. In 1902, McElwain introduced the first $2 shoe in the U.S.

Rosenbaum, who does business as ModVic, fabricated the sculpture in partnership with metal artists Julian Halpern and Kamil Peters. Materials included a trolley operator’s seat, shoe molds, gears, industrial machine parts, a valve wheel, and fan blades – about 1000 pieces in all. The “laces” are made from rebar. Artist Jim Su created concept illustrations for the project.

The artists discussed the project in the video above, which also shows how the sculpture was installed.

Readers will recall that Rosenbaum discussed his work in the second episode of our YouTube video series, The World of Steampunk. The segment begins at around 5:09.

Related: Bridgewater, MA Honors the Past While Repurposing a Historic Elementary School as a New Apartment Building (ModVic)