
Kenneth Snelson, “Tall Star,” 1979. Aluminum and stainless steel. Collection of Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center. Gift of the Artist.
Kenneth Snelson (b. 1927 Pendleton, Oregon – d. 2016 New York City)
Internationally known artist Kenneth Snelson was an art student at Black Mountain College in the summers of 1948 and 1949, where he studied with Buckminster Fuller and Josef Albers. He became a prolific and hugely successful artist with work in major museum and public art collections all over the world. Known primarily for his gravity defying sculptures, Snelson was also an accomplished photographer with a particular interest in panoramic photographs. Snelson described his work as a study of physical forces in three-dimensional space. As a student he made the original discovery of the tension/compression principle, “tensegrity” which defines his structural sculptures.