These monumental kinetic sculptures are designed to interact with the predictable breeze flowing through South Cheyenne Canyon in Colorado Springs. The sculptures are intrinsically beautiful when they’re still, but most striking when the wind moves them. This talented sculpture’s gigantic creations have delighted thousands who’ve seen them.
Starr Kempf began dabbling in art at a young age. Kempf was born in 1917 and raised on a small farm near a Swiss Mennonite community in Ohio, where he quietly studied the interplay of nature, storms, forests and animals. By the age 7, he was sketching and carving wood. He studied the mechanics of things while watching his father and seven uncles, all of whom were blacksmiths and carpenters.
The Cleveland Institute of Art extended a scholarship to Kempf, and he graduated in 1947 with top honors for his drawings and paintings. He also taught at the school. His sketch, The Vendor, won him a scholarship to study under the famous muralist Boardman Robinson at the Broadmoor Academy of Art in Colorado Springs.
During WWII, he served in the Air Force and in 1942 he married Hedwig, a nurse who immigrated to America from Germany and was working as an RN at Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs. With the Broadmoor scholarship in hand, the Kempfs purchased the land at 2057 Pine Grove in South Cheyenne Canon in 1948. It was there that Starr built their unusual home/studio/foundry. They raised two daughters and one son in their extraordinary home.
Sunrise Serenade, a giant rooster, was one of the six sculptures removed from the Kempf Sculpture Garden.
In the mid-‘50s Kempf began working in bronze and started sculpting human figures. His bronze works can be found in collections throughout the country. These works express the struggles of human existence and the constant quest for human freedom.
He created these sculptures in the basement foundry of his unique house. When he bought the land, it was outside the city, beyond any zoning regulations. He and Hedwig constructed the house on a large corner lot and built in such features as a brick archway door, cove ceilings and sky-lighted gallery to showcase the bronze sculptures. The foundry in the basement proved to also be an ideal workplace for the steel sculptures he turned to in 1977 and created until his death in 1995, at age 77. The 11 wind-powered artworks were installed in the Sculpture Garden in the large lawn. He preferred the freedom of his steel sculptures where “the sky is the limit, where there’s a greater flight of imagination,” he once said.
To create these works, he first sandblasted away all foreign material. Next he wiped the steel with a coat of zinc-chromate, followed by two coats of silver paint. When treated this way, the steel stays shiny forever. He worked from dawn to dusk, seven days a week, blowtorch in hand in the foundry. He used 2.5 tons of steel – 5,000 pounds – to create the towering sculptures. When the tourists began coming, he built a wrought iron fence to protect his house and sculptures.
The steel figures were placed to take advantage of the breeze. Kempf said the wind was integral to his work.
“The artist’s ultimate purpose is to capture the atmosphere surrounding a thing rather than to confine himself to the obviousness of the object itself,” he said.
Steel sculptures in the Kempf Sculpture Garden in Colorado Springs.
Some of his kinetic works tower more than 50 feet tall, their bases sunk deeply into the ground. His sculptures combine his engineering and mechanical prowess – their bearings are precision, their mobility is flawlessly perfect and they make absolutely zero noise. Their finish continues to glow brightly today. Each is a perfect machine, a whimsical work of art.
The University of Colorado recognized Kempf in 1991 by awarding him an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane letters and again in 1993 with a Master of Fine Arts degree. Life magazine has featured him. The multi-talented artist also wrote novels and plays, and his play The Journeyman was produced at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Kempf committed suicide in 1995 after suffering from deteriorating health and depression.
The area around the Kempf house changed from an isolated, bucolic scene to a neighborhood of upscale homes. The neighbors did not uniformly admire the 11 moving sculptures. They complained about the height – some towered 50 feet – and the traffic (about 20,000 motorists and tourists in buses annually drove to the Kempf house to see the enchanting sculptures). The neighbors forced the removal of six of the 11 beautiful sculptures, including Sunrise Serenade, a giant rooster; Metronome and Space Needle, leaving five in the Sculpture Garden and a confused Hedwig in her house. After her death, the house and lawn will go to the University of Colorado.
