John Rosenbaum (September 3, 1934"Cornell Elects Rosenbaum", New York Times, Dec 4, 1954 "John J Rosenbaum Jr of Brigantine N J today was elected captain of Cornell's 1955 varsity crosscountry team" – September 30, 2003) was an American physicist, educator and kinetic sculptor, associated with the San Francisco RenaissanceArt in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945–1980, Thomas Albright. University Presses of California, Columbia and Princeton, 1985, (p. 172) and the counterculture of the 1960s.
Early life and education Rosenbaum was born on September 3, 1934, in Brigantine, New Jersey. He attended Cornell University, where he graduated with a degree in engineering physics in 1957.
Career
After graduated from Cornell University in 1957, Rosenbaum moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1960s, where he contributed to the Harvard Project Physics textbooks.Project Physics: Text Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975 edition, , appendix p. A23 He was associated with the free school movement in the 1960s, and was a colleague of the educator Herbert Kohl, who described Rosenbaum's educational work in his book The Open ClassroomThe Open Classroom: A Practical Guide to a New Way of Teaching, Herbert R. Kohl. New York Review/Vintage Books, 1969, pp. 64–65 and Math, Writing & Games in the Open Classroom.Math, Writing and Games in the Open Classroom, Herbert R. Kohl. New York Review/Vintage Books, 1974, , pp. 134–136 He designed the Xylopipes xylophone children's toy for Creative Playthings.
Rosenbaum created "Light Boxes", kinetic sculptures using polarized light and layers of cellophane laminated between pairs of rotating glass disks, producing changing patterns and colors similar to, and on a smaller scale than, light shows projected at rock concerts in the 1960s. He was exhibited by the Landau Gallery in Beverly Hills, among others.Andrews, Oliver. Electric Art, exhibition catalog. Los Angeles: UCLA Art Department, 1969"John Rosenbaum: Constructions with polarized light by a physicist-artist;", The New Yorker Jan. 6, 1968, p. 10, E. 84th St. gallery listing He was a colleague of silk screen artist Arthur Okamura. He designed the original logo for Herbie Mann's Embryo Records.
Exhibitions 1969 Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles 1975 Walnut Creek, California (with Arthur Okamura)Thompson, Peter, ed.; "John Rosenbaum and Arthur Okamura", Catalogue, The Civic Arts Gallery, May 21 – June 28, 1975
Death Rosenbaum died in Alameda, California, on September 30, 2003, from complications of Parkinson's disease."Cornell Alumni Magazine" July/Aug. 2004 V. 107 # 1, Alumni Deaths
References
External links Examples of the optical effects used in "Light Boxes": sugar syrup solution placed between 2 linear polarizers, producing 3 primary colors multiple examples of color produced from polarized light and clear plastics