May 4, 2013

For the 15th year, human-powered machines embarked on a 14-mile journey through the streets of Baltimore as part of the American Visionary Art Museum’s annual Kinetic Sculpture Race. Participants design and construct vehicular sculptures capable of crossing sand, mud and water.

: Melissa Allen, lower left, and aunt Connie Allen cheer on peddlers for Loose Cannon at the start of the 15th annual Kinetic Sculpture Race. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun Photo)

: Cyclists of all ages and on all types of bikes peddle at the start of the 15th annual Kinetic Sculpture Race sponsored by the American Visionary Art Museum. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun Photo)

: Students of Arbutus Middle School and their blue crab sculpture are the first to get going on the race course during the 15th annual Kinetic Sculpture Race. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun Photo)

: Russell Ricks, of D.C., from left, Dennis Peterson and Cliford Wagner, both of Bucks County, Pa., try to get a warped wheel fixed so they can join the 15th annual Kinetic Sculpture Race with their entry, Desdemona Duck. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun Photo)

: Rob Litchfield, of Baltimore, decided to dressed up as the devil and ride along with the participants of the 15th annual Kinetic Sculpture Race sponsored by the American Visionary Art Museum. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun Photo)

: Members of the all-female Batala drum band perform before the start of the 15th annual Kinetic Sculpture Race. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun Photo)

: Participants in the 15th annual Kinetic Sculpture Race, sponsored by the American Visionary Art Museum, get their feet “blessed” before the start of the race. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun Photo)

: Participants in the 15th annual Kinetic Sculpture Race, including Mike Rios (foreground) of Baltimore, get their feet “blessed” before the start of the race. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun Photo)

: Joe Wall, aka “Sister Oblivion,” conducts the “blessing of the feet” ceremony for peddlers before the start of the 15th annual Kinetic Sculpture Race. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun Photo)

: First-time peddler of the Desdemona Ducks team Lauren Bird, of Doylestown, Pa., gets ready to have her feet “blessed” before the start of the 15th annual Kinetic Sculpture Race,. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun Photo)

: Colleen Perzan, of Nottingham, decided to take pictures of race participants while stuck in the traffic jam caused by the start of the 15th annual Kinetic Sculpture Race at the American Visionary Art Museum. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun Photo)

: Melissa Elbar, of Los Angeles, Sean O’Brien, of Lincoln, Ne., and George Deese, of Montgomery, Al., who are in Baltimore for business, check the route of the race course after watching the start of the 15th annual Kinetic Sculpture Race at the American Visionary Art Museum. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun Photo)

: Spectators and competitors in the 15th annual Kinetic Sculpture Race gather near the “eternal flame” outside AVAM for the peddlers meeting and “blessing” of the feet ceremony before the race. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun Photo)

VIDEO: Making a kinetic sculpture by Jen Rynda/Baltimore Sun Media Group.

Through mud, sand and water, kinetic sculpture racers go for glory
By Ian Duncan, The Baltimore Sun
7:25 p.m. EDT, May 4, 2013

It was just after noon Saturday and a large blue-crab-mobile was drifting out into the harbor with four students from Arbutus Middle School aboard and unable to steer. The problem? A thrown sock puppet that had damaged their controls.

The absurd moment captured the spirit of the annual Kinetic Sculpture Race, now in its 15th year, even down to the puppet as the source of mischief — carrying one is a requirement of the competition.

School principal Michelle Feeney watched anxiously from a pier at Canton Waterfront Park as a pair of kayakers paddled out to tow the middle-schoolers back to shore, so they could continue on their way.

2013 Kinetic Sculpture Race in Baltimore

Leave a Reply Cancel