George Rickey (1907 – 2002)

Biography: Born in Indiana, USA, George Rickey moved with his family to Helensburgh, Scotland while still a child and went on to study History at Balliol College, Oxford, then studied art in Paris. On his return to the US he began teaching at various schools, then in 1942, he joined the Army, where he worked in engineering. Following his discharge, he studied art at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts and later at the Chicago Institute of Design. He then taught art at a variety of colleges. In the early 1950s, Rickey shifted his focus from painting to sculpture and began creating kinetic sculpture. He was able to design sculptures whose metal parts moved in response to the slightest air currents.