Label
Tower Clock, 2012
Curtis Stimpson
Curtis Stimpson has been making neon clocks for the past twenty years. After making a living as a plumber for most of his life, he decided to take on neon fabrication as his new hobby. Curtis combined his love of neon and clocks to create high-quality, retro-inspired beehive clocks after completing a sex-week neon fabrication course with Michael Flechtner. Neon fabrication is quite challenging, but Curtis purchased the special tools and system and set up his studio in his garage to continue his neon practice. While some neon artists argue that a circle is the most difficult shape to bend in glass, Curtis has mastered the circle and produces perfectly round glass tubes that complement his handmade clocks. Every step of the process – bending the glass tubes, bombarding them, designing and constructing the clocks – are all completed by him in his studio. Working in his independent studio allowed Curtis to evenly distribute his work between personal creative projects and client commissions.
The face of the Curtis clock displayed in MONA’s gift shop is a 1940s tower clock. Tower clocks were flat disks that went on the building’s exterior wall, with the mechanics hidden inside the building. He later added the shell, weathered it down to look vintage, and added the neon lettering, indicating his brand, Curtis Clocks, and his birth year, 1947.