News & Facts

Popular Airport Sculpture To Be Refurbished

SANTA BARBARA, CA – The ‘Good Time Clock IV 1984’ created by sculptor George Rhoads has been on display at the Santa Barbara Airport and enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of visitors since 1990.  The popular rolling ball machine contained in a plexi-glass case sits in the airfield courtyard of the Airline Terminal and is sorely in need of repairs due to worn out parts.

Beginning February 1st, the iconic kinetic sculpture synonymous with the Santa Barbara Airport experience will undergo a complete overhaul. The piece has been on long-term loan from the David Bermant Foundation and will return later this year when the new Terminal becomes operational. The Foundation and the Airport are having the piece refurbished for future generations of Airport visitors.

The ‘Good Time Clock IV 1984’ was just one of Rhoads’ experiments with physical sources of energy, light and sound, in order to expand the possibilities of art.  It will be incorporated into the Airport’s new Public Art Program that will also include pieces of art on loan from Santa Barbara County and the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission as well as commissioned works, and rotating exhibits by regional artists.

George Rhoads, a painter, sculptor, and one of America’s first origami masters, was born in 1926 in Chicago. He is best known for the large audio-kinetic sculptures that attract and engage people throughout the world. Balls roll and percussion devices clatter and chime in airports, hospitals, art museums, science museums, shopping centers and other public places.