Home

Harry Bertoia

Sculptures

Sonambient®

Integration

Links


Harry Bertoia

Designer and Sculptor

Sonambient

Designer and Sculptor Harry BertoiaIn the early 1970's Designer and Sculptor Harry Bertoia and his son Val, made hundreds of sound sculptures. These sculptures represent Harry Bertoia's formation of Sonambient®.

Sonambient® was Bertoia's term to describe the spatial and tonal environment created by these sound sculptures.

Harry Bertoia created these sculptures of different shapes, length and thickness in order to achieve a range of gentle and sharp sounds. He experimented as a way to seek harmonic balance with the metal, resulting in pure, unique tones.

When touched, struck or brushed, these sculptures became abstractions of sound as they sway and knock against one another. The sounds are organic and mysterious, as tones resonate and flow into each other.

The completed Sonambient® also consists of gongs and suspended sonic-bars. Within his renovated barn, Harry made more than 360 magnetic-tape recordings, some of which are available on CD in the Bertoia Studio Online Store.

You can listen to one of these recordings right here! Real Audio player is required, if you do not have Real Audio Download the free or Plus player here.

Val Bertoia

In the present,
Val Bertoia continues
the Bertoia tradition
of sound sculptures.