John Rosenbaum

John Rosenbaum graduated from Cornell University[6][7] with a degree in engineering physics in 1957.[8] He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1960s. He contributed to the Harvard Project Physics textbooks.[9] He was associated with the free school movement in the 1960s, and was a colleague of the educator Herbert Kohl,[10] who described Rosenbaum's educational work in his books The Open Classroom[11][12] and Math, Writing & Games in the Open Classroom.[13] He designed the Xylopipes xylophone children's toy for Creative Playthings.[14][15] Rosenbaum created "Light Boxes",[16][17] kinetic sculptures using polarized light and layers of cellophane laminated between pairs of rotating glass disks, producing changing patterns and colors similar to, and on a smaller scale than, light shows projected at rock concerts in the 1960s. He was exhibited by the Landau Gallery[18] in Beverly Hills, among others.[19][20][21][22] He was a colleague of silk screen artist Arthur Okamura. He designed the original logo for Herbie Mann's Embryo Records. He died in Alameda, California, of complications from Parkinson's disease in 2003.[23]

Xylopipes, designed by Rosenbaum for Creative Playthings, ca 1960s

• 1969 Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles[18]
• 1975 Walnut Creek, California (with Arthur Okamura)[24][25]

Tension in plastic film, showing colors as used in Rosenbaum's kinetic sculptures

• Photoelasticity, related to the birefringent properties of cellophane, as used in Rosenbaum's kinetic sculptures

• Examples of the optical effects used in "Light Boxes":
• sugar syrup solution placed between 2 linear polarizers, producing 3 primary colors
• multiple examples of color produced from polarized light and clear plastics