Chai Style Art: Molecules, Mobiles and Mountains

Approaching Dr. Al Padwa’s 1936 Virginia-Highland home leaves no room for doubt as the anatomically correct rust statues in his yard exude his whimsy and study of structure while the home’s interior launches a world of collected art and purpose.

His CV reads like a Chinese dim sum cart, too numerous to list, but includes serving on the Fulbright Scholar student selection committee, conducting visiting professorships in Australia, Peking and Istanbul, and being a U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation awardee, as well as a NATO researcher in Catania, Italy.

As a retired Emory University chemistry professor with a doctorate from Columbia University, Padwa composes his own sculptures, which he refers to as “Ceiling Dwellers,” often constructed from junkyard metals. Padwa, who has conquered some of the world’s highest mountain peaks, said, “My mobile art is a blend of culture, science and nature. They are kinetic, … somewhat akin to pharmaceutical molecules (Padwa was a chemistry legal expert in a legal dispute involving the drug Cialis).

His interest in mountain climbing is about the success, freedom, view from top, and extreme challenges required to reach the pinnacle. He claims, “Life is wonderful from up there!”

Read how Padwa relishes life from “down here” as well.

affe:  How have your travels influenced your décor?

Padwa: Traveling for scientific conferences, various meetings and sports adventures, I acquired many traditional art pieces from Japan, Czechoslovakia, China, India, the Parisian Mussee d’Orsay, and South America. My home is truly a confluence of my travel experiences. I’m surrounded by masks purchased in Africa, a barometer from the Cotswolds, England, and an 1840 Japanese silk screen. When I negotiated for art in Japan in 1973, the dollar was valued at 475 yen compared to the current 90 yen exchange rate. I spent a sabbatical in Switzerland and bought unusual Middle Eastern oil lamps. In 1960 I started collecting wooden duck decoys.

Jaffe: How does a chemistry professor morph into a sculptor in his 8th decade?

Padwa: I started teaching organic chemistry at Emory in 1979 and retired in 2011.

My transition was “organic” in that my mobiles are related to complex molecular structures in three-dimensional space. Building these complex organic molecules in my lab and the mobiles in my home explores how they similarly exist in terms of spatiality and mirror images relationships, and are related to DNA-like spiral coils. That is the spirit of the type of science in which I am involved – heterocyclic chemistry.

Jaffe: Where can we find your mobiles?

Padwa: One of my more exciting installations is a large Calderesque-like mobile painted in primary colors that is displayed in the lobby of the new wing of the Emory chemistry building. I created a model of it in my backyard several months before installing it at Emory. Also, rather than bringing a bottle of wine for a visit to a friend’s home, I enjoy bringing one of my original mobiles built from some very unusual material, which could also be placed inside a plant or piece of pottery. I have passed on around 150 of my personally designed mobiles to many chemistry academician friends all over the world.

I am displaying at the Jewish Life Festival Jan. 13.

Jaffe: What materials do you use?

Padwa: (Laughing) What materials don’t I use? I look for repurposed items like pitchforks, rusted shovels, concrete, concentric rings, bottle caps, feathers, puppets, shells, old pieces of iron, paper, steel, railroad ties, and fused glass, to name a few.

I work with a band saw, a digital kiln to fuse glass at 1600 degrees, and an iron forge at the Savannah College of Art and Design Atlanta.

It takes about three weeks to complete a piece; and in my workshop shed, I listen to Audiobooks.

Jaffe: You have an illustrative Jewish heritage. “Padwa” sounds like a Far East surname.

Padwa: The giveaway is my first name, “Alberto.” My Italian relatives lived many years in Padua, Italy.  They took the name of their city to sidestep a more Semitic sounding name, which was often the custom. I actually have a written record of my rabbinical ancestors dating back to 1095 (34 generations).  I am a direct descendant of Rashi, (Shlomo Yitzchaki), the French Jewish scholar who authored respected Talmudic commentaries.

My grandfather came from Poland to New York City in 1916 with no formal education. Nevertheless, both my brother David, who is a Kennedy Scholar, and I achieved very high academic credentials. … the realization of the American dream. Let us witness the link between our ancient Judaic scholars and the pursuit of truth and excellence in the sciences today.

Jaffe: You are quite an accomplished athlete and outdoorsman.

Padwa: I have completed eight marathons, but mountain climbing is really the passion of my heart and soul. My most exciting trek was in the Andes with a summit to Mt. Aconcagua (near the Equator in Argentina), the highest mountain outside the Himalayas and stands at 23,000 feet. This feat is only for the most experienced climbers. I also enjoyed hiking near the Carlsbad Caverns, Yosemite, Mt. Rainier, the 14ers in Colorado, and Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

Jaffe: What artworks of others do you admire?

Padwa: My obvious choice is Alexander Calder because of his unusual mobiles, which are molecule-like, simply structured and painted in primary colors. Upstairs in my master bedroom hallway is a treasured bronze mobile built by artist Joel Hotchkiss. Even my dining room chandelier has a Calderesque shape.

Jaffe: Last word.

Padwa: Just give me a lid from a can, some old rope, PVC pipes, an old rusted fireplace poker, and my creative juices start to flow.

“Each mobile should be able to move, to stir, to oscillate, to come and go in its relationships with the other elements in its universe. It must not be just a ‘fleeting moment,’ but a physical bond between the varying events in life.” -Alexander Calder