The longer I stood beneath the elegant floating arms of John Waltner’s very large mobile in the high foyer entry at Mark Arts, 1307 North Rock Road, in Wichita, the lighter I felt, elevated, calmer, peaceful. There is something about observing the balance of a large mobile above you, its gentle slow movement as it gives itself to whatever air movement catches, that makes you long for balance, gentleness, peace. The colors hung suspended high above me in a way that color does not often linger in pure tones without shifting. John would tell me later that this mobile, at least a five-month project, was for him a daring movement into color; he had been working with minimal color, mostly black interrupted with a one-color focal point. He began to imagine an explosion of colors and “Spring” was the result.

John loves mobiles and loves making things with his hands. He loves the problem solving that comes with imagining something and working toward its realization, admits he falls asleep at night imagining how he can make his vision a reality. He loves the way the mobile he begins takes him on a journey, evolves, as he stakes the horizontal lines of the mobile vertically balancing one atop the next, rising, rising to the top, though the balancing act is not as difficult as it appears, he claims: the mobile balances itself. He shows us on his index finger.