Dug North

Dug North (born August 2, 1970) is an American artist and writer who creates hand-cranked animated sculpture known as 'contemporary automata'. Though his work is much less complex mechanically, North draws inspiration from the masterworks of automatists such as Pierre Jaquet-Droz, Henri Maillardet, and the magic-themed automata of Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. North's automata are made mostly of wood and metals. He began making automata in the early 2000s as he explained in an interview with the online magazine Howl in Lowell in March of 2012.

North as an artist is less concerned with imitating living organisms, than with creating scenes and characters that make subtle comments on society. Other contemporary automata artists include those associated with Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, once located in Covent Garden, London. His automata have been displayed in several shows including at the Charles River Museum of Industry, Kalliroscope Gallery, 119 Gallery and  Arts League of Lowell.

In addition to creating automata, North publishes a daily blog for collectors, makers and enthusiasts of automata and mechanical toys entitled The Automata / Automaton Blog. Since beginning the blog in in June of 2006, North has actively maintained it using his own resources, covering information on the craft, tools and products as well as artists in the field. His blog is considered by many beginner automata-makers, automata artists and collectors as the leading source for the most up-to-date information on automata and its development. Along with the blog posts, North has compiled several pages of resources for interested visitors: books; tools;  materials;  kits;  and patterns. North's posts are often referenced by other websites such as MAKE. 

North also contributes to other online resources including Applied Kinetic Arts and a quarterly automata and woodworking tips column for the / Cabaret Mechanical Theatre blog. His techniques for using rotary tools were especially popular and reposted to many blogs including MAKE: online in February, 2012.

North’s design of a mechanical hat was the subject of a project and it appears in the popular Instructables site.

In print, North has been cited in several magazines including Lee Valley Tools Woodworking Newsletter (Vol. 3, Issue 1 September 2008), and Creative Woodworks and Crafts (coming issue - June 2012) He also provided vital guidance in the publication of / "Two Odd Volumes on Magic & Automata," a combination of a lecture on Robert-Houdin and a history of automata originally printed in the 1860's.

In recognition of his contributions to kinetic art, North was named the Kircher Society Resident Automatist for The Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society in 2007. North contributed a list of "Essential Books on Automata" to the group.

North has served as an automata consultant on many projects, from helping beginner makers visiting his blog to appearing in a documentary on the history of automata titled 'The Mechanical Man at the Heart of Hugo' that accompanied the Blu-Ray release of the movie Hugo (film).

North makes his home in Lowell, Massachusetts in the United States where he continues to create automata and bring recognition to the art form.