Song In A Bell Jar - Rod Lathim

“Song In A Bell Jar”

Beaded Neon, Clarinet Section, Bell Jar, wood base

7” W x 7” D x 16” T

This kinetic sculpture begins with a fragment of a clarinet — a relic of breath and music -  held beneath a clear bell jar like a sacred artifact. From the instrument’s open end, a strand of transparent blue neon unfurls from within the clarinet and spirals downward in an abstract orbit, wrapping the clarinet in luminous movement before disappearing into the wooden base as if returning to the source.

Within the curved neon tube, a procession of pearl-like beads of light travels continuously, sometimes reversing direction, as though the melody is thinking, wandering, improvising. This “beaded neon” technique is rare and unfamiliar to most viewers, creating the uncanny sensation that the light is alive — not simply glowing, but moving with intention.

The work is an interpretation of the intangible made physical: music translated into visible energy, preserved in glass, and offered as a mystical encounter between sound, spirit, and light.