The Steampunk of Everything with Bruce Rosenbaum

by Daniel Hales

A Steampunk artist based in Palmer MA has the dream of turning an old church into the Steampunk capital of America. This is his game plan…

Bruce Rosenbaum is a Steampunk artist, entrepreneur, educator, and the list goes on… If you’re unfamiliar with the term “Steampunk,” an excellent place to start is the Netflix series Amazing Interiors, (the episode entitled: House of Dictators, Bank House, Steampunk Wonderland) which features Bruce and the church in Palmer, Massachusetts that he and his wife Melanie bought with the goal of converting it into “the Steampunk capital of America.”

Built in 1876 (a “Centennial” church) Bruce and Melanie’s home, workshop, and display space, started out as St. Mary’s, a Catholic Church, then it became an Episcopalian church, then a Universalist church. And now, since Bruce is Jewish, another name for it could be a Steampunk Synagogue, with Bruce as its Steampunk rabbi.

In the episode Bruce defines the Steampunk aesthetic as “a sort of re-imagination, as if during the Victorian period, or the industrial age, they had our modern technology. It’s this kind of retro-futuristic look.”

The art Bruce has filled this shrine to Steampunk with also provides numerous incredible illustrative examples, like Helioman: the 9’ tall 15’ wide DaVinci-inspired kinetic sculpture that hangs (and with propeller blades that spin) from the ceiling of the sanctuary in Bruce’s Steampunk synagogue.

Or there are his incredible “Humachines:” elaborate sculptures that depict iconic Steampunk authors and inventors as the machines they either wrote about or created. One example is “Sub-Human,” his homage to Jules Verne, the visionary author of 20,00 Leagues Under The Sea who is one of the founding fathers of Steampunk.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term “Steampunk,” an excellent place to start is the Netflix series Amazing Interiors, (the episode entitled: House of Dictators, Bank House, Steampunk Wonderland) which features Bruce…