The other day my mom sent me a text saying “Google Willard Wigan“. I’d never heard of the name before and was curious as to who he was/why I should be searching him. Moments later she texted me this photo:
I was amazed. Wigan is a sculptor from England. His sculptures are like nothing I’ve ever seen before. They can hardly be seen with the naked eye. Wigan’s sculptures can be as small as 0.005mm. They are usually placed on the head of a pin, in the eye of a needle, on top of a match, and even once, on an eyelash.
Wigan was dyslexic as a child and mistreated because of it. He was undiagnosed growing up so he was harshly ridiculed by teachers and others because he could not read. He was thought of as unintelligent, but he was actually battling a disorder no one knew about. Wigan’s interest in sculpture began when he was just a child, believing that if it was small enough for people to have trouble seeing that no one would be able to see it.
Wigan is now widely known for these incredible, microscopic artworks. The precision displayed in work this small is astounding.
As the picture above states, Willard Wigan works by placing himself in a meditative state, “in the knowledge that the mere pulse in his finger could destroy his work”. So can his breathing apparently… Wigan was once working on an Alice in Wonderland sculpture when he breathed in too strongly and accidentally inhaled Alice!
He says that he is not done yet working – he believes his work is still too big and that he can go even smaller! I’m not sure how you can go smaller than the tip of a single human hair, but clearly he is capable of accomplishing insane things!
From a misunderstood little boy with an undiagnosed learning disorder to a famous artist whose work sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars, Wigan has truly made a name for himself. His story is one to show that there is no such thing as a stupid mind or a stupid person. Everyone’s brain works in different ways, and Wigan’s story surely proves how miraculous that may be. Art truly is an amazing outlet.
View a slideshow of some of Wigan’s magical pieces: http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/willard-wigans-micro-art/7/
