Dr. Williard Wigan MBE has taken micro artistry, a small and rare artform, to a larger stage in his latest exhibition at the Broadway Musuem & Art Gallery.
Referred to as The Eighth Wonder of The World by scientists, Dr. Wigan creates the tiniest sculptures all by hand. Almost invisible to the naked eye, microscopes are used to see these works of art, as they sit literally in the eye of needles.
Dr. Wigan began his career at a very young age as way to deal with the hardships of having autism and being made fun of at school. “…One day I was hiding in my garden. My dog had destroyed an ants nest. All the ants came out of the ground, and I kept thinking, aged five, the ants are all homeless now, I need to make some houses for them,” Dr. Wigans said in an interview with the Sunday Mirror. “So I got my dad’s razor blade, I snapped a piece off with a twig, and I picked up some splinters of wood and started slicing them and building little houses – little apartments.”
With encouragement from his mother, his works shrunk until finally reaching the incredible micro sizes they are today. The exhibit is sure to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.
Of his newest piece, the smallest sculpture in the world, Dr. Wigan said, ” I decided to make it about “The Beginning” – where we begin life, as an embryo. So I decided to do a foetus… But each time I’m cutting away I have to work between my heartbeats. This was extreme, I had to hold my breath a little bit longer, I had to wait, squeeze my fingers, control the muscles in my fingers, the joints – the dexterity had to be a little more extreme. So I was a dead man working – everything has to be rigid, there can be no noise. The journey drives me mad, I’m not happy with it, but I’m happy with the end result.”
Dr. Willard Wigan’s Micro Sculptures will be on display at the Broadway Museum & Art Gallery from 6 July – 3 September. Find out more at www.broadwaymuseum.org.uk.
> Charlotte Amoa
