Easier to pass through the eye of a needle

The Science and Entertainment Exchange blog has an interesting post up about artist Willard Wigan, who creates sculptures that can only be seen through a microscope.

Wigan's story is touching - he started sculpting as a child, when his dyslexia made school a painful challenge. He says,

"I started making houses for ants because I thought they needed somewhere to live. Then I made them shoes and hats. It was a fantasy world I escaped to."

(That totally reminds me of the scene from Zoolander where the none-too-bright model played by Ben Stiller stares at a scale model of a proposed school building and demands, "What is this? A school for ANTS?")

Anyway, I can relate to Wigan's process. During grad school, I did thousands of dissections on a tiny scale, under a microscope, using needles made from sharpened wires. Wigan works on approximately the same scale - something I really can't imagine choosing to do for fun. The elaborate display cases he creates for his work are basically idiosyncratic microscopes, since you couldn't see his pieces otherwise.

Wigan's sculptures are simple - ranging from animals to celebrities (including Henry the Eighth and his wives), often posed on the head of a pin or the eye of a needle. From an artistic standpoint, they're more "wow" than "profound". But they don't really need to be both.

More at the Science and Entertainment Exchange - including a link to Wigan's TED talk.