crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams ‘unwanted visitor: portrait of wildfire’ by herb williams

 

 

 

making three dimensional sculptural works from hundreds of thousands of individual crayons, american artist herb williams is one of the few individuals who has an account with crayola. he orders each color of crayon necessary for a piece, all individually packed (3000 to a case). williams is interested in identifying objects that society perceives to associate with one role, and reintroduces them into different subtexts. with a desire to produce pieces on a grand scale,  his most recent work is ‘unwanted visitor: portrait of wildfire‘, an outdoor installation on display at the  national ranching heritage centre in lubbock, texas. the five free standing sculptures which are meant to emulate fires and flames – reminiscent of a wildfire. they have been created to raise awareness of wildfires in an area that has been severely affected by drought, each of the pieces is composed of crayola crayons. because of their wax content, they begin to melt and change shape in the unpredictable outdoor conditions in which they stand. their transformation is affected by blowing wind and dry conditions, much like those that affect the intensity and duration of real wildfire.  through the construction process, williams bonds the paper – not the wax – to the internal structure he has carved or cast to completely envelope the shape. the structures range in height from three feet to eight feet.

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 2 alternative view of the sculpture installed at the national ranching heritage centre in lubbock, texas

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 3 image © ashton thornhill

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 4 artist herb williams constructing one of the sculptures image © ashton thornhill

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 5 attaching crayons to the internal structural form image © ashton thornhill

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 6 hard at work images © ashton thornhill

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 7 image © ashton thornhill

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 8 image © ashton thornhill

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 9 transporting the finished works to the site of installation image © ashton thornhill

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 10 installation in progress image © ashton thornhill

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 11

 

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 12

 

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 13 one of the finished sculptures image © ashton thornhill

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 14 comparison of maquette #1 melting over the course of a month

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 15 melting of maquette #2

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 16 sand base adds interesting visual affect and change of how the wax dries

 

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 17 study models

 

crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams - 18 sketch of the five wildfire shapes installed

via colossal