ToothpickMoon

This is the beginning of what will probably be the biggest sculpture I will have created thus far. I want to understand what six million looks like and this is where I'm going to make it happen. It is essentially going to be six million toothpicks for six million Jews one of which was a relative of mine who was put to death during World War 2.

For a more detailed description of this new sculpture please go to my updates & studio journal page for further reading.

Watch a video on the process of sculpting Six Million Pod.

To donate toothpicks for this sculpture please send email to: toothpickmoon@gmail.com

Donations already made.

Keep up to date on the progress of this sculpture by joining the facebook page Six Million Pod

This is Jupiter Saturn Pod and a totally new approach for my sculptures. This is where my dream to make my sculptures become kinetic is finally going to work and I'm excited to put my idea's into motion at last. The Pod is based on the orbital paths of the planets Jupiter and Saturn which ties in with my readings on the Fibonacci Sequence as of late as I've read that these orbits have been referred to as 'The Golden Clock' as seen from the Earth. I still need to read more but I'm intrigued and fascinated by Golden Ratio's and how I can make those sequences work for this sculpture.

For the pattern work on this sculpture I've been referencing the music from the a group called 'Sleep Whale' who are Bruce Blay & Joel North. Fantastic visual landscape of colors and patterns in their work and perfect for Jupiter Saturn Pod and the kinetic approach.

Check for updates on this Pod on the Updates and Studio Journal Page.

Made for the Parallax Art Fair in London, England and consists of 17,850 toothpicks and took 24 days to make. This sculpture is based on the Fibonacci series and has a folded phyllotaxis Fibonacci spiral in the largest central part. Each stem of the folded spiral has a pentagram at its end and some you can see when looking into the piece and others are completely hidden. I enjoyed building it and had fun exhibiting it at La Galleria in the Royal Opera Arcade.

Currently Fibonacci Fold Pod can be viewed at the Ladak Art Gallery in London, England.

This is Ganymede Callisto Pod - or more directly the orbital pattern of the two largest moons of Jupiter. I chose Ganymede and Callisto because they are the two ice covered potentials to life, they are simply beautiful in the photo's I've seen and their orbital dance is exquisite.  If you are ever close enough to my sculpture that you can see inside to the core then you will see the orbital pattern very clearly.
This is my favorite of all my sculptures mostly because I'm completely fascinated by the moons of Jupiter. The sculpture is very light and a little awkward to hold!

This is 'After Pythagoras Pod' - the title is from a discussion I had with a family member about my exploration of the Pythagorean Triangles in my earlier pieces. There's nothing really profound about this except that its not about the orbits of any planets but rather its about the methods that I use to make these Pods which is with Pythagorean Triangles!
Its sort of a joke about the process I use to make these sculptures - a strange joke......but still a joke!

This is the 'Laughter Pod' - I used the sounds of collected laughter to create this piece. When I use sound to sculpt I feel like I'm kind of cheating because its like I'm given a visual blueprint to follow.
Laughter Pod is another of my favorites because its just such a strange shape and its wonderful to pick up and hold!

This is 'Mercury Venus Pod' - quite literally the orbits of Mercury and Venus put together and sort of folded into a triangle. This is a small Pod and really took very little time to construct as I've actually left the core orbital design visible. This is also one of the most delicate of my Pods as I've left it so unprotected with its core on the outside. I currently have it hanging in its own transparent hammock from the ceiling so that light can filter through and create strong shadows that deceive its frailty.

This is 'Plato's 5th Element Pod' - I had originally thought it would be bigger but realized later on that making it larger would not help and would also stop it from going through doors or windows. It is one side of a Dodecahedron stemmed from my readings of Pythagoras and into Plato. I think I made it because I just wanted to have a better understanding of what I was reading. I still see it as unfinished and perhaps I'll work on it again but for now its taken up space on my ceiling for me to contemplate further.

The Quadrants Pods - these were an experiment made to fit neatly into the ceiling of my home like strange puzzle pieces in the sky. They were not based on orbital patterns but rather the spirals I observed from a variety of galaxy photo's surrounding our Milky Way. These pieces are the only ones in which I also used bamboo skewers to create a basic frame so they could fit neatly into the ceiling.
The Quadrant Pods now belong to Bryan Ohno of Seattle, Washington.

This is 'Barnacle Pod' - I associate it with the white month of February as it took the entire month to complete. This is a strange one as I used various references from Space as well as from the sea and sea life. I call all of my toothpick sculptures 'Pods' or 'Barnacles' but this one is more moon-driven tide related than any of the others. It was also the first to travel far from home and was part of two shows in Seattle, Washington before being purchased by Kirsten Murray of Oska Architects.
It has always been one of my earlier favorites.

This is 'Star Pod' - this is a quirky version of the sharp sounds I listened to when making it. I referenced a few of the sounds of Jupiter's radio waves when making this which lead to me getting a little annoyed as the sounds are not that appealing and got under my skin! However, a funny story with this piece is that when I was preparing it to be collected and shipped off to Seattle for the West Edge Sculpture Exhibition, I noticed that a little spider had taken up residence inside it. I left the spider and didn't mention it to the men who came to collect the Star Pod. When I traveled to Seattle shortly afterward to set up the show and I unpacked the Star Pod I was faintly pleased to see that the same little spider was still living inside the piece!
Its fun to think that I helped a spider relocate to another part of the country with the sounds of Jupiter!

Now owed by Kirsten Murray of Oska Architects, Seattle Washington.

This is 'Disc Pod' - a huge sculpture but yet very light. I based this sculpture on the axis of the universe...more specifically on our Solar System. Inside its core there are stems that lead out to a vast expanse of space. Its a bit hard to explain without being in front of it to show you. I wanted the axis to be the center strong point for the introduction of internal spirals that open out in each segment of the piece. There is a lot of airy compartments within each segment which I left because I wanted to experiment with the strength of the spiral.
Its a sculpture that I have a sort of love/hate relationship with as even though it taught me a lot during the course of making it; it also infuriated me because I was struggling to get my head around certain elements of Cosmic Fractals which I used to reference when building this piece.

This is Draco Pod. It started out the smallest one but is now the largest of all my sculptures. It is the first Pod in which I am directly referencing a specific constellation in our night sky. 

An odd element of this piece is that I found that referencing and listening to deep voices and the patterns they make really helped to sculpt Draco! I've found a variety of actors with deep voices which I collected for this sculpture.