A look at Art Through the Eye of a Needle
The Triumph of Willard Wigan
As a young child, Willard Wigan battled with the agony of the then undiagnosed dyslexia. Cruelly, his teachers reprimanded his aloofness by parading him in front of the entire school allowing others to taunt and jeer at his below average performance. Destined to be a failure and continually told that he would amount to nothing, it was the constant encouragement from his mother that led Willard to rise above his learning misfortune, discover his God-given talent, and nurture his skills to become the most successful miniature sculptor in the world.
This magnificent gift came from God, but the nurturing to develop it came from somewhere almost heavenly: the persistent urging of parents that knew their son had value and talent that he needed to discover. It was the determination of his Jamaican-born mother that was the catalyst that led Willard to discovering his talent. “My mother took me aside one day and said ‘You can’t read or write, so what are you going to do? When you find something you can do, let me know and I will help you.’”
Charged with these instructions, a curious and playful Willard set out to build homes for the ants that had piled themselves onto the kitchen floor of his Birmingham, England home. Willard’s first pieces were a home and a merry-go-round for his little friends. His mother kept encouraging him to go smaller and smaller with his pieces until at the age of 7, when his work became microscopic. Forty-five years later Willard’s collection includes about 120 miniature sculpture pieces.
The materials used to apply his craft are simple enough, things you would find in every day life like flecks of gold, grains of sand, particles of dust and nylon. To paint his sculptures he uses hair off a fly’s back – “a dead fly” he hastily assures me, or one of his own eyelashes. It is hard to believe that anything so small could give that military precision needed.
Willard gave me an exclusive viewing of his first exhibit scheduled to showcase that night at the Rostra and Rooksmoor Gallery in Bath. I used this time as an opportunity to gather insight into this deeply complex individual. A statuesque man, Willard Wigan is warm, insightful and charming. His calm and self-confident demeanor have earned him the title of “distinguished,” a title used to describe high achieving men like himself that are over the age of forty-five.
It is hard to imagine that the great works of art displayed before me: owls, dinosaurs, fairies, and the statue of liberty are encased in the eye of a needle, or sitting on the head of a pin. Willard tells me “It’s really simple, the smaller my work is, the bigger it is. My work shocks people! They don’t believe it is possible.”
After my exclusive private viewing ended, the gallery in Bath began to fill with patrons eagerly anticipating a successful showing. Art houses and artists are abundant in Bath, but Willard has a faithful supply of patrons that enthusiastically flood the facility and listen attentively to his every word. “Wigan is simply extraordinary,” is how the art director Amy Kennedy describes Wigan and his work. “I have never seen anything like it in my life.”
Dressed in a well-fitted blue pinstriped suit, Willard addressed his amazed and dumfounded audience who were in awe when they set their sights on his new offering.
Willard described to his audience how each piece takes between two and three months to evolve, often requiring him to control his heart rate in order to bring it in rhythm with his brush strokes. He works mainly at night, and most amazingly he doesn’t breathe while he is working. “Sometimes, have been known to accidentally inhale my work, which is why do not breathe when doing this work. I can hold my breath for up to three minutes at a time.” Willard can work for days without sleeping and when he does come up for air, there are times when he is unable to separate his fingers. His new work, he says, is even smaller than what we were viewing but he needed more powerful microscopes to show it. “My latest work is a true homage to my mother, who believed that smaller was bigger indeed,” claims Willard. Willard has had a life-long passion for small things and believes that all of us start from something very small, and then grow into who we become.
Undoubtedly, Willard’s work is astonishing and breathtaking in the truest sense of the word, but in order to be successful it has to be accepted by art enthusiasts and of course, has to sell. Willard assured me that he knew his art was his calling and he was confident that he would be a success.
Willard now enjoys a life that many who grew up with him would not have imagined. A permanent exhibition space is due to shortly open in London. Willard hopes a similar permanent space will also open in America.
Willard Wigan has found big things in very small places. Long gone is that dyslexic child that was taunted by children because of his disabilities. Willard received the distinguished title of Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire from His Royal Highness Prince Charles in July 2007, for his contribution to the arts.
Willard is an example of what can happen with a little encouragement and a lot of determination. Anyone can rise above their deemed short-comings only to discover that God has given all of us talents – we just have to find them!
His dream of exhibiting in America will be making its U.S. debut at the Caribbean Heritage Organization’s Salute to Hollywood & Arts June 2009, in Los Angeles, where he will be honored for his contribution to the arts.
This year the exhibition of 20 of Willard’s micro sculptures will visit Los Angeles, June through August, Chicago in September, Houston in October and Washington DC, November 2009 through January 2010.
For more information on the North America tour, please contact;
Margo La Drew of Wade Associates – 310.674-6700.
The Caribbean Heritage Organization at 818-605-1478 or info@caribbeanheritage.org.
James Lawer – Willard Wigan Ltd - +44 (0)7969 261164 – www.willard-wigan.com
CaribbeanHeritage.org www.caribbeanheritage.org
Shani Reid is a freelance writer living in Kingston, Jamaica