Scott Weaver started on this complex sculpture 35 years ago, and the project, like the “Never Ending Story” continues to evolve. What was I doing when this guy started it? Oh, I remember, I wasn’t even born yet. I don’t know about you, but what resonates with me the most about this art piece, is Scott’s diligent patience. This is something I lack, and wished I had, cause it would have propelled me so much farther in my work, but because I lack that patience, and put off projects for sometime and go back to them later, is me lacking patience, perceiverance, determination, and mostly willingest to drive the task to it’s end. Ironically most artists are this way. I wonder if there is some kind of study done on this?
Anyways, Scott Weaver did this enormous, flimsy looking magical structure, called Rolling Through the Bay, (not flimsy at all) with about 100,000 tooth pics. He continues to modify and evolve it to this day. If you decide to watch the video below, and you should, you would discover how sturdy and fun it is. Not only does it look good, but it also entertains the eye with ping pong amusement. The Rolling Through the Bay sculpture is comprised of multiple “tours”in which the pingpong balls travel through neighborhoods, historical locations, and iconic locations of San Francisco. All this is held by glue…and patience. On his website Weaver says he’s spent over 3,000 hours on the project, and the toothpicks have been sourced from around the world:
I have used different brands of toothpicks depending on what I am building. I also have many friends and family members that collect toothpicks in their travels for me. For example, some of the trees in Golden Gate Park are made from toothpicks from Kenya, Morocco, Spain, West Germany and Italy. The heart inside the Palace of Fine Arts is made out of toothpicks people threw at our wedding.
Scott Weaver’s Rolling through the Bay from The Tinkering Studio on Vimeo.
Leave a Reply