A Shelter Deep In The Forest

The main structure of this sculpture was molded around a plaster cast of my left hand. Initially, I had a completely different concept in mind for this project. Unfortunately - or fortunately - one of the fingers broke off while I was handling it, forcing me to rethink my original design so I could conceal the damage along with several other imperfections.

In the end, after a lot of thinking, I drew inspiration from fantasy books and movies, those magical places where some imagine gnomes and fairies living among forests and mushrooms.

But these are, in fact, glowing mushrooms. LEDs came to the rescue again (I love LEDs). The light illuminating the leaves and grass creates an organic, almost magical atmosphere.

To make the sculpture, I actually had to break off some of the other fingers so I could reposition the mushrooms in different directions. I later reattached the fingers to the base in their new orientations. This made the final design look much better and allowed the lights to point in different directions.

I must admit that the final result surpassed what I had originally envisioned for this sculpture. Looking at all the small details and the different shadows created by the lighting takes me back to my childhood, when I used to spend so much time watching ants and other insects go about their day, searching for food and exploring their surroundings. I was always so fascinated by this.

It's like being transported into a hidden world, full of life, full of new things to explore and discover. . . and maybe, just maybe, that's what is happening around us right now and we simply don't know it yet.