Gallery | Willard Wigan

Dr Willard Wigan MBE

WELCOME

To My Tiny World

look closely

Gallery

This is just a small selection of some of the work i have created. I hope you like them

Worlds smallest spectacles upon a pinhead

Solid Gold Spectacles upon the head of a 2mm diameter pin.

“Where did I put my glasses”, was my inspiration for sculpting this unfeasibly small pair, in the process, making a pair of glasses that are almost impossible to find!
Whilst I don’t wear glasses I wanted to sculpt this piece to highlight the importance of being able to see the smallest of details – after all, the little things in life can sometimes have the biggest impact.
This piece called Look Closely took around five weeks to complete, the frames are carved from pure gold and the lenses are made from microscopic specks of real glass and the frames are on a plinth that is mounted upon the head of a tiny pin. Now you get some idea how small this piece really is

The Ak Orda Palace on a pinhead

Kevlar, nylon and gold upon the head of a 2mm diameter pin.

Iconic and grand buildings with amazing architecture have always interested me. This building has so much gold, glass and colour that it glows a beautiful blue colour when the sun catches it just right. As soon as I saw it I thought “that will be almost impossible to do”, this would challenge my skills, I knew it would be difficult, which is why I just had to do it. I hope you think I did it justice

Christ The Redeemer in the eye of a needle

Made from a scraping of nylon in the eye of a needle.

Christ the Redeemer is a symbol of Christianity across the world but this isn’t why I made it. I’m not making any religious or political statements with any of my work. This is just a beautiful statue that at over 30 meters tall is truly massive and stands proud for all to see for miles around above Rio de Janeiro. I just wanted to shrink it into my world and show that it can be equally as amazing when made much smaller. So small that you can’t see it with the naked eye!
I made this from fragments of stone and painted it with one of my own eyelashes. It took 5 long weeks of 16 hour days to complete.

Robin Hood in the eye of a needle

A kevlar sculpture with fabric fibres in the eye of a needle.

This character has always interested me. The ideals of taking from the rich to give to the poor struck a chord with me. I’ve been “robbed” a good few times myself over the years but I still always manage to see the good in people. I also spent a lot of time living and working around Nottingham and I have great respect and love for the people and the area. Nottingham was good to me and this was my tribute to the folk of Nottingham.
I also thought that Robin Hood fella could do with bringing down a peg or two so I welcomed him to my tiny world!

The Queens Crown on a pinhead

24 Carat Gold Crown with cut diamond upon the
head of a 2mm diameter pin.

Meeting the Queen of England and other members of the Royal Family has been a massive inspiration to me. Willard Wigan gets an MBE, Wow! I bet the teacher that said “you will amount to nothing Wigan” would eat her words now. When I found out I was getting an MBE I wanted to do something as a gift for the Queen, so I made her a tiny replica of her own crown. She was astonished when she saw it and told me it was one of the most incredible gifts that she had ever received. My brother Trevor wrote her a poem too and she sent us a personal letter to say thank you. I was so proud to receive my MBE and thrilled that The Queen appreciated my work.

The Skateboarder on my eyelash

24 Carat Gold board and rubber wheels with nylon balanced upon my own eyelash.

It’s fair to say that I wasn’t a great skateboarder, but I really do admire the skill of many of the guys down the parks that make it look so easy to do. I’ve been to America loads of times and skateboarding there is just like football is here. Everyone does it and they all look so cool. So I decided to make my own tiny skateboarder that lived in my world as a tribute to the skills of all those that have wowed me over the years. This piece isn’t much bigger than a full stop in a newspaper. It's made out of 24 carat gold and Kevlar. I painted it with a Dalmatian hair from my friends dog (as they are super thick and strong) before being placed upon my own eyelash that’s balanced upon the sharp end of a pin. Now I could do something that skateboarders couldn’t!

The Last Supper in the eye of a needle

Nylon and gold sculpture in the eye of a needle.

This piece almost drove me to insanity to complete. It contains all 13 people at The Last Supper. If you look at the sandals you can even see the straps around their feet, such was the detail I went to. The number 13 has followed me around throughout my life and I felt I just had to complete something truly iconic where the number 13 played such a significant role. This number is considered by most to be unlucky, but 13 has always been good to me

Johanna Martzy in the eye of a needle

Nylon and limewood sculpture in the eye of a needle.

I love beautiful music and I admire the talent it takes to play any instrument. I can’t play a note myself but I love to listen. I find music inspiring and uplifting and sometimes it helps me to escape the madness of the day or the world around us. I enjoy lots of different genres and listen to everything from Jazz to Soul to Classics and Pop. I was listening to an amazing violin piece on the radio one day, it was by Johanna Martzy. So I just decided to make a tribute to her within the eye of a needle. This may even lead me to making a collection of artists as a personal tribute to some of the greats. Lets see.

Hollywood in the eye of a needle

Made out of fragments from the original Hollwood sign in the eye of a needle.

I’ve been to Hollywood and I was fascinated by the sheer size of this sign. It’s absolutely massive and recognised throughout the world. I love being in America and I’ve had some great times and have some amazing memories from there. Years ago the original Hollywood sign fell into disrepair and had to be replaced. An artist called Bill Mack bought the metal panels and decided to do paintings on them. A friend of mine had one of those painting, so I discreetly scraped some metal shavings from the side of it and I made a sculpture of the actual Hollywood sign from the flakes of the original sign. I just thought it would be cool to do, everything America is always so big, so I took this sign into the land of tiny Willard

The Moon Landing in the eye of a needle

Kevlar & Nylon with glass sculpture in the eye of a needle..

Man has always managed to do the impossible and continues to do so. As a child I was told I would amount to nothing and be nothing, it was impossible for me to be anything because I couldn’t read or write and I struggled to understand things. Well that’s what I was told by my teachers. Which was a bit like saying man would never go to the moon because it was impossible. So the guys from Nasa and Apollo missions made it possible and this inspired me to create the “impossible” again, but this time in the eye of a needle. By the way scientists have looked at my work and wonder how it is possible for me to do this. Well there’s a lesson to all of us here. Nothing is impossible unless we think it is.

The Girl With A Pearl Earring Portrait

Scuplted and oil painted Nylon with 24 carat gold frame and a shard of pearl.

This is my tiny masterpiece to show how detailled my work can be. Not only is it painted but it is also carved and sculpted. It was painted using traditional oiI paints using my own eyelash as a brush. I produced this completely from memory and it was my own representation of a classic beautiful old masterpiece, but super tiny as you can see from the size of the match shown for comparison.