crayon wildfire sculptures by herb williams ‘unwanted visitor: portrait of wildfire’ by herb williams

making three dimensional sculptural works from hundreds of thousands of individual crayons, american artist herb williams is one of the few individuals who has an account with crayola. he orders each color of crayon necessary for a piece, all individually packed (3000 to a case). williams is interested in identifying objects that society perceives to associate with one role, and reintroduces them into different subtexts. with a desire to produce pieces on a grand scale, his most recent work is ‘unwanted visitor: portrait of wildfire‘, an outdoor installation on display at the national ranching heritage centre in lubbock, texas. the five free standing sculptures which are meant to emulate fires and flames – reminiscent of a wildfire. they have been created to raise awareness of wildfires in an area that has been severely affected by drought, each of the pieces is composed of crayola crayons. because of their wax content, they begin to melt and change shape in the unpredictable outdoor conditions in which they stand. their transformation is affected by blowing wind and dry conditions, much like those that affect the intensity and duration of real wildfire. through the construction process, williams bonds the paper – not the wax – to the internal structure he has carved or cast to completely envelope the shape. the structures range in height from three feet to eight feet.

alternative view of the sculpture installed at the national ranching heritage centre in lubbock, texas

image © ashton thornhill

artist herb williams constructing one of the sculptures image © ashton thornhill

attaching crayons to the internal structural form image © ashton thornhill

hard at work images © ashton thornhill

image © ashton thornhill

image © ashton thornhill

transporting the finished works to the site of installation image © ashton thornhill

installation in progress image © ashton thornhill

one of the finished sculptures image © ashton thornhill

comparison of maquette #1 melting over the course of a month

melting of maquette #2

sand base adds interesting visual affect and change of how the wax dries

study models

sketch of the five wildfire shapes installed

via colossal