Some great things in life are actually the miniature version of other successful normal-sized things.
- Mini Chocolate bars
- Action figures
- Mini shampoo bottles
- Pocket dictionaries
- lap dogs
- kittens
Likewise some of the most valued art around is the kind that pays attention to detail. You can't even begin to grasp the amount of concentration and persistence needed to complete such work. Honestly, it's quite fascinating to look at. And so our journey of mini-art begins! This will be the 1st post of a series, each post will feature an artist who has done amazing, original, and innovative miniature art.
My first mini-art post will revolve around my main inspiration for writing this series of posts in the first place: the sculptures of artist Dalton M. Ghetti... on the tips of pencils!
A Brief Profile (taken directly from
daltonmghetti.com)
Born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Came to the U.S. in 1985 at the young age of 24.
Earned an Associate’s degree in Architecture from Norwalk Community Technical College, Connecticut, U.S.A. in 1994.
Works as a carpenter/house remodeler.
Self-taught artist: “Sharpens” pencils as a hobby/meditation.
Currently lives in Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.A.
For a full biography, follow this link
here.
The longest Dalton has ever taken to finish a piece was two and a half years, and it was doing this one with the interlinking chains. The reason for that is that he works on the pencil-tip sculptures as more of a hobby and doesn't spend more than two hours a day working on them.
He says: “The interlinking chains took the most effort and I was really pleased with it because it’s so intricate people think it must be two pencils”
Dalton's tool's aren't anything extraordinary, he uses a razor blade, sculpting knife, and sewing needle. His mother was a seamstress, and she taught him how to use a sewing needle at an early age, which explains how it ended up among his three basic tools.
“I use the sewing needle to make holes or dig into the graphite. I scratch and create lines and turn the graphite around slowly in my hand”
Ghetti's pieces aren't for sale, it goes against his reasons for making them to sell them. He does them for
himself, not for anyone's approval. Working on them relaxes him, his art is
"a form of meditation and enrichment of the soul" for him, like it is for many other artist professional or amateur alike. And he thinks of his art as a gift, nothing to profit from, he either keeps them or gives them to his friends as presents.
Another reason Dalton doesn't take on clients and paid commissions is because of the utter fragility of the work he does. He has broken many a pencil tip while working on it, and it's frustrating. Graphite is a brittle material to be sculpting into detailed forms and it could snap if one is too hasty.
"Now, if I am working on a paid commission with a deadline, that brings added pressure to this very tender process of sculpting a pencil. And that pressure may cause me to work too fast which can result in mistakes and breakage."
Actually Dalton keeps all his failed and broken creations, calling it "The Cemetery Collection" because as he put it:
"I worked on them for months so they might be dead now but at one point I gave them life."
Dalton sees a lot of waste in the world, and all his pencil art is a recycling process of discarded pencils thrown on the streets or in the trash. In fact his very first pencil sculpture was with a pencil he found lying on the sidewalk.
"I took it and gave it a new life."
