Mixed media (spheres, optical fibre, LED light source)
Fagin’s Urchins was created specifically for the formal Reflection Pool in the Martin Boxwood Gardens at Cheekwood Estate, Nashville Tennessee. As often happens when I see a space, I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to create. The placing of the illuminated spheres close to the waterline creates the illusion of ten Lilliputian worlds at night. The name for this installation comes from Charles Dickens’s novel Oliver Twist. Half a dozen sludge-coloured, semi-translucent 600mm acrylic spheres were rescued from a skip, and like Dickensian street urchins they needed a home. Their transformation to urchin of the sea variety was inspired by adding a fuzz of fibre optic spikes to the spheres’ surfaces.
