Fire as Wax

When crayon is used as a medium, it usually means imparting a thin layer of pigmented wax on another surface. When artist Herb Williams uses crayon as a medium, it means the crayons— frequently whole— are fitted together into bold sculptures that somehow simultaneously emphasize and defy the crayons’ uniformity and linearity.

One of his most intriguing pieces of work is an outdoor installation of several freestanding sculptures, unearthly and bizarre. Unwanted Visitor: Portrait of Wildfire is the name of this installation, an ongoing project intended to “educate the public about the causes of wildfire.” Each individual sculpture is unique, a colorful organism that might have been dropped, dollop-like, on the dry Texan landscape. Their bases would have been rooted to the earth, their ends twisted vaguely upwards by errant gusts of wind. Each of the set requires some ­­­­60,000 to 70,000 crayons, the tallest reaching eight feet. It is an organically evolving sculpture, a long-term display that morphs over time as it sits in the sun, melting and morphing. The heat transforms the form of each piece as it cracks and slumps, gathering a expert predictions today molten mantle about its feet as it melts, colors mingling and mixing, then re-hardens as it cools overnight. In some places only the crayons’ empty paper wrappers remain, held in place, perhaps, by melted wax caught in between. Unwanted Visitor was first installed at the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock in the autumn of last year and is as of this writing still there, still changing.

Williams’ installation is designed to react to unpredictable environmental conditions, sensitive to shifts in temperature, humidity, and wind. Small changes in such conditions can mean drastic changes in the nature and appearance of the sculptures. Aside from emphasizing the volatility of wildfire, the sculptures effectively serve as an active reminder of the fact that it is not the only thing that is so; just because something is large or powerful does not mean it is immovable, unchangeable, permanent. A greatly altered appearance, too, is no good indicator of its basic nature. Most things seen at any particular moment will be there one moment and gone the next, but it will be back again, though perhaps not in exactly the same way.