“Pirates” exhibit is artist’s labor of love By pittsburgca.net

“Pirates of the Caribbean” fans shouldn’t miss a whimsical display now appearing at the Pittsburg Museum, created by artist Lindsay Waddell, who dreams of someday working for Disney Studios. The exhibit features life-size depictions of several characters from the popular movie series. The exhibit is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 27 and Nov. 3 and from 1 to 4 p.m. Oct. 31 and Nov. 7. Waddell has been creating art since she was a young girl. The 20-year-old credits her mom for helping to ignite her passion through doll making. Over the years Waddell has taught herself to sculpt figures using all kinds of materials, both ordinary and found, including clay, wire, jewelry, cloth, synthetic hair, dry pasta, paint and even latex gloves. The faces of her intricate figures are the most time-consuming component of Waddell’s art. She first gathers front- and side-view photos of characters and studies them, sometimes for several days. She then makes sketches that will guide her work. She uses clay to shape the faces onto the plastic foam wig holders that serve as the heads of the figures. After the clay sculpting is complete, the artist paints the faces. It could take “a week or more to make one face,” she says. She also constructs the bodies with cardboard, newspaper, duct tape and other items. She uses a glue gun to put everything together – even for the characters’ clothes. “I don’t have a sewing machine,” Waddell says with a laugh. Her favorite figure, the character Davy Jones, was also the most time-consuming to create. Waddell says she first made the face of Bill Nye, the actor who plays Davy Jones in the movies, and then added a mask over that to transform him into the character. Waddell also spent hours creating the tentacles that hang from Davy Jones’ face and body. Last Halloween, Waddell featured her “Pirates” figures in an elaborate display at her home. “I’ve always been fascinated with Halloween,” she says. Based on scenes from the movie “Dead Man’s Chest,” she built a partial replica of a pirate ship and, with chicken wire, sheets of plastic and paint, life-size tentacles of “The Cracken,” a huge sea monster in the film. Waddell even made Aztec coins to hand out to the 800 children who came to her home that night to enjoy the display. Waddell has also constructed figures of late-night TV celebrity Conan O’Brien and the members of The Backstreet Boys. She plans to continue her art by making several more characters from the “Pirates” film series and then will tackle celebrities again, specifically Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe. “It’s just to kind of test myself,” she says. “I learn as I go and it challenges my brain.” Meanwhile, the artist takes good care of her current figures, constantly making adjustments and touching them up. “I’m never really finished with them,” she says.

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