The sister sculpture to the Tree of Light
Part of the idea behind the Tree of Light is bringing separate native villages together in unity and hope for the future. The Tree is a huge part of that, but not the only part. Meet its counterpart, to be installed in another village as a symbolic link between the two:
That's my original sketch of the heart (which will also be printed on the official T-Shirts!) The big keyhole symbolizes the hope that neighboring tribes might open their hearts to each other in times of need, like the floods that hit there in 2009. In my final design below, there's a smaller keyhole above it that visitors can drop an old key into as a gesture of opening their own hearts- sort of like couples who leave locks on the Brooklyn Bridge.
It was designed to be a light sculpture that radiates warm colors from inside of a steel shell. Sort of a warm glow within a hardened heart, if you will :-) Here's how we designed the look of this- flattening all the facets of my 3D model and just drawing over them like you would with paper and a Sharpie. This part is always really fun! Then we can wrap it right back up onto the 3D model, for that fancy render above.
Then I send a cleaned-up version to the fabricators in Taiwan to start cutting and welding! So we digitally transported an idea from my head over to another country where they make it real- sort of like the transporter in Star Trek. Here's some in-progress shots of them putting it all together.
Soon they'll be fitting on the back side and lining the interior with acrylic and lights to install it for all to enjoy! We even designed an oversized ceremonial key- complete with moustache- that will be used for photo ops and publicity at the dedication of this huge heart:
More photos soon as this big beauty becomes a permanent part of the scenery in Alishan.