I recently had the great honor of meeting Willard Wigan, a brilliant artist who calls his meticulously constructed works “micro-sculptures”. Over the course of three to six months, he puts himself in a trancelike state to create microscopic sculptures with the eyes of needles, heads of pins, and other insanely tiny spaces. I first saw him on Conan O’Brien:

Needless to say, I was highly impressed. I immediately checked out his website to learn more, and learned his great personal story of overcoming a harsh childhood to become a great artist whose worked is owned by everyone from Prince Charles to Mike Tyson. He gave a great presentation at this year’s TED conference as well:

Learning more about Wigan’s work makes it seem even more special and personal. He’s an enormously witty artist, always coming up with clever ways to twist his materials, like making the lines on a ship out of spider webs, or placing most of the characters from Peter Pan on a hook:

After spending quite a bit of time reading about Wigan’s work, I got a chance to check out his show when it stopped in Houston. It’s incredible to see his work on TV or in print, but it’s even more shocking in person, when you can actually see the tiny specks in front of you before putting them under the microscope to see the full picture. I couldn’t believe what I saw, and then got an even bigger shock when I left the gallery to see Wigan standing outside drinking a smoothie! Turns out he’s travelled with his show over most of this year and loves meeting the people who see his shows. He’s a really warm, friendly guy who happily signed my book and even offered to walk across the street to take a picture with me because the light was better there.

If you’re in the Atlanta or Washington DC area, make sure you check out his show. It’s a rare opportunity to see work by one of the most awe-inspiring artists working today, and chances seem pretty good that you’ll actually get to meet him!