Rollin' Through AVAM

Artist Scott Weaver recently unveiled his San Francisco-inspired toothpick sculpture—34 years in the making!—at AVAM, where it's on display until September 2012 as part of the All Things Round exhibition. What began as a fourth-grade school project has become a sprawling piece constructed out of more than 100,000 toothpicks. "Rolling Through the Bay" includes depictions of Bay area landmarks (Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, etc) and Weaver's personal iconography (family-owned businesses, clocks with the times he and various family members were born), along with various labyrinths for ping-pong balls to roll through the nine-foot sculpture. Weaver, who demonstrated the various routes taken by those ping-pong balls (see video above), noted that his wife is thrilled the piece is out of their living room. It's not surprising that Weaver has won national competitions for his gigantic, meticulously-constructed Christmas light displays.