Celestial Mechanica

It is a very large scale orrery, you know those little brass models of the solar system DaVinci used to make celestial calculations? Mine is originally inspired from the movie dark crystal where Agra had one in her laboratory of their solar system. Well ours is like hers only our Sun and solar system.

What inspired you to make this project?:
The first real inspiration came from the movie The Dark Crystal by Jim Henson that I saw when I was a kid and one of my favorites. There was a steampunk orrery in Ahgra's laboratory and even a chase scene where the Gelfling jumped from planet to planet. I thought what if we made a giant orrery like that but of our solar system? I submitted the idea to the Flaming Lotus girls my 3rd burn but didn't show up and couldn't promote my idea because I had to be somewhere else. Then after watching my friend Charlie Gadeken go through the whole BM honorarium process with his sculpture Helix I was like, I could totally do this project on my own. Well not on my own but as me the lead artist. My first crew had like 40 something people. It took a lot of knowledge, talent and guts to pull this thing off and I certainly did not do it alone. Then we showed it at Burning Man in 2014, Maker Faire 2015 and again at Burning Man 2017. But it's been sitting at the Boxshop for years now and about to be unleashed on the public once again. Thank you Maker Faire Mare Island 2023 for allowing us the privilege to show this beautiful and educational art project out in the world again.

Jessika Wrecca