Jun 17, 2021
On today’s podcast we have Michael Flechtner!
As a child Michael Flechtner was fascinated with electricity, fire
and colored light of all kinds. It could be the stained glass
windows at church, his father testing the Christmas lights on
Christmas Eve and the neon signage in his home town…adorning shop
windows and local drive-ins and movie theatres.
With Flechtner’s background in sculpture(BFA, MFA) , as he began to
learn how to bend neon tubes, it became clear to him through
literally some “wrong turns” that he would be able to create 3
dimensional neon forms in what is primarily considered a 2
dimensional medium. He believes he has a “gift” that enables him to
be able to visualize the finished work and then to create patterns,
jigs, techniques and other devices in order to create these very
“in the round” neon artworks.
Michael would say “I knew that it was very important to develop
sound bending skills and techniques so that my work would survive,
handling, bombarding, and finally assembly and installation.”
And thus over the years, he’s created a number of forms in various
sizes that include sea life, aircrafts, radios, cameras, etc.
The smallest 3D plane he’s made has a 6 inch wingspan and the
largest 3D shark 7 long long. Flechtner says “It is surprising to
me…as well as others how strong these fragile constructions really
are”.
Note for context this episode was recorded in early June of 2020,
it seems so far away, with all that’s happened in between. Let’s
get right to it!
ig: @taminglightning