Scott Gundersen, a Michigan based artist has turned merely an imagination into reality by creating portraits out of re-purposed wine corks. I am sure many of us randomly think about creating something out of nothing, but artists like Scott have that courage to follow up their imagination and work upon it to make it a reality. He has taken his drawing art to a desirable level of converting wine corks into portrait.

If you see closely the image in your left, you'll notice a stand with thousands of corks in it, in different color tones. And how can we not notice the giant portrait he is working on. Amazing! Well, it calls for a great amount of hard work, patience and of course, talent. And Scott has all three of them.

I am really intrigued by the inspiration of using wine corks as a material to create portraits and many more questions are popping in my mind. Let's ask them to our 'Artist of the week', Scott Gundersen. Also, check out a very cool video about Scott at work below:


Scott, let's start with a brief introduction of yours.

I am a freelance artist and a high school art teacher living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I am married to Jeanne. We just had our first child, Kaia, this past May.


When did you start creating portraits out of wine corks? Why did you choose wine corks only?

I made my first wine cork portrait in 2009, however the idea came two years earlier in the summer of 2007. I had been traveling in Africa, and I was inspired by the resourcefulness of the people I met... They made use of everything they had; reusing items that most people would consider trash; they recycled and created tools, clothing and art out these items. In America, we would call this "up-cycling" but to them it is just common sense to use these things again, their ingenuity was inspiring and made me wonder what things am I throwing away that might be put to good use in my art. Drinking a glass of wine on the way home from that trip I did some sketches in my sketchbook of what a wine cork portrait might look like.


Which was the first portrait that you created?

My first portrait in wine corks was of my wife Jeanne, 46” x 57”3842 wine corks. 2009.
My second and most recent piece is of a friend from Rwanda, named Grace. 66” x 96” 9,217 wine corks. 2010.

Jeanne:











































Grace:




























































What is the source of hundreds of wine corks you use for creating such masterpieces?

Each piece take thousands of corks. For my first piece I collected corks for 2 years before I had about 5,000 corks to sort though to create my piece Jeanne. Once people started see what I was doing the corks came in quicker and quicker. Just this week, a woman from England shipped a box of corks to me that she had been saving for years. A friend has also started a cork recycling program at a local wine shop. With all the corks coming in, I hope to start my next cork portrait this fall.

















































On an average, how many hours does it take you to complete one portrait?

In the video of me creating Grace I estimate it took 50 hours to place the corks, however before I ever put a single cork in place I have a lot of work that needs to be done. I start by photographing my subject and choosing a suitable photo. Then I construct a wood backing for the corks, the wood is painted white and on that I create a charcoal drawing of my subject. After the drawings is done I shoot small nails through the back of the piece using a nail gun. For my piece Grace, I used 17,000 nails. Once the nails are shot though the piece I can then push the corks onto the wood backing to create the portrait.





Share the best compliment you've ever received for your work?

Last year at an art show a small girl, maybe 5 or 6 years old came up to me and told me portrait of Grace was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.


Do you have any dream project?

I would love to do a massive cork portrait. Grace was big, but I would love to go bigger, maybe a huge permanent wall piece for a winery.


Many other artists and our readers would draw inspiration from you. What message do you have for them?

I had plenty of moments when I almost tossed aside the idea of ever trying to make a portrait out of wine corks, but I kept coming back to it, wondering if I could turn the idea in my head into reality. That for me is where the joy comes, in the challenge of seeing if I make these sketches in my sketch book come to life, turning my ideas into reality.


Well, it is the biggest satisfaction to see your idea turning into reality like you did, Scott. Fantastic! We wish you all the very best for your upcoming project!

Visit http://scottgundersen.tumblr.com/.
Scott on Facebook and Twitter.