Brattleboro, Vermont - February 21, 2011
Shane O'Brien is only 14 and already showing his artwork at a museum.
"Since it's an art museum I thought of the most famous art I could think of-- Mona Lisa popped in my head. I made the design and set it up," O'Brien said.
And so she was created with a new medium-- dominoes. O'Brien is one of four creators of a complex domino course at the Brattleboro Museum. Although two are brothers-- Steve and Mike Perrucci-- they all just started the same way-- with a simple set of dominoes.
"I got a set and another set and another set and then I got more and more dominoes and here I am," O'Brien said.
"After we started getting into it professionally we decided we needed a nicer kit," Steve Perrucci said. "So we shopped around and dominoes are really expensive, so we decided to make them. All of these are handmade, hand painted and cut out of sheets of wood."
The foursome has been working on the course for three days-- what will be over in just 5 to 8 minutes. They each have their own section to complete, which they say is a balance of both science and art.
"Not everybody does the same thing," Mike Perrucci said. "Some people are good at Popsicle sticks and stick bombs and some people are good at mosaics, everybody has their area of expertise."
Reporter Gina Bullard: What's your area?
Mike Perrucci: Just... randomness.
"That yanks the screen out and then once I release the safety it will all fly out and start going at the speed of light," Aidan Finnegan explained.
The creators of the course even added WCAX into their creation, with 20 hours of work and 20,300 dominoes.
They don't just set up dominoes in art museums, they also do it at home and put their videos on YouTube. But when you're doing something this big with hundreds of people watching-- what's the worst case scenario?
"Nothing stops, don't have to restart it-- have to walk the course-- the walk of shame-- knock it over again," Mike Perrucci said.
"It's a relief," O'Brien said. "I'm scared of it falling down too early and with all the kids crowding around and everything I'm going to be freaking out-- get away from the dominoes."
"I'm in construction, so this is a labor of love I suppose," Steve Perrucci said.
For more domino toppling videos:
www.mazeguy.net
www.youtube.com/shanesdominoez
Gina Bullard - WCAX News
