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About Our Theme
Greg Reynolds, IPMS Santa RosaWith this year's theme, "Crafting Your Dreams", we celebrate the creative side of modeling. Of course all model building is creative, in the sense that the modeler creates an object that did not exist before. But, sometimes the modeler also creates an idea, a dream, that did not exist before. Many modelers "take a break" from the serious business of accurately replicating every nut & bolt of their latest magnum opus, by building something "just for fun". Invariably, this is a work of fiction, where the self imposed "rules" don't apply and creativity has free reign.
In history of scale models, the first were made purely for practical purposes. Hundreds of years ago, architectural and shipyard models enabled designers to precisely communicate with their patrons and an illiterate workforce. Today, we are surrounded by fictional scale models intended to educate, inspire and entertain. These are as familiar to us as Spitfires and are the dreams of creative geniuses like space travel visionary Willy Ley, pioneer special effects artist Ray Harryhausen, science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, and claymation animator Nick Park. Autographs of these and other dreamers who have enriched the modeling universe, grace this year's special awards.
Click on the picture to see a larger image.
The "poster child" for Hobby Expo 2009 is a whimsical flying machine created by Harry Avis. Titled "Inner Space",
I saw it at the IPMS Seattle Spring Show in April, 2008. What attracted me to this model, and the reason
I choose it to symbolize our theme, is that beyond the obvious pure creative fun that it expresses,
Harry modeled himself participating in his dream. It evokes the old rhetorical conundrum, "Which is the
dream and which the dreamer?" GR
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