You can Turn off the sun, he’s Still Going to Shine; Patrick O’Brien
When Life Hands you Lemons, Make Art
“This is the first time I’ve been creative in 20 some years,” Patrick O’Brien told me all about how Reilluminated came to life, “It not only helped me financially but it really helped me through (a) tough time.”
“I moved out here from California and was hired by the largest Harley dealer who hired too many people and had to start letting a lot of us go including me.”
Lights, Camera, Auction?
“It started with an old camera,” Patrick told me about the first project he created.
Patrick had the beautiful idea of taking old objects and giving them a new purpose, “Some people get a little mad, like photographers when they see my camera lamps, but the idea is to take something that is sitting in the closet, not being used, fix it up, and display it somewhere for people to see.”
“I had seen different forms of people turning things into lamps like on Pinterest. I had a couple of old cameras and said lets try it.”
EnLIGHTening Encouragement
“A lot of people on Facebook and friends, said it was the coolest thing ever and so, I took the positive response and went with it.”
Patrick describes his first experience at First Fridays as surreal and one of his most encouraging moments due to the fact that he sold 15 of 18 lamps he brought with him in the first 2 hours of the event.
The Mind of an Artist
Since his first creation he has branched above and beyond cameras, using all kinds of unique objects to create his lamps; model trains, skateboards, musical instruments, and even a hair dryer for a local salon.
He told me some of his favorite lamps he makes are his head lamps but his most memorable lamp he has created was one he personalized from top to bottom for a family who had lost a loved one.
A Beautiful Tribute to Brighten Your Day
“(I was) honored and blessed that I was asked to create a lamp in memory of Brian Rush Loertscher. I added a few details to personalize the lamp that will be given to his wife.”
“The electrical meter and vintage Edison bulb are both items of Brian’s. I used 8 pieces of wire to symbolize the 8 children they have, 5 on the right for the 5 boys and 3 on the left for the 3 girls.”
“This is also set up like a Jacobs ladder, because Brian at the age of 60 went back to school to get his electrical certification. Brian and his wife graduated high school in 1967 at a school in Midway, Utah. Also this was the year they got married. This is what the license plate represents.”
“The numbered dials are set to 0 3 2 1, March 21st is the day Brian passed.”
When I ran into Patrick at the last Frist Fridays event this month he could not wait to show me this creation and tell me all about it.
