Long before our “Let’s Do the Time Warp” Dance-a-thon was conceived, artistically inclined volunteer Patrick Diaz had an idea for a three-scene carousel sculpture for 826LA.

This early in the sculpting phase of the dance-a-thon trophy by volunteer Patrick Diaz.

After countless hours of planning, revising and carving, Patrick is putting the finishing touches on what has evolved into trophies that will be handed out to the grand prize winners of 826LA’s first dance-a-thon (top fundraising individual, the top fundraising team, Best Dancer, and the People’s Choice) this Saturday, October 18 at The Unique Space.

“To paraphrase Ernest Hemingway, 826LA is a fine place and worth dancing for,” Patrick said.

Inspired by Disneyland’s Carousel of Progress, the trophies are a sculptural dramatization of Kimeru and the Ultimate Danceoff, a story students created from one of 826LA’s Storytelling & Bookmaking field trips, wherein students create three pages of text ending on a cliffhanger, allowing each student to craft his or her own ending. Each book earns a stamp of approval from Barnacle & Barnacle Publishers.

“I had been working on an animation for 826LA to promote the Storytelling & Bookmaking field trip,” said Patrick, who started the sculpture in mid-August. “It was a two-minute dramatization of the story of Kimeru, a kitten-mermaid-unicorn who loved to dance and carried around a boom box. The cliffhanger of the story was a danceoff against an army of sharks who had invaded his family castle and poisoned his birthday cake! It was a perfect alignment of circumstance to bring those two separate ideas together for the trophy. It was perfect to use the story of Kimeru because there was a lot of dancing in the story, and it tied thematically with Let’s Do the Time Warp.”

The cylindrical trophy is divided into three equal parts, and each section has a shallow relief diorama and narrative text below it on the pedestal, and corresponds to a page from the story, Patrick explained.

The first, shortest page introduces Kimeru. The taller middle page presents the conflict, when a hammerhead shark breaks into the castle and poisons Kimeru’s birthday cake, which causes everyone but him to fall asleep. Finally, the tallest panel is the cliffhanger page, in which Kimeru challenges the sharks to a danceoff.

A closeup view of character Kimeru

A 3D Kimeru breaks out of the page and performs a handstand (or pawstand) atop the trophy.

A work-in-progress Kimeru doing a pawstand

“I used the increasing height to visualize the progress of the story and to literally heighten the drama as it reaches the cliffhanger,” Patrick said, adding that this is his favorite part of the trophy.

“By contrast, the corresponding panels of text on the pedestal of the trophy remains the same size throughout, thus anchoring the expanding dioramas above them,” he added. “Also, the concave panels offered the challenge of how to compellingly depict key scenes in the story with shallow relief sculpture.”

Each panel increases in intensity.

The Barnacle Approved logo and Kimeru’s boom box are Patrick’s favorite individual design elements.

“It is always fun to sculpt in miniature,” he said.

Sculpting Kimeru’s individual fish scales and the text at the base of the trophy was the most difficult part for Patrick, who used his father’s old dentist tools in the making of the sculpture.

“I wanted the letters to be in the same typeface that 826LA uses for the book that they publish for the students. It took a lot of patience and discipline and a steady hand!” he said.

Illustrating on 826LA field trips has also allowed Patrick to hone his skill of speed.

Speaking of skills, Patrick considers himself a great–but shy–dancer, who can perform the entire dance sequence at the end of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video. He’s also partial to The Chemical Brothers’ “Block Rockin’ Beats.”

This isn’t Patrick’s first rodeo. He’s created trophies and awards for his church, MOSAIC, and Habitat for Humanity Greater Los Angeles (he’s volunteered there and other Habitat affiliates across the country for the past four years).

“The experience of designing and sculpting always is instructive and expands my sensibility in graphic design, both in 2D and 3D,” he said. “The only way you truly learn is by doing the work, making mistakes and discoveries. Hopefully, more discoveries than mistakes.”

This is the mold Patrick made from the sculpture to make the resin castings.

Patrick, who was recently hired by Disney, decided not to work for the past four years to focus on his love for service and the compelling need to help others.

Quoting Bengali poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore, Patrick said, “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”

This is the next-to-finished trophy. The the castings will be made of resin with a gold surface.

It’s not too late to buy a ticket for our “Let’s Do the Time Warp” dance-a-thon and see these trophies in the flesh. Your $25 ticket gets you access to an open bar, a photo booth, music from five DJs, and more. Buy your ticket by Friday, October 17 at 4 p.m. PST.