If you’re on the hunt for a new creative hobby to wind down with after work, this Irish artist may have just the thing. Over the past three years, Marc Hagan-Guirey has been carefully snipping and gluing paper and fibreboard to create what might be the largest miniature recreation of Springfield, the fictional hometown of the Simpsons family. “I’ve always been employed in the creative sector but my nine-to-five is really corporate,” the artist, who lives in England, told CTV Your Morning on Friday. “So in the evenings I tend to go down in my studio and I build things by hand. That’s just to keep me sane.” Online, he is best known as the PaperDandy, where he posts videos showcasing his diverse portfolio of paper miniatures inspired by cult classics such as Star Wars, The Addams Family, The Amityville Horror and Disney films. For the past few months, his feed has been full of behind-the-scenes videos about the making of Springfield, with each clip focusing on iconic locations from The Simpsons, like 742 Evergreen Terrace, Kwik-E-Mart, Krusty Burger, Moe’s Tavern, and other town favourites. “I really just wanted to make a massive project that could grow my presence,” he said. He was scrolling on Pinterest one night when he came across images of Springfield at night, he said. “I had a really visceral reaction to it. It’s really nostalgic. It’s kind of very comfy. Also, a little bit of sadness there.” It was enough to inspire his next project, which “happened” to take three years, he added. “I wanted to do the map of Springfield right,” he said. He added that planning the layout took time as the geography of the town seemed to change over the course of the series. “So you kind of want to lean into those buildings that are already established and then you ... just got to go with your gut about what else sort of works around it,” he added. The next steps included creating some of the structures in a 3-D program and then just snipping the materials to put them together. His favourite pieces are the Treehouse of Horror buildings. “I grew up around a lot of superstition and folklore,” he said. “So I really love Halloween. .. But I’m really drawn to Moe’s at the moment but I think that’s because it’s a Friday.” For now, the cupboards and wardrobes at his home are stacked with boxes filled with the miniatures but Hagan-Guirey said he hopes to have it all displayed somewhere. “I’m manifesting a little phone call from a certain entertainment company that has a mouse mascot to maybe get in touch and do something together,” he said.
