Making toothpicks into art

"He got it stuck in the palm of his hand and couldn't get it out," his mother Harlene Backman said. "We had to go to the hospital and finally they got it out."

As a result, Backman quit his new hobby.

While attending San Francisco State University in 1984, Backman had the choice of taking a final exam or making a project. He turned in a San Francisco cable car made out of toothpicks.

"I made the cable car and the rest is history," Backman said.

Soon, Backman decided to build a toothpick sculpture of the Golden Gate Bridge. He started in January 1985 and 30,000 toothpicks later, in April 1987, Backman had finished his 13-foot replica. The bridge is currently on display at Ripley's Believe it or Not! Museum in Hollywood.

The toothpick bridge earned Backman proclamations from San Francisco mayors Diane Feinstein, Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom.

"He's very cleaver. In fact, the mayor said he's a genius," his mother said.

Today, Backman, 38, is starting to work on a two-and-a-half-foot replica of the Empire State building to be displayed in the Empire State Building from March through May of next year and enjoys a lifetime supply of glue and free toothpicks to create his sculptures.

"As an artist myself, I can well appreciate his dedication to the humble toothpick, elevating it to an astonishing art form, stick by stick," Nancy Ellis, his next door neighbor, said.

While his replicas have helped Backman gain notoriety, he has started working on original pieces, exploring the fine art aspects of his work.

His most recent piece, "Unity," is a depiction of the woman of Backman's dreams. Backman sketches out a small drawing of his idea, creating several versions before finding the right one. The idea for "Unity" was drawn on an airplane napkin while Backman was traveling. Once he has a drawing he likes, Backman has the drawing blown up at Kinko's and gets to work. Backman uses needle-nose pliers to change the shape of the toothpicks.

"Steve's second talent is manifested in his excellent marketing skills," Ellis said.

Backman described himself as a one-man show, making the art and doing the public relations work around it. His Web site, www.toothpickart.com, averages 50,000 hits per month from all over the world. He has 15 to 20 one-and-a-half-inch binders filled with e-mails from people, copies of published articles and even a note from President Bush.

Although his pieces can take weeks of 10 hour days, Backman wants to do everything himself. He takes an extreme amount of pride in what he does. Backman even keeps photos of his pieces in his wallet since he doesn't have kids.

"How many people do what I do?" Backman said. "I don't want to be cookie cutter."