The Final Four

Alticoloa
wood/wire/cloth/metal/found objects
14" x 32" x 6"

Recently my friend Sally called me with an unusual story. She said that while she was outside her house she say an owl flying over her barn. She noticed that it dropped something on the roof. The creature quickly fled behind it. After a couple of viewings, Sally identified the creature as a ring tailed cat. Not something that is often seen in Santa Fe.

She thought I might be interested in hearing about her new border...and as a result, I researched the cat and created my own interpretation of it. Seen here, it is stalking something in the bushes, most likely a mouse.


Tippelskirchi
wood/wire/cloth/metal/found objects
22.5" x 21" x 6"

While completing my menagerie of creatures of curiosity, I knew that I wanted to build something that was tall and awkward. Nothing came to mind.

Recently I was thumbing through a magazine.In it I saw a picture of a giraffe. It reminded me that many years ago, while traveling across Africa, I has seen running giraffes in a game park. What struck me at the time was how graceful these strange animals where. It was as if someone were running on stilts. I decided that this was the animal that I wanted to add to my collection of creatures.

The first thing I made was the body. Then I built the four legs and neck out of an assortment of painted sticks. Once these were attached to the body, I screwed some more sticks and painted metal to the back and neck. Next I roughed out the shape of the head from a bundle of sticks. then I attached it to the neck, adding the eyes, ears and horns. For the hoofs, I cut apart a mountain bike tire. These pieces were wired to each foot. Finally several metal scraps were hung off the piece.


Mystax
wood/wire/cloth/metal/found objects
23" x 14" x 8"

This little guy was the last piece completed for the show. He is looking around,checking every thing out. He's kind of tired, having just spent the last hour being chased by a wild coyote.


Sauveli
wood/wire/cloth/metal/found objects
25" x 21" x 10"

This porcupine has blue tinted quills. The base I used was part of a fire tool kit. It seemed like the perfect pedestal for this guy.

These are the final four sculptures for my show.

3 Rabbits

Have you ever watched a rabbit run? It goes through quite a few configurations. This piece captures three different running gestures of one rabbit.

This piece was inspired by seeing "The "Bathers," a series of four sculptures that Matisse made over a period of at least a dozen years. (When I was a kid, my father bought all of the Time/Life series of books on famous artists. I can remember seeing these sculptures that Matisse made of the back of one of his models.) As he progressed with each piece, it became simpler, and by the fourth one, it was almost totally an abstract interpretation of a woman's back.

The other important inspiration in making the three poses of a running rabbit was from looking at the work of the photographer, Eadweard J. Muybridge. I have continued to be fascinated by his photographs capturing the movement of animals and humans.

Another Dog

Here is my interpretation of a running dog. It feels like he is flying more than running. Along the way he has accumulated an odd assortment of flotsam and jetsam.

February Show

My friend Rupama gave me an old croquette set, thinking that I could use parts of it for an installation. This dog is what came from using what she gave me. He sits on the croquette case with a ball nestled under him.(you can still faintly see the writing on the crate.)