Xix (or the struggle)

Xix
Cloth/metal/wood/foam/found objects
33" x 25" x 8"

This small antelope, Xix, was just finished in preparation for my show in February at the Jane Sauer Gallery, in Santa Fe. This is the third solo show that I will be having with Jane. Earlier shows have been great successes, which puts pressure on me to make even better work for this upcoming show,

Right now I'm in my studio, looking out my window at a just completed running canine. It started off (like every other piece) with high expectations and happy memories of easily building another piece. The reality turned out to be quite different. Right from the beginning its been a difficult process. I've had to redo, re-carve, redesign and remake every part of it, from the head to the feet, and lastly, when I thought I was done, I had to totally remake the base! Its like I've made the piece over and over again.

This is a first...I've never had such trouble completing a piece. But its done and sitting in my back yard waiting for the final process, the applying of the patina. At this moment,with everything that's happened, I think best thing for both of us to spend a little time apart.

Public Installation

My gallery dealer, Jane Sauer, got the state of New Mexico to purchase one of my sculptures for its Art in Public Places program. A large flying bird was purchased for a new animal shelter in Grants, New Mexico.

About a week ago I drove to Grants, which is two hours away from Santa Fe. The two employees that worked there were fascinated by the piece. After spending some time with them and explaining my idea's and background, they totally got it. They started telling me stories about the bird, where it had come from and how it was able to survive. What fun to have such a positive response to the work.

SOFA Chicago

I completed my installation of Creatures of Curiosity at the SOFA Chicago Art Fair in November. I had a twelve foot wall to work with-plenty of room to mount the lettering, the artist statement and the nine pieces.

With all the planning and thought that went into the presentation and all that room, the work attracted a lot of attention during the four day fair. Many people remembered my work from the year before. But I was most amazed that they were able to see the progression in it. (These new pieces are more complex, elaborate and some of the creatures have become more fanciful.)

Five pieces sold and I got one commission, which I am working on right now. My solo show at the Jane Sauer Gallery will start in mid February. I want to have at least fifteen creatures for that show. I'd better get busy!

Dicactylus

Besides wandering the arroyos and hills around Santa Fe, accumulating old rusted and weathered material, I recently found another great place to both find inspiration and gather objects for my sculptures. It is called Habitat For Humanity and they sell used building products. Just about every day there is something different to be found in the bins. I'm spending more and more time there-it's turned into my portable studio or laboratory.

Last week I was looking in the row that sold old electrical lights and discarded wire. It got me thinking about creatures that have distinctive hair...and then I saw this bunch of old white electrical wire. I've never used wire before but it looked so expressive and evocative that I couldn't resist getting it. (I must have been a junk dealer in a past life.)

This creature is part of the group called Creatures of Curiosity. His magnificent tail incorporates my latest find...and next week, well, I've been eying this old steamer trunk.

Dicactylus
wood/wire/cloth/foam/found material
18.5" x 26" x 9"

Creatures of Curiosity - Statement

Unicorn horns, mermaid skeletons, stuffed and preserved animals and plants, insects in amber, lenses, and obscure scientific instruments - these were just some of the contents of what were called Cabinets of Curiosity. First assembled in 16th century Europe, these "rooms of wonder" became the earliest museums, where diverse collections of oddities from around the world could be seen in one place. Sumptuous accumulations of unknown and unfamiliar objects were assembled in beautifully constructed cabinets, contained in entire rooms displaying artifacts from floor to ceiling.


I think of my constructed creations as present day artifacts that might have been collected and assembled in a Cabinet of Curiosity. Where they came from and what meanings they hold are still unknown. Indicators and clues as to their origins can be found on each creature - but often the markings, materials and methods of construction can be confusing, asking more questions than giving answers. Studied closely, each creature seems to have similar construction patterns, tattoos and indications of tribal identification.


A rabbit poised to spring, wired together with an assortment of old sticks, rags, rusted metal and found objects, is then mounted on a weathered wooden armature. Another almost mythological beast - part rubber robed rhinoceros and part metal cloaked ant eater - is captured mid-stride, his worn underside streaming a strange accumulation of hanging objects. During his journeys this creature has attracted the various talismans to his belly like metal to magnets. Creatures of my imagination...peering felines, quizzical canines, pondering armadillos, miniature running antelope, crawling lizards and crooked wooden birds, beckon you to follow them into the shadows of my own realm of the curiously outlandish and bizarre.

Endangered Species

Indri (pangolin)
wood/metal/cloth/foam/found objects
14" x 16" x 6"

I've seen pictures of the pangolin in books for years. They are curious creatures, a fish-like animal. They are large and act a little like tree sloths. With all their scales I was attracted to them once I started working with old bike tires.

They are found in parts of Africa and Asia and recently have become endangered. They are hunted both for their meat and their scales, which are thought to have medicinal properties.

Desert Dwellers

Thryonomydae

wood/cloth/metal/foam/found objects
21" x 20" x 9"

This creature, based on a horned lizard, is assembled from both black and white bicycle tires, along with a variety of nails, screws and rusted bolts. Around his neck hangs an old paint brush and underneath his body other objects dangle down. The pedestal is constructed from cabinet handles, a wheel, and found hardware.