An Exploration of Slugs

My first slug sculpture grew out of a story that wasn’t even about slugs, but rather someone smuggling snails under her shirt. It gave me a reason to sculpt a female figure that wasn’t just about gazing at the female body. Slugs replaced snails because I found them more visually sleek and appealing. And from there, my interest in slugs grew, and ideas abounded for how to use them in sculpture. Almost immediately, I discovered that people react to slugs very viscerally, and usually not nicely. I found it curious. What about this little creature elicited such disgust? Currently, I’m working on a series to explore these questions and how they fit into our relationship to and understanding of nature.

Hares

Consisting of seven fancifully coiffed rabbits, the “Hares” series represents resistance to stereotype and celebrates individual expression even within the confines of conformity. Each in the series is sculpted from clay and fired to its final temperature with a unique underglaze pattern before being smoked together in smoldering sawdust. The smoke adds to each rabbit’s unpredictable, individual markings. 

Dermistidae

The Dermestidae series explores the contradiction of the magnificent, architectural beauty of skulls found in nature with the disgust most of us inherently feel about the process of decay that breaks down life into object. The skull is carved from clay and decorated with bone cleaning beetles spotlighted graphically to make them palatable, thus accessible.

Creatures