Art school is ending for the year, and assessment is in a few weeks. Hence I have been busy finishing work for sculpture class. One project has been based on the theme of animals. To select my animals I used the criteria of habitat (land/sea/air), protective coating (feathers/fur/scale) and typical fate from interaction with humans (encage/entrap/mount). Three animals meet these criteria: sea dragons, owls and deer. Each is presented differently, subject to its own circumstances.
Sea dragons
In some cultures sea horses are eaten, either for culinary or medicinal purposes. This fate may yet befall the sea dragon, as the sea horse population diminishes.Hence I am presenting the sea dragon in a Chinese apothecary context.
Owls
Owls represent wisdom and learning in many cultures. For this work I am using owls to represent a reported episode in Chinese history where attempts were allegedly made to kill all the birds (due to concerns they ate the grain in fields) by making a ruckus and driving them into the sky. Unable to land due to the noise, many birds died. The work shows relief tiles embedded with bird skeletons, a jar of owl fragments, and a set of 4 birds rising from the tile, as a parliament of owls in ghostly white (are they real or are they spirits?). Two flesh coloured bird stand sentry duty.
Deer
Deer are either cute (think Bambi) or wall mounted. My work suggests a ‘deer in the head lights’ .
