drawing: Self Portrait in (9in^2) 's

Self Portrait in (9in^2)'s.  22"x30".  Graphite on paper.  2005

Second semester drawing class. 
We had to do a rather large self-portrait one 3"x3" square at a time; we were supposed to keep the rest of the drawing covered while we worked on each square.  The result is a slightly disjointed drawing.  I was flattered when my professor asked to keep my drawing.  I should have let him... I think its been a bit ruined now after years of living in a stack of drawings (I really should have been better about storing my art...  Oh well).

Plaster sculpture: Touch

Touch.  9"x4"x4" ish.  Plaster.  2004

right side

left side

back

bottom

top

touch point detail

another touch point detail

Glass: Canopic jars of the Earth

Canopic jars of the Earth.  Glass, water*, air, soil, fur*, cork, sharpie.  2008
(*not in this photo)

jar toppers

Welwitzia jar.  Glass, soil, and cork.  9"x3". 2008

Scops Owl jar.  Glass, air, cork, sharpie.  9.5"x3". 2008

Mekong Giant Catfish jar.  9.75"x2.75". Glass, water*, cork, sharpie. 2008
(*water not in this photo)

Jaguar jar.  9.75"x3". Glass, fur*, cork, sharpie.  2008
(*fur not in this photo)

This shows the fur, which is real jaguar fur that I inherited.

In Egyptian culture (which I find fascinating and glean inspiration from often) a mummy was buried with four jars, sometimes in a box, that housed their internal organs--called canopic jars.  My glass piece was supposed to be a commentary on the state of the Earth, suggesting that the Earth is headed in the direction of death.  The jars house the "internal organs" that make up the Earth.  Soil, water, air, and living things.

Each jar has a head-piece that is meant to be the likeness of an endangered species that is related to each of the Earth's "organs".  The soil is represented by a Welwitschia plant, which has only two leaves that continue to grow its entire life, and proved to be a hard likeness to create.  The air is represented by an animal of flight, the Scops Owl.  Water, by the Mekong Giant Catfish.  For the living things jar, I used a jaguar headpiece, mostly because I had a piece of Jaguar fur that could be then put inside the jar.  Also, jaguars are cool.

I also drew each "organ's" molecular structure on the jars.  The air has different gases found in the air (the more of the substance, the bigger I drew the molecule).  Water just says "H2O".  The living things jar has a segment of DNA's molecular structure.  And I ended up not putting anything on the soil jar because I couldn't figure out what molecular structure to draw because soil is very complex.  (oh well...).

The jars were blown; the heads were done in blow-molds.
This piece did not see total completion.  The original design included a glass box with four compartments, one for each canopic jar, and a shallow bowl in the very center in which sat the heart scarab (see photos below).  The heart scarab was cast, the bowl was slumped plate glass.  I spent some time studying hieroglyphs; the hieroglyphs on the bottom of the heart scarab do actually say something, though I'd have to riffle through my sketch books to remember what it says (something corny, I'm sure).

The glass box did not get finished.  The piece I tried to present (to the class), used two panes of plate glass that sat in a "plus".  I tried to cut out a curved shape in the top where the shallow bowl and heart scarab sat.  I can't remember if I was successful... I do remember that those panes of glass cracked and broke in half (I'm not surprised.... The cuts I had to make in order for them to attached in a "plus" shape made the glass weak along those lines).

Earth's Heart Scarab.  3"x2" ish.  Glass. 2008

side view

front view

back view

top view

bottom view

Maryland Cufflinks and hindged shell box

Maryland Cufflinks and hinged shell box.  Silver, turquoise, found shell, silk fabric.  2013

Hinged shell box.  2.75"x2.5"x1.5".  found shell (Cape Cod), silver tubing and wire.  2013

Hinged shell box.  back view

Maryland cufflinks:
blue crab & striped bass links (1"x0.75").  Silver.
Set turquoise links.  (0.75"x0.5").  Turquoise and silver.

I wanted to make Chris something special as a wedding gift.  After many failed attempts at a special ring (not a wedding ring), I decided on cufflinks.  Chris is from Maryland and is where we currently live.  Some of the most special experiences I've shared with him here involve adventures on the Chesapeake Bay: crabbing and fishing for striped bass.  Exploits of the water, whether lake or bay, have always been a part of our life together and so I thought the two creatures fitting for a special pair of cufflinks.
Turquoise is a stone that I associate with Chris, as he wears a lot of turquoise-laden item, so it seemed only fitting to include turquoise somehow.  I joined a lapidary guild in order to learn to cut and shape the turquoise.  (Of course I would want to start out learning lapidary skills with an incredibly soft and hard to work with stone!).  

I decided to make a plethora of special items in time for my wedding, including my wedding dress, wedding shoes, gifts for my sister and brother (who stood up with me), and a late birthday gift for my mom.  I near went insane trying to finish all these projects.  I finished these cufflinks the day of the wedding; while my sister drove me to my hair appointment, I was busy trying to set the turquoise stones in their settings.  I was in such a rush that my burnishing tool slipped and I chipped a piece of turquoise off one of the stones.  Ah!
I gifted the cufflinks to Chris before the wedding in hopes that he would wear them.  Unfortunately my design was flawed; the original cufflinks consisted of a single post with the creature one side and the turquoise on the other.  They were too big and wouldn't go through his buttons holes!  I later cut the post in half and fashioned a hook system that has, so far, worked.  I also used epoxy to glue the chip of turquoise back to its mother stone.

Spaceships, dinosaurs and aurora borealis

Spaceships, Dinosaurs, and Aurora Borealis.  16"x24" ish.  Acrylic on canvas.  2005

The story behind this piece is as follows:
A coworker of mine (we were caterers) claimed that the three primary colors were not red, blue, and yellow, but were in fact magenta, cyan, and yellow.  I called b.s. (being an art major and all, I should know, right?).  According to his theory, the color known as "red" could be mixed with two other colors--this was contradictory to everything I had been taught in art classes.  I told him the only way I would be convinced would be to try it out for myself.  The agreement was that I would make him a painting using acrylic paints using only the colors magenta, cyan, and yellow (and white since white can't be mixed with primary colors of paint; interestingly, primary light colors will make white light).  I asked for a painting topic; he said, "I dunno.  Spaceships, dinosaurs, and the northern lights".

It was fun coming up with images that mixed two drastically different time periods: prehistoric and present.  I was particularly pleased with pangea at night as it would look with present day lights.

Of course, in the end I proved myself wrong concerning the primary colors.  I am now convinced that the true primary colors are not red, blue, and yellow, but are in fact cyan, magenta and yellow.
Mixing red and mixing blue was certainly strange at first... But I feel I became a better artist after this painting experience. 

Part of me wishes I still had this painting.  It's one that I feel very proud of.  I think I'll always wonder where it ended up...

triceratops detail

t-rex detail

right side detail

Croquet hat

Croquet hat.  12"x10"x6". Mixed media. 2014

I made this hat as part of an outfit that I wore for the 29th annual St. John vs Navy croquet game.  I was going for "derby-punk" with the hat--it looks a little bit like a mo-hawk from certain angles.  I was also going for big and a little obnoxious, per croquet/derby style!

Spirit of Max

Spirit of Max.  20" x 16" ish.  Acrylic on canvas.  2001-2003

Back in the days of film (wow that seems like a long time ago), on the rare occasion a roll of film would get used twice and result in double-exposed photos (and a feeling of surprise).  This happened to me at least once, and I felt very inspired by the photos that resulted.  I work from some of those photos to create this piece.  Max, my childhood dog, was a wonderful family member;  Just like the double-exposed photos, his spirit could be found all over our house and lives.

Small world

Small world.  8.5"x11". Graphite on paper.  2002?

This is a piece I did in high school.  I gave it to my amazing best friend, Megan, whose photography I found inspiring, and I still find inspiring to this day.

Queen guitar pick reliquary

Queen guitar pick reliquary.  4"x1.5". Nickel silver, silver solder, thread.  2007

back of guitar

the back opens on hinges

the pick (if I had one.... <sigh>) would sit inside--on the left in this photo

guitar stand/ throne

This piece was done for metals class.  The project was to make a reliquary.  I chose Queen, my all-time favorite band.  I decided the reliquary would house a guitar pick, though I do not actually own a Queen guitar pick (a girl can dream, right?).

I tried to incorporate a lot of different Queen-related elements into the piece.  The tablature ("tabs") around the edge of the guitar are the tabs for my favorite part in Bohemian Rhapsody.  The back is, obviously, Queen's symbol.  Inside, the crown is another of Queen's symbols.  I also wanted to include images of each member of Queen. For the three live band members, I decided to use the faces from the "Hot Space" album cover--purely for aesthetic reasons, not for any reason related to the music on that album.  Freddie, may he rest in peace, has a special place in the heart of the guitar.  (though, unfortunately I made a design error when deciding to drill holes in the front in order to peg the threads when stringing the guitar--you can see the thread and pegs sticking out of Freddie inside the guitar.  DAMN!)

This tiny guitar is not functional, though I toyed with the idea of trying to make it so.  There's only so much I could do with a piece this small, however, and the time limit I had. 

the Grinch's Max antler

my dog, Halo, dressed as Max from The Grinch

my dog, Leopold, dressed as Max from The Grinch

I have two dogs, whom I occasionally torture by dressing them in silly things.  This past Christmas season, my husband and I had a holiday party, and I decided that I wanted to dress the dogs up for the occasion.  I thought it would be cute to dress them up as "Max" from The Grinch (one of my favorite Christmas movies/books!).  I sewed the antler and used some wire to give it stability.  Neither dog would stand wearing the antler for any length of time longer than how long it took to take a photo.  Smart dogs. :-P