The Fantastic Creatures Series
The Kraken
2006 | fabric, clay, sequins | 43” x 18”
This is the first of my Fantastic Creatures series. The giant squid has long been incredibly shy and elusive. It has only been recently that they have even been filmed in the wild. It’s no wonder this creature has been the source of many legends and stories for hundreds of years. Here I’ve depicted him as the enormous creature that destroyed the Nautilus in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.
Vespertilio Homo—Moon Hoax
2007 | wood, leather, fabric, paint, gilding, clay | 14” x 22” x 7”
In 1835, The Sun, a newspaper printed in New York City, published an early example of “yellow-dog” journalism (sensational articles not properly researched, or even just completely made up, specifically to sell papers). They wrote that British astronomer Sir John Herschel had spied life on the Moon with his new telescope. One race of life-forms were people covered in copper-colored fur with bat-like wings. They happily flew around all day, except when they were sitting cross-legged on the ground eating a yellow gourd-like fruit. The series of six articles made The Sun the largest-selling newspaper in the world.
The Mothman
2007 | wood, leather, fabric, paint, clay, metal | 20” x 26” x 5”
This strange creature was sighted in the Charleston and Point Pleasant areas of West Virginia between November 1966 and December 1967. The creature was sporadically reported before and after those dates, with some sightings as recent as 2005. The Mothman was seen often until the collapse of the Silver Bridge on December 15, 1967, when 46 people were killed. Some feel the Mothman was involved in the disaster in some way, while others say he was just a warning or omen of the calamity.
The Dog-Headed Folk
2006 | wood, leather, fabric, paint, gilding | 6” x 27” x 6”
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville was published In France in the 1300s. The book told of the adventurer Mandeville, his travels in Asia and the Far East and the amazing things he saw there. Not only are his reports questionable, but there is speculation he never even existed. But, he reportedly saw some incredible things, including the race of people depicted here—the Dog-Headed Folk.
The People Who Have But One Leg
2006 | wood, leather, fabric, paint, gilding | 14” x 28” x 5.5”
This piece shows another of the races of people Sir John Mandeville encountered in his travels. I thought that people with only one leg would often have their arms out for balance.
The Jersey Devil
2007 | wood, leather, fabric, paint, gilding, clay | 12” x 23” x 12”
The Jersey Devil is a legendary creature said to inhabit the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey. Supposedly, in the 18th century, a woman who already had 12 children with a less-than helpful husband, became pregnant with her 13th child. She cursed the unwanted child, and shortly after birth it turned into the creature you see here and flew up the chimney. There have been sightings ever since that time. The most occurred in 1909, when thousands of people reported seeing the creature. People still see the creature, with the most recent reported sighting in 2002.
Tanuki
2007 | wood, leather, fabric, paint, clay, metal | 9” x 23” x 9”
An indigenous animal to Japan is the raccoon dog, or tanuki. The most prominent trait of this animal is its unusually large testicles. The figure depicted here is the yokai (supernatural monsters, spirits, and demons) version, Tanuki, a shape-shifter and trickster, though usually more of a prankster. He can become any object he wants by pulling his ball sac up over his body. The only catch is the object always has a tail.