Encantada
29.5″ circle of bones, porcupine quills on copper tray, 2011
29.5″ circle of bones, porcupine quills on copper tray, 2011
When I’m hiking I often come upon owl pellets. The owl catches its prey (usually a mouse, vole or woodrat) and swallows it whole. Owls cannot digest fur, teeth and bones, so the following day, before he goes in search of his next meal, he coughs up a pellet. I collect the pellets, dissect, clean and sort the bones and make bone mosaics out of them.
31″ x 16″, bones from my cats in wooden rising bowl, 2015
When my beloved tomcats Catalpa, Chacho and El Capitán died I buried them and painted gravemarkers for them. A few years later I was thinking of their beautiful skeletons hidden beneath the ground and decided to dig them up and make something out of their bones. A memento mori to celebrate their lives.
12″ x 24″ x 2.5″, bones found in owl pellets in antique rising bowl, 2012
18″ x 10″, porcupine quills, bones, rattle snake skin on soapstone, 2019
25.5″ x 17″, bones in rising bowl, 2006
10.5″ circle, bones, sea urchins, seaweed on wooden plate, 2019
38″ x 14″, bones in rising bowl, 2006
38″ x 14″, bones in rising bowl, 2006
23″ circle, bones in copper tray, 2014
42″ x 6″, bones in wooden tray, 2006
8.5″ x 10″, bones in rusty dustpan, 2012
11” circle sea urchins, bones, bettles, lobster and crab claws, dead man’s finger sea sponge on wooden plate, 2019