Sculpture Lineage ~ My Sculptural Family Tree
Spring 2013 through Autumn/Winter 2015
Chapter 1 of 6
I sat down one day (Springtime/March of 2013) after a decade's hiatus from Sculpting and began a wax modeling session; I was 'playing' as it emerged, it intrigued and inspired me to go further... After its completion I wrote an accompanying story (it came to me). 'The Mushroom Bender' began it all in so far as this sculpture-style currently. In Graduate school (1989/90-91) my style was more contemporary, mixed-media, welded-steel and cast-glass. From 2001-2003 I did classical sculptures, i.e., a life-sized bust of Rilke, a half-life sized statue of Zeus, a pedestal-sized sculpture of Child Neptune ('born' in Holland & England), an Egyptian Pharoah and a life-sized statue of a mermaid's child. For this Family Tree, I start with 'The Mushroom Bender'.
*Please Note: some photos herein are meant to be casual in the sense of a journal-entry-style of presenting ‘The Family Tree’ in this section of the website, so, some will be photos of the original wax sculptures/studio-process-shots I took and did not super-refine. Thank you for visiting Parallel World.
‘The Mushroom Bender’
March, 2013
‘What’s a Mushroom Bender?’, asked a fairy child to a toad and the old swamp toad croaked, “My, my, little one, you really don’t know? Are you an orphan?” Astonished by the old toad’s intuition, the fairy child replied, ‘Why yes I am! How did you know?’, “Well”, said the toad, “Everyone in Fairyland knows that it’s obligatory by Fairy Law that all parents tell their children who, what, why, how, where and what for is a Mushroom Bender and since you’re clueless, then, you must be what we toads call, a ‘Single Snowflake’. Blushing, the child shyly said, ‘Won’t you tell me, won’t you please?’ “Well”, said the toad, “I suppose I can, after all, I’m the mayor of this ridiculously un-lonesome swamp and as Mayors go, we’ve got our civil duties to tend and there’s no better time to tend than after a question has been asked that this Mayor already has the answer to.”
The toad mayor leaned back on his haunches, scratched his belly with his chin and commenced the explanation of the Mushroom Bender, while the ‘single snowflake’ sat on a pine nut listening in awe. “Well, here it goes, I may be a little rusty, it’s been awhile you know, we toads don’t have to explain all this to our children, that’s not to say that we don’t when the Toadstool Fairies don’t. Ok, the Mushroom Bender goes way back, ‘back to front’ some say; it isn’t a ‘he’ or a ‘she’ as far as anyone can collectively say, it has no preferences that point to being a prince or a princess, many have tried to coax it into choosing from this or that specific treasure chest of goodies, particularly the various fairy factions who’d love to adopt it for their mascot… Well, as they all learn as others before them have, every treasure chest burns, that’s what a Mushroom Bender does to a treasure-lure to try and reveal its gender identity, it simply burns it. See, the Mushroom Bender must keep everyone guessing and for good reason, that way no one can draw any conclusions to its motives other than the obvious pointing to those dark-actions of their own that’s being humbly pointed out through the bent mushroom omen.
The Mushroom Bender is an omen bringer, a messenger of Good-will and hard work, a soft heart and a keen sense of shadow-discernment, you know, the fairy psyche is one of the hardest to judge in the light of what’s best for it’s forward growth. If decidedly nothing else, then the Mushroom Benders are at least an ancient clan of voiceless psychologists... The Mushroom Bender goes around at night bending a specific number of mushrooms, depending on the magnitude of the offense that’s come to its attention. The more bent mushrooms, the more urgent it is for the Fairy village folk to reconcile whomever it is that’s up to no good. The Mushroom Bender wears disguises; pin-on fox tails, skull hats, overcoats, Dutch shoes on one pair of legs and boxing gloves on another, it’s all very ‘Mad Hatter’ some say, that way if it is accidentally seen doing what it does, no one’s stories of its identification matches. It changes its costume for each mushroom. At one time the villagers thought there was a clan of Mushroom Benders, but an elderly snail’s keen powers of observation straightened that one out…
There was a great fuss some time ago as to how the Mushroom Bender bent the mushroom, many tried to bend them and the mushrooms simply broke. It was Sauerkraut, a famous tomato horn worm that finally broke his silence and told everyone that his league has known for thousands of years how it was preformed and if the fairy garden club would vow never to dispose of another hornworm and establish them their own private plants to devour, that he’d disclose it in exchange for such a binding favor.
Well, you know how fairy folk ruminate over what they ought to know and don’t, it drove them a little nutty, see, because they’re also a bit coo coo over pristine tomato plants; to reconcile a comfortable balance in such a compromise was a rather horrendous affair and for the sake of your budding innocence I won’t go there today…
After a long time, say about an hour, they unanimously decided to draft a Right of Passage to the Hornworm Clan and thus was born Hornville Gardens, as you know it today.” ‘I love Hornville!’ exclaimed the fairy child, wiggling and laughing, its crystalline dragonfly wings softly clinking against one another in unison to its clapping hands, ‘Tell me more! Please, please!’ “Ok”, answered the old toad.
“So, the hornworm revealed that every Mushroom Bender knows exactly where a mushroom is going to appear, so it goes to that spot and waits. As the mushroom grows, the Mushroom Bender gently presses diagonally on it, in the direction and angle of bend it wishes it to grow, that’s it. There are Bent Mushroom Readers too, fairy’s especially trained to read the intricate subtleties of ‘the bend’, its a cyphering all unto itself. And ‘yes’, to everyone’s surprise, the newly educated fairies got some fairy-glitter-kudos from the worm’s explanation, namely, that there’s more than one Mushroom Bender, though, only one per continent.
Once again, nobody knows where this little fella comes from, but we do know they are sprites because they exhale phosphorus, my cousin Rombushey detected that one on a very cold night while collecting microscopic ice crystals that had fallen on a bent mushroom site and all subsequent ones afterward. Toads collect minuscule oddities, particularly retired toads and although I’m not retired, I’ve hammered out enough spare time to amass a beautiful collection of flea eye lashes.
Well, ahem, back to it: some say that the Mushroom Bender Clan meets once every 500 years and only on floating ice sheets that contain one or more pregnant polar bears whom are ‘nesting’ there. It all seems very odd, especially since most sprites abhor floating land masses but I am certain that if asked the Polar Bear Queen would put out any doubt that this meeting place is an act of senselessness, it’s just not in the Mushroom Bender’s character to be such, well, at least when it comes to floating-meeting-places in the Arctic.
Mushroom Benders can be rascally, they’ve even left critiques for the Fox Clan from time to time; a most embarrassing but humbling relationship those two clans have.
Well, single snowflake, I believe that’s it… Hummm, let’s see, ah, yes, the morale of the story, ‘If you find a bent mushroom, don’t try and straighten it, because it belongs to a fairy’s unexamined conscience; sound your mushroom horn, gather your elders and gently coax the veiled fairy or fairies whom are veiled in shadow up from the dark and into your light of unconditional love, understanding and forgiveness.’
Dimensions ~ 7.25" tall x 4.25" deep x 4" wide.
‘The Pinecone Fairy’s Daughter’
February/March, 2013
The Pine-cone Fairy’s daughter is shown just born; a hummingbird dragon alights on her head, it’s wearing a crown of protection and guidance with a crow head on top that holds a snake in its mouth, symbolizing firmness in duty and abundance to the industrious. She has one eye open towards the heart on a spoon and one eye closed, showing the vulnerability of unconditional surrender and need and ‘The Unconscious,’ that mystery of mysteries that unfolds as she develops her personality. The heart is partly ethereal in nature and akin to strawberries and persimmons, her first ‘food’ from Gaia, always set upon a wooden spoon carved by carpenter pixies of the Rainbow Lands and always delivered by a forest or valley dwelling gnome and Keeper of the Peace.
Dimensions ~ 7.50" long x 4" wide x 2.25" tall
‘Catawalrus & Company’
Early 2013 (Feb/March)
A Catawalrus is part caterpillar, walrus and triceratops. Her newly arriving sprite visitors are riding a Unicorn-seahorse-slug. Asleep on the beach and unbeknown to them (mistook for a large piece of driftwood in the shade) they slowly rose up and over her. Once they're halfway across, she gently turns to see who it is that’s slinking across her. She’s pleased to make their acquaintances and they hers.
Dimensions ~ 7" Wide (Approx.) x 9" Long x 6.5" Tall
‘The Ecstasy of a Newborn’
April/May 2013
This is a figurative study focusing on pure emotion and vulnerable revelations of virility. A newborn, wide eyed and licking the air for the first time.
Dimensions ~ 6" tall x 5" deep x 4" wide
‘The Sprite Of Cobra Eggs’
April, 2013
This Sprite is the Caretaker of Cobra Eggs, sacredly and magically making sure they do not hatch as alligators or turtles. A perfectly balanced egg stands as her throne-base, while a cobra head looms behind her. She has gecko hands and hovers, similar to The Swamp Fairy-Queen’s method of getting around. She lovingly holds a cobra egg in her tentacles, which are half leg-like and tentacle. She has two belly-buttons (something very common for Sprites to possess) and is pregnant. Her wings are similarly ‘stacked’ like dragonfly wings, but are closer to the bumble bee’s wings’ shape and method of flight. her crown symbolizes a connection to the Egyptian culture, the sun, moon and land.
I sculpted and cast a pewter egg-holder for this sculpture in 2021/22". The bronze (sun) and pewter (moon) feel to be complimentary alloys, presentation wise.
Dimensions ~ 8” Tall x 5” Wide x 5” Deep
‘Unokeeth’
April/May 2013
A maternity-goddess and Gaian priestess of Eden. A conjurer of dream revelations specific to influences upon a child while in the womb.
A goddess and Gaian priestess of Eden or womb. A conjurer of dream symbolism specific to the quality of the embryonic environment while the human was forming, that pregnancy influence upon the child originating from the quality of relationship between mother and father, cultural stresses, the mother’s state of mind and nutritional health, as well as after birth.
The mask she displays on her back is part of her anatomy, like a burl on a tree; it symbolizes unconscious influences imprinted upon the infant’s core self from inception forwards, as in ‘the masks we wear.’
The snake she holds symbolizes the masculine force needed to maturate oneself from those unconscious qualities and personality traits inherited from circumstance-imprinting from early childhood. The serpent also shows that ‘wisdom of the self’ doesn’t come from self-defeating rigidity, but from serpentine flexibility and ease of mind while traversing all forms of inner terrain.
She has two belly buttons, showing that her physical expression was born from two wombs, the spirit and the flesh.
Her head is that of an octopus limb wrapped around itself, safe and cozy in a healthy self-esteem, it symbolizes oceanic consciousness and communication through the eyes in relaying meaning via visual cues and body language, the primary source of connection between mother and child in early infanthood.
The masculine form passing through her and co-mingling in proximity to her ovaries symbolizes sexual and psychological autonomy from role-playing (mother/son, daughter/father) and specifically psychological freedom from experiencing ‘the world at large’ as an unconscious replica of early childhood imprinting from the family model. It also symbolizes the earthworm, the maker of fertility soil from sterility; it passes through her immortal body with ease and celebration.
The fox-tail symbolizes her totem-representative in Nature. Her legs are those of twin-swamp-trees growing together symbolizing the positive relationship between man and woman and how both feed from the same foundation of inner experience and outward expression in deed and response.
Her arms are symbolic of the embryonic tail that all humans develop in the womb, a harkening to each human’s Gaian-origins and the importance of humility in the mental shadow-lands of self-criminalization and harsh judgment. It also symbolizes an understanding and emotional mastery of the reptilian nature at the foundation of humankind’s impulses.
She wears a necklace of triple horse-shoes, ingrown in her body forever reminding all who peer upon her nakedness that luck is a trinity of perfect functionality in making our lives what they are; action, reaction and the Mystery that promotes growth.
Dimensions ~ 3" Wide x 2.50" Deep x 5" Tall. (Artist Proof)
‘Sumba Keem’
June 2013
The Sprite gatherer of medicinal mushrooms, plus vines and leaves that sprout roots. Sumba’s boat harkens to the Egyptian papyrus raft but is much older, it is the spirit boat that arrived in the dreams of fishermen and tradesmen as they settled closer and closer to the edges of Sumba’s kingdoms, the jungles of the world, a boat design that inspired many variations, including the famous Viking ships. Sumba’s basket is a living being, like a barnacle it attaches itself to the helm with a single rope-like tentacle which passes through its body and fastens itself to meet any position or need. Sumba Keem belongs to a tribe of such Sprites, each slightly different in appearance but the same in their teddy bear appearance, their eyes and mouths being their distinctive qualities. In addition to bears, Sumba Keem’s race are relatives to the Western Tarsier. Sumba Keem gathers not in order to use his bounty or to sell it, but to propagate.
Dimensions ~ 8" Long x 3.5" Tall x 2" Wide
‘Paracelsuus’
June/July, 2013
Before it was transferred into a name, Paracelsus was spelled with an extra ‘u.' Its origin is Sprite-founded, i.e., the Fairy World. Originally Paracelsuus was a species, not a name. They are a type of guardian of the Prairie and Meadow Sprites who gather and keep watch over the crossover fields of Life and Death, erasing the footprints of angels and sometimes converting the impressions into ground-spas and sweat lodges. The container at its feet belongs to a Gatherer-Sprite; it has been left there for safe keeping since the baskets themselves take five years to grow from seed to a mature and useful thing.
The Paracelsuus is a go-between in the arena of ‘pointing the finger’ and ‘hypocrisy,’ they are recorders of The Unrecorded Truth of the Matter, angelic secretaries of sorts. They record the missed and lost secrets of the physical world-sphere of mortals, their instances of blaming, condemnations, consciences and unsung feelings.
A living forefinger sprouts from their heads, indicating the race of planetary being they are assigned to. The forefinger is a sort of antennae and transmitting device, touching it to an angel’s fingertip, the angel receives the finer details it needs to know. They have three pairs of eyes, also aligned with specific totems of their assigned planet or solar system, this one is equipped with badger, snail and crab eyes.
They travel by way of floating in their turtle shells via flood, monsoon, tornado or hurricane and affix themselves like barnacles to various rugged surfaces; they are also transplanted by the Sprites themselves (if) the Sprite is qualified to do so since it takes a skilled eye and hands. Only with a specially hewn diamond spade can they be removed from their surfaces without damaging their more subtle connections.
Dimensions ~ 8.25" Tall x 3.5" Wide x 4.5 Deep
‘The Finder Of Lost Snails’
July 2013
Its origin is from the Guatemalan jungles; its soul is one and its physical appearance is distributed in the hundreds of millions (or less) when it wills it, it is neither male or female since it was a single Creation-appearance from the stars, parallel to the evolution of the snails, their Keeper-spirit, soul-ally and eternal protector.
The spheres and disks at either side of its face are part of its physiology, not jewelry, the disks collect moonlight, pouring heightened eyesight into its mind’s eye when needed for locating and reading elemental runes in water, fire, stone, air and ether. The spheres framing its face are celestial in nature, each resonating with the planets of the solar system from whence it originated. The spheres are communicative with each corresponding planet, who are its teachers, guides and friends. Its paws have eyes and minds of their own, each sharing similar anatomy to snails and snakes, loving of all reptiles and mollusks and experts at handling and feeding their orphaned young.
The skull it sits on is symbolic of all things moist and nocturnally on the move and that the foundation within the Passage of time is the stability of the present moment. When the Finder of Lost Snails finds a snail, it howls to the sky, sending a song to night moths and bats to assist it in finding its original homeland.
It wears a pair of Gnome boots, not because it needs them, simply in order to honor the first peoples who developed a relationship with it and who sheltered and helped raise it from the time it was a vulnerable infant.
Dimensions ~ 5.25" tall x 2.50" wide x 2.50" deep.
‘Cleo: Aquarius-Daughter Birthing'
Autumn 2013
This Aquarius-daughter’s name is Cleo, an ocean, seashore-sprite, part elephant, crab and human. She’s giving birth to one of her eggs.
The eye on the back of her head is fully functional, more for greeting visitors coming from both directions simultaneously than for protection from intruders; she’s regarded as one of the Wisdom-keepers by all, including the Elementals of the shores and waters.
Cleo is specifically the Protector of all Kelp-babies, small and large; not their bodies specifically, but more importantly their spirits and how they evolve through the trials of the Ocean at large. She swims with the mermaids and mermen and walks upright on shore. She is also an ancient Queen of the Elephant Kingdom’s sprite family, who travel with and on the elephants wherever they move or travel to.
She is a creator of sacred circles in the sand during New Moon phases for young shore-creatures to make their wishes within and is frequently an advisor to sea turtles as to where there are safe harbors for them to deposit their eggs.
When Cleo gives birth, she lays up to ten eggs at a time, four times a month; these eggs are watched over by her eldest children and the ravens of the ocean forests. When her kind give birth on islands, migrating birds and dragonflies are called down to babysit from time to time and Earth-elementals too. Cleo belongs to a vast array of ocean-sprites, small and large; this depiction is her actual size, whereas the males are slightly larger and have one additional claw.
They love music and lounging in seaweed hammocks during rainy nights, while one of their favorite hobbies is looking for trinkets and unusual items that come ashore after hurricanes and tidal waves.
‘Puff & The Fire Elemental’
Autumn 2013
Standing inside the turtle shell is a Fire Elemental wearing a flaming headdress. Pictured atop the headdress is a ‘Puff,’ an Elemental Rascal-sprite. This is the only practical-use-sculpture I've done in the current series/style I'm exploring. Originally it was designed to hold a smoking-pipe, though can be used for anything requiring such a turtle shell-cup.
Dimensions ~ 10" Tall x 4" Wide/Deep
'The Keeper of Eternity'
Autumn 2013
The Sacred Feminine & Pre-Egyptian. The Keeper of Eternity holds the living 'object' of Eternity-given in the form of a living/nursing-Ankh and all practices which stemmed from its inception into the life of the Gaian-ancients to the modern day student of Life's Mysteries.
Dimensions ~ 10" Tall x 5" Wide
‘The Flight of the Familiar Unfamiliar’
Autumn 2013/2014
The 'Familiar Unfamiliar' is the being/figure riding a magic-broom, part harpy, giraffe and banana slug. The two headed being around her neck is her adopted 'children-child,' holding on tight as she does a fly-by near her future husband-to-be, a Cosmic Swamp Guardian-King of all Things Humid and Foggy who rests upon an open sacred book of conjurations being penetrated ethereally by a hog-worm looking for impurities in its pages. The Familiar Unfamiliar carries a mysterious egg. Some say it’s a dragon’s, while others rumor it’s a prop… Only the broom knows, who is a living being unto itself, carrying her wherever Creation dictates.
Dimensions ~ 8" Tall x 7" Wide
‘Heart & Soul’
November 2013
The Soul stands in the presence of its Heart.
Dimensions ~ 7.5" x 3.5" x 3.5"
'Adorable: The Swamp-Fairy-Queen's Steed’
“Officially completed today, May 2, 2014”
That's a shoe around the steed's neck: it was a gift from a Gnome, a one-off from his shop that Adorable took a liking to. It's magical of course; when put down it will walk back to the Gnome village, leading the way no matter where Adorable is. There in front is four Cliff-fairy houses and the top of a chimney sticking through the turtle shell; the Cliff-fairy's use it to serendipitously smoke foodstuffs.
The round 'balls' are Adorable's eggs, just laid. The U-shaped item in the middle is a magical Fairy-implement, ancient and discarded in the swamp. To the left can be seen parts of the Cliff-fairy's settlement; the tall building in front is a kind of storage silo and residence, hence the chimney. The building to the left that has a funnel-shaped roof catches rainwater and stores it in an underground chamber. You can see waves lapping the shore in the middle and to the left.
The Swamp-fairy Queen holds Adorable's harness, her tendril-legs (four to each side of her) are twinning around mushrooms. Her magic, self-brewing-tea kettle can be seen hanging to the right. On the stirrup is a serpent emblem and a happy-face with its tongue sticking out, both royal insignias of the Swamp Fairy Queen specifically, including the serpent head on the saddle strap going all the way around Adorable's body. The head sticking up on the far, top-right side via the saddle is an artifact the Queen found on her rounds in South America; if you look closely you can make out a severed bird-head stuck in behind some mushrooms, a ingredient she'll sell in the market or trade that she also found discarded in the Land of the Trolls.
Detail of the found discarded Troll-left over bird-head, near center and slightly to the right. The mushrooms are living beings, along for the ride and to keep the Swamp-Queen company on long expeditions; she also plants them (among other duties) fostering the birth of new swamps throughout Fairy-worlds.
Adorable's hind feet rest on square pads atop large double-vertebrae, surrounded by her newly laid eggs and more mushrooms. The long skull at the bottom (Belonging to a prehistoric time via Fairy World) was the once headdress of the Keeper of Eternity (A previous sculpture), discarded for a new gift presented to her by a master-craftsman and admirer (another story). Most fairies do not sell or store items away, they simply put them down in the forest or meadows for others to find or not.
Details of Adorable's back-saddle-stash belonging to her devoted-rider (Both toad and Fairy-queen are equals). The Magic teapot and storage-jar to the left. The Swamp-fairy's magic book to the far right and another severed bird head to the book's left end. The skull in the center is another emblem, the Swamp-fairy's homeland insignia/totem, elaborately integrated and laced within Adorable's royal saddle. And of course Adorable's beautiful bumps!
Detail of the discarded headdress, once belonging to the Keeper of Eternity, numerous mushrooms, vertebrae, toad-eggs and a stray vine or two.
Bottom-middle and behind the dwarf-Sprite war mace and Egyptian eye amulet is a living Earthworm, slinking about, doing its duty to the Queen and her swamp.
Right side-profile; to the left you can see the rest of the magical book (Magically bound to Adorable's saddle by a special-knotted rope). The Royal Torquiose-Book of Cosmic Swamp Magic, all the Swamp-fairy needs to maintain and create new swamps throughout all known and unknown Fairy-worlds. Her three insignias, the serpent on the stirrup, the smiley-face and the serpent head on the saddle-strap can be seen here. Another cliff-fairy settlement with stairs leading up from 'ground-zero.' There to the bottom right is an ancient device that the mushrooms use in conjunction with the Cliff-fairies to remove soil from their 'terminations', it rests atop an old, very magical tree stump which houses three boats in its roots as well, just on the shoreside. Middle-left are two more ancient fairy-artifacts, discarded amongst the swamp, an Egyptian-eye-amulet and a Dwarf-sprite war mace, along with an Ever-smoking-pipe (bottom-middle), an immortal device belonging to the River-bank fairies left as an offering to any who wishes it so. To the right of the book is the Swamp-fairy's magical-dagger tucked in a jeweled alligator head, its handle made from a bird head, inlaid with jewels, magical charms, etc. She carries no weapons of defense for she has no enemies.
'Adorable' was named by the Swamp-sprites, specifically by The Keepers of Frog and Toad Eggs, who whisper the name of each 'unborn' upon its egg's exit.
Detail of the South American artifact (top left), the magic-book and magical/charmed dagger. Mushrooms love the Swamp-Fairy Queen, they magnetically bond to her wherever she goes, each cleaning their 'terminations' before doing so though via the special device at 'ground-zero' (see photos of the cork-screw-type-construction atop the great tree stump on the shore). There are many such devices throughout the Fairy-worlds, each an original but always performing the same duty. Note the top view of the book and its magical binding.
The Swamp-Fairy Queen emerges from her headdress, a mask depicting a final birth, like a butterfly from its cocoon.
The skull atop her headdress signifies her realm-identity (The fairy-swamplands) to the sky fairies and all celestial onlookers; it's her golden crown-jewel and is additionally a living 'organism,' helping her navigate the unknown and ever-changing fairy-worlds and the cosmic spaces in-between. It is also connected to the highest forms of Swamp-magic and to the Sacred House of the Diamond Swamp fairy-Lord.
To the left is the 'machine/device' that cleans the mushrooms 'terminations' prior to their union with the Swamp-fairy-Queen. In the middle is an over turned, magical flower pot encircled by fairy-runes on its rim, holding creeping vines and just above, on a ledge and under the turtle shell is more cliff-fairy homes.
Dimensions ~ 15.5" Tall x 12" Deep x 10" Wide
‘The Dragonfly’s Dream’
June 20, 2014
An adventure in the flow of the imagination. An open Heart-revelation/process, a sort of Stream-of-Consciousness, advanced ‘sand-castle.’ I completed this sculpture on June 20, 2014 and was working on it simultaneously to ‘Adorable,’ The Swamp Fairy-Queen’s Steed. It's based on the nature of the Fairy-world and the idea that a dragonfly can dream too. This depicts a scene from one of its dreams, including the sleeping dragonfly who’s dreaming this sculpture into existence, while I take notes. It's meaning is left to the viewer's connecting of the dots, from the Sacred Feminine to tree houses and a Manta ray-rider.
'The Dragonfly's Dream' ~ (For a full 360 photo-shot-viewing, see it in the banner section titled ‘First Editions.’ This is an early sculpture I did way back in 2014; twelve separate molds make up the original totality, each metal-cast separately, then fused together. I cast this in 2022 once I had developed a casting method for large scale pewter works. Disillusioned by bronze casting options in CA (after many experiments) and the significant drawbacks of leaving the final work in the hands of a second/third party, the sculpture sat in storage alongside others currently ringing the bell to stand and be seen. Enjoy! You can see a photo-record of this casting on my Instagram page @ MichaelAngellStudios.
Pewter is ancient, in so far as being a casting alloy, a 2000+ year old tradition, though used sparingly in the realm of Fine Art. I cast this after a smaller sculpture-test-pour that went very well (‘Seed Chieftain Totemic’). With that success I went for it, knowing that if I could cast this, I could cast any sculpture I've ever made since 2013: this sculpture has 12 separate molds that ultimately come together to form it. Pewter has been mainly utilized for utilitarian decor/miniatures/fantasy figurines and never really taken to large scale sculpture. All my sculptures have an archival seal, so the patination/finish is locked in.
Dimensions ~ 21.5" Tall x 17" Wide x 16" Deep
‘Top Hatter’
June/July 2014
The emergence of Top Hatter, pictured in a slice of that Garden of its Delights.
Dimensions ~ 14" Tall x 9.5" Wide x 8" Deep
‘Pearl: Caretaker Of The Fairy-world's Larvae and All Tender Things.’
July/August 2014
'Pearl' is her name; she sits by her candle looking after a Little One in its crib-basket; atop a sphere in a section of the Fairy World's Enchanted Forest.
Dimensions ~ 15" Tall x 11" Wide x 11" Deep
‘Whatchamacallit's Portrait Bust and Keeper's House’
January/February of 2015
A 'Whatchamacallit' is to the Fairy World what an angel is to the Human World, with one exception, they are individuals with no names. This is currently on the To-be-cast list; this is an original studio-photo of the sculpture upon completion.
Dimensions ~ 10.5" Tall x 6" Deep x 4" Wide
‘Elanora, Protector of Marsh Fairies and Connoisseur of Trolls’
March 2015
In the deepest and shallowest of marshes, Elanora is always present for the Marsh-fairies to call upon in time of need; she sees through their Collective-vision and feels through their Collective-feelings. A shape-shifting golem (Created at the time of the Elementals, along with all other Major-golem clans) capable of conjuring a host of 'assistants' to compliment her own body with theirs, integrated and fully functioning. Here she's manifest as a tri-pouched-marsupial, having saved three different orphan-species from the marsh's unforgiving shores and soon to be reunited with their parents.
She has conjured 11 separate faces/spirits, including a praying mantis, hawk, elephant, frog, etc. Her crown sits always perfectly balanced, even during battle; a composite emblem of her fairy-region of dedication. Her specialty is dealing with cantankerous trolls and she's wears a recent trophy on her right thigh. She is capable of mothering (nursing) any species of orphan, insect, reptile or mammal, including fairies, sprites and other-world 'seedlings.' At her feet is a partial 'slice' of a typical Marsh-fairy settlement and those daily walk-abouts of various marsh-personalities.
Dimensions ~ 15.5" Tall x 8" Wide x 10" Deep
‘A Star-Mother Gifts Boneville with Eggs & a Holy Orphan’
May 2015
This is my most recent sculpture. Every fairy continent has Bonevilles, these are little towns founded on the boney remains of deceased land dwellers. Sometimes huge colonies build themselves upon whole skeletons and small townships upon a single bone or tooth, as pictured here. Each town's population is dependent upon the exact amount of bone and bone-land available (A specific circumference of surrounding 'fertilized' land via the bone's radius of shedding influence).
More ancient Bonevilles are to be found built upon petrified dragon teeth, dinosaur eggs and other alien artifacts sticking up here and there, both inland and in shallow waterways. Sometimes peculiar celestial beings visit Bonevilles to impart gifts and favors. This Boneville township has developed a private relationship with a certain unnamed Star Mother. They caretake her eggs and set them, one at a time, on a launchpad for starry takeoff and sometimes hand-delivery by neighboring Wish-fairies who might be called to add twinkle-blinks and the power to grant wishes to a few who request it.
Dimensions ~ 23" Tall x 10" Wide x 12" Deep
The Keepers of Something Strange or 'The Keepers of a God-cocoon'
June 11, 2015
From time to time fairies find God-coccoons, Planet-eggs, Black-hole chrysalises, Elemental pupa or a 'Something Strange' (the rarest of all), this is that. Deliberations as to what it might be are still on the table (and in a few bath tubs & waterfall showers). What they do know is that its imaginal cells are healthy and that all is on schedule.
Dimensions ~ 12" Wide x 12" Deep x 18" Tall
Fairy House, 'The Keeper of the Three Special Heads'
September 2015
The inspiration for this sculpture was purely intuitive (with the Fairy folk and their world(s) in mind). I titled it ~ 'The Keeper of the Three Special Heads.' A portion of the story ~ 'Over time, three ancient colossal heads have been found in 'this' particular fairy territory, though have yet to be found in their history books as recorded artifacts. Legendary and mysterious, these heads draw touring fairies from many star-clusters and galaxies to gaze in puzzling wonder. The Keeper of these heads is equally mysterious, some even rumor that he or she or it is entirely invisible and carries a jade candle stick holder at night while inspecting the heads for stone-dissolving snails, acidic-lichen-spores and loitering pixies. The Keeper also has pets who live in and around the collection to keep additional eyes and ears out for anything that doesn't belong or that belongs to Doesn't.
Dimensions ~ 10" x 10" x 12"
'Emergence'
August/September 2015
Emergence ~ A study in texture, relationships, new beings, myths and magic. A Kelp Queen approaches a Fire-Child of Creation who is poised and splitting a seed open so that it may take root and grow. Some additional work was completed in 2016 as well… I cast this in 2023.
Dimensions ~ 12" x 12" x 29"
