Fish remind me of childhood
summers in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Woods Lake, just outside Kalamazoo, was a popular
recreational lake dating back to the 1920s. In fact, it used to be called
“Kalamazoo’s Coney Island” boasting a merry-go-round, “Dizzy Figure-8” roller
coaster and a dance hall. But that was all gone by the time I arrived.
Fishing on the lake was always
popular; there were many kinds of fish, even giant ones, because the lake was
DEEP and COLD. I spent many hours fishing
there as a child (my favorite food at the time was fish sticks), and also as a
teenager. I snorkeled there with my high school chum, Dave, and went sailing
there, too, with beer lowered over the edge of the boat into the very cold
water.
While there were lots of
exotic fish in Woods Lake – pike, muskellunge, largemouth bass and other sport
fish, alas, there were no Lion Fish. Or were there?!
I have made many fish over
the years. I enjoy the challenge of using recycled materials to express the simple,
particular “fishiness” of each kind of fish. For the Lion Fish I used one of my
favorite materials, an old tennis racket, made of beautiful white oak, that had
been left too close to the elements for too long, causing it to delaminate. It
made some excellent “fish sticks.” I also wanted other elements that would give
this outlandish looking fish – of the “Hey, look, I’m poisonous!” variety – a
lacy, gossamer quality highlighting its fluidly floating spines.
So, my Lion Fish – one of the
26 “oddball” animals that is part of the African
Elephant to Zebra Shark: An Alphabet of Oddball Animals 2017 show opening
at Artisans Gallery on August 4, 2017 – is made of the following:
A delaminated tennis racket
for the body outline and spines
Redwood for the body
Dowels and wire
A spiky lock washer for the eye
A spiky lock washer for the eye
 |
| L- Lion Fish |
