'FisHeads' - how I love my little sea creatures. OK, here's the story...
Once upon a time, this obsessed papier mache artist decided he wanted to see what he could do with his art, so... he pulled the plug on all that was stable, uprooted himself and his 17 year old son, left the Seattle area and moved to a small beachfront town on the Washington coast. 'Ocean Shores.' There he wanted to create 'real' art, something that 'said something' about 'whatever.'
So, he worked hard and built a 'killer' studio and gallery. He started working and building grand (and very expensive' art. People came from far away places, inspired by numerous newspaper articles about this 'crazy artist' on the coast that makes these incredible scultpure. And the people came, and came, admired the work, brought their friends and left. They didn't buy anything - they just left.
It wasn't long before reality sunk in and I realized that the rent and utilities needed to be paid and that if I wanted to survive, I'd better get to work creating something that would sell! Well, I needed to create something that would take less than a week to complete, be cool enough that people would want to hang it, well, wherever. And it had to be priced where the average Joe could afford to drag it home.
The idea of 'FisHeads' came as, of course, it was the beach. They were fun and bright, took only a few days to create, could be pricedx under $500 and they sold like crazy - I mean, I couldn't build them fast enough dfor the sworms of folks that would come to seashore every weekend. Word spread far and wide and folks from all over came and wanted a FisHead. Business was good. Very good!
You would think I'd be happy, right? Wrong!
What I'd done was left a job to create a job. After 40 or so FisHeads, the passion drained. I was so busy making FH's to pay the bills, that I had no time to create what I wanted to create - BIG art that said, 'something.'
After the years lease was up, I split, with my tail between my legs but proud thatonce again, I went for the dream - I tried. It was a blessing, really, in that I would discover photography over the next 5 years - a passoon that has not left me and is only fueled each day.
Here are a few samples of some of my beloved creatures...
