Dancers

Wildlife was always the focus of my art. Even as a kid, if I was drawing or painting, my subject matter was wildlife. When I stared carving it was birds. Ducks to start, then song birds, birds of prey and eventually whales in wood.

When began to work in antler and bone, it was still wildlife. One day, I picked up a piece of antler and saw a dancer. I think i was inspired by a piece of raku pottery I had recently brought home from a market I’d exhibited in. It featured two figures dancing under a moon. I showed the partly carved dancer to my husband and was told “ you’ve lost your mind”. But when the dancer was finished, it was agreed that I had not actually lost my mind (and I learned not to show off unfinished sculptures, no matter how excited I am about them). And I now carve about equal numbers of dancers and wildlife sculptures.

While the antler dictates the shape the dancer will take, they are always joyful and exuberant and celebratory and just plain old having fun.