Enamel Drawings

My exploration in metalwork and enameling illustrates organisms through imagery that represents a diverse array of entomological life. However, dissected, manipulated, or scrutinized, these organisms remain elusive and woefully unappreciated. Anthropomorphically biased, we focus only on the exasperations specific to the human condition—the blood thirsty mosquito, the menacing cockroach lurking beneath the kitchen stove. So ready to smack, squish, and spray, we fail to appreciate the evolutionary aptitude and anatomical brilliance of these savage bugs. From intricate venation patterns within glassy amber wings to microscopically formidable tarsi, complex microcosms of line, form, and texture abound. Despite our cultural aversions, insects are the successful progeny of millions of years of evolution. They will continue to flourish or perish, irrespective to the blinds of human perception, long surpassing our own evolutionary blip. Perhaps the real aggravation then is not the pesky mosquito to the human, but the human as the ephemeral vexation in the eternal reign of the insects.

Scolopendra Bowl
Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts