My current body of work, loosely called “The Penguins”, is the most recent addition to the small list of animals employed in my work. The penguins have been reduced to perform one function, a function they are naturally capable of, desalinating water. Their bodies are small and sleek, with no legs, feet, or usable fins. In my proposed future, these penguins desalinate water for human consumption; they have been altered to save us from the impending clean water shortage. They are a pet and an appliance in one. I see myself in the role of the penguin’s scientist, it is my duty to watch over their development and tweak their form and functions (or lack there of) as needed. As my interest and investigation of these penguins progressed, my role in their life and function materialized into larger pipe forms, these pipes became my direct stand-in, referencing the human intrusion on the penguin’s life, and visually connecting our worlds for better or worse. The penguins and the pipes are constructed and shaped out of high-density foam, then covered in layers of plaster, shellac, and latex paint, sprayed and sanded to a car like finish. In Stage #1, the penguins take on the shape of an organ, and they have slowly evolved to include more penguin-like features. In Stage #4, ) I constructed a full-scale environment for the desalination penguins to inhabit. This environment confronts the absurd act of stripping away the natural functions of this bird,

while constructing a comfortable and familiar landscape for them to live in.

Squirrelly, is more of a personal stand-in. He is a caricature of controlled environments. After living in two extreme climates, Minneapolis and Central Florida, and spending a great deal of the year comforted by a climate controlled house, I have been reluctantly forced to recognize my dependency on it. I began with the squirrel’s exercise machine, which is made of cardboard and latex paint, it is flimsy and awkward, incapable of real performance. I then made the squirrel, pudgy, stiff, a painted fabric shell covered in faux fur. He clings to his exercise machine, with a view of a beige 2x4 forest.