Creak: The Last Living Terror Bird

Abstract

As a metalsmith, I use animals to represent an idea, an emotion, a specific person, or even to metaphorically describe friends, enemies, or relatives. Employing my knowledge of natural history and the fossil record, my creative process involves either a construction of elements from different creatures, or a reconfiguring of a specific species' anatomy. I chose to design a puppet suit engineered around a dancer's body for my MFA Thesis Exhibition because puppetry provides an established genre that sustains the formulation of a kinetic narrative, the reality of live motion produced by a sculptural structure. I see "Creak: The Last Living Terror Bird" as a natural marriage between my previous sculpted animal forms and my desire to create movement in real time.