life-sized bust sculptures.
THE WINSOME GIRAFFE
14" x 6" x 14"
This is an art piece depicting your favorite long-necked animal. This sculpture is the first bust I ever made. I chose to make a giraffe for my first bust because it is my favorite animal but also because I feel connected to them in some way. I have always been the tallest student in my class every year, from kindergarten through high school. I consistently stood taller than all the girls and boys my age, sometimes surpassing them by a full head. I felt a significant sense of insecurity about my height because I was unable to fit in as effortlessly as others, and I couldn't change that. Boys teased me for my height too, which made me more insecure. They did not like me because they felt intimidated by my height, which led me to believe that there was something wrong with me. I then met a real giraffe for the first time, which changed my perspective entirely. I observed that when everyone was in close proximity and feeding the giraffes, they appeared to be quite timid and frightened. I was slightly intimidated at first, but soon I realized that just because I was nervous didn't mean there was something wrong with the giraffe. The experience led me to understand that there was nothing inherently wrong with me; I am simply different. There are no other animals on the planet like giraffes, considering that the closest relative to them is an extinct dinosaur. They are majestic and unique creatures who helped me understand myself and taught me to love myself for who I am. I chose the giraffe as my first bust because I felt like I owed them respect for what they showed me.
(2020)
THE SERPENT KING: SNAKE DRAGON
11" x 18" x 14"
This bust is the result of a combination between a cobra-like snake and a legendary mythical dragon. This creature has the power and abilities of a slimy serpent while simultaneously displaying the characteristics of a heinous fire-breathing dragon beast. The cobra's features are present in the flared hood and exhibit the anatomy of a snake's mouth. The mouth has two sharp fangs in the front, along with having a bright red forked tongue. The snake dragon has vertical slit pupils and a scaly texture, similar to the skin of a snake. The dragon attributes are incorporated in the pronounced facial features, such as the eyebrows, face structure, jaw, and horns. This bust is painted with a base coat of black spray paint, and acrylic paint was used for the rest.
(2022)
This ghastly creature is a large, cannibalistic beast that originates from Native American folklore. The tale reveals that this supernatural being is a cannibalistic, malevolent spirit associated with famine, decomposition, and a stench of rotting flesh, who is filled with greed and is able to possess humans. Other cultures say that the wendigo is actually a human who then transforms into a wendigo when he or she engages in cannibalism or is consumed by extreme greed. "Macabre" means possessing a grim or grisly atmosphere and can be used to describe something as disturbing and unsettling for being correlated with death or violence. This bust is completely hollow, extending all the way through the head to the end of the skull. These monsters are described as having deer-like skulls, some having antlers, accompanied by sunken-in eyes and large front fangs. There is scarring on the body and skull, as well as an open gash wound on the chest, to convey and emphasize how dangerous and violent this being truly is. I've always been interested in mythological creatures and cryptid stories, and so I thought it would be cool to make one of them come to life and see how terrifying these beings really could be.
MACABRE WENDIGO
(2022)
15" x 16" x 12"
I created this sculpture as part of an assignment during my time at Georgia Southern University. The project required me to recreate a ceramic sculpture that someone made more than 30 years ago. This replica is based on the ceramic sculpture of an animal head created in the State of Veracruz, Mexico. It was made sometime between 300 and 600 AD. Its origins descend from the Remojada culture, and it is considered a pre-Columbian collection. It currently resides in the Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts. This animal head is my largest bust to date, and it is also my only mounted sculpture.
ANIMAL HEAD REPLICA
(2024)
15" x 23" x 17"
The title of this piece, "Draco Calva," means "dragon skull" in Latin. This sculpture had to be made in two parts, which was part of the difficulty. I had to create the bottom jawbone as one part and the rest of the skull as the other. The lower jaw section is welded onto the lower back of the skull, allowing the two parts to become one. This process was a large part of the challenge with this design. You can remove the sculpture from the stand while having the jawbone still attached to the skull.
DRACO CALVA STATUE
(2024)
12" x 12" x 11"
WITH STAND - 12" x 12" x 21"
This sculpture is inspired by the mythical, fictional creatures commonly referred to as ogres but also integrated with some sort of cyclops. The result is this quirky one-eyed forest guardian who's a whimsical blend of fantasy and wonder. This enchanting creature stands as the playful protector of enchanted woods, with its single watchful eye gleaming with quiet curiosity. A perfect fusion of rustic artistry and fairy-tale spirit, it embodies both magic and a touch of playful charm, inviting all who encounter it to embrace the joy of the unknown.
OGRE CYCLOPS
(2024)
13" x 13" x 17"
SCYLLA
THE SEA GODDESS
(2025)
This is Scylla, a sea creature deity who lives in the deepest, darkest part of the ocean and uses her tentacles to capture prey with her eye and mouth. If you look near the top of the bust, part of the sea creature's head is a crown. The crown is to represent that this creature is a powerful and supreme being. The bust has a coral backing that is attached at the shoulders. When her back spines are not being used to capture prey, she wears the protective coral covering to shield other beings from getting hurt by her lacerating spines. The inside of the creature's head is full of treasures and oddities of all sorts, most of which are underwater-themed, such as different shells and colorful rocks. This idea of having moss and trinkets inside of the head was inspired by those old abandoned shipwrecks that are covered in an overgrowth of moss and algae. I drew inspiration from the types of shipwrecks that accumulate items that go untouched for centuries. This sculpture gains a metaphorical meaning from the inclusion of mixed media. Our minds are filled with all kinds of different oddities and treasures, and occasionally we take certain parts of ourselves and bury those fragments of us so deep within us that they become lost and forgotten about for years on end, sometimes never to be seen again.