2001.4 - MICHAELFISH

This one was an outshoot of a final exam for Norma Lyons, another of my instructors. Norma taught us to make molds of things to cast clay in using plaster bandages. When making a mold of someone’s face, the most important thing to remember is the Vaseline. For Norma, I made a pair of bowls with my son Michael’s face in them. Pretty lame. Then I thought of the fish with a face. It’s particularly great since Michael is a gifted swimmer. The dorsal fin makes me think of the Sonic Hedgehog video games. When Michael was three, he was so engrossed playing Sonic that he fell off the chair leaning to make Sonic go to the right. Michael is much older now than when I made the fish, and his face has changed a lot. But sometimes I still get the same creepy feeling that I got when I was working on the fish and would glance over at it and see Michael.