Animal Totems
What—
A series of cast bronze animal figurines. Each figurine is representative of either an important place or moment from my childhood.
Why—
With this set of sculptures, I sought to convey the chosen animal’s unique presence — exploring simplified form and gesture as well as various finishes.
How—
Each animal is made of solid bronze using lost-wax and centrifugal/vacuum casting techniques.
Material—
Material exploration is a fundamental part of my design practice. This project enabled me to work with metal in ways I hadn’t before— learning about + executing various casting methods as well as experimenting with finishes and the idea of “refinement.”
During the process of making, how do you know when to intervene and when to step back? For each figurine I worked through those questions differently, considering their individual presence.
Both the Elephant and Giraffe have a sanded finish— the Elephant a more elegant, regal polish and the Giraffe a quirkier speckled pattern. The Bear and Gorilla embrace the natural, fire scale— embodying a sense of power and depth through the raw material finish.
