Mermaid

Mermaids are often sculpted reclining among the boulders along a rocky shoreline or sunning on a warm sandy beach. One commonality of the mermaid shown in these various environs is the way she is portrayed. Mermaids always seem like they are preforming for someone. It always seemed to me like they were sculpted like runway models, in the spotlight, on display and judged for their beauty and sexuality. In 2020 I was commissioned to create a mermaid sculpture and wanted my mermaid to be doing something different. She wasn’t just hanging out on a rock, waiting to be noticed. What might a mermaid be doing with her day? Swimming! She swims to get from point A to point B but she also swims just for the simple joy of it. Sculpting a mermaid on the beach would be like always painting an eagle sitting on a perch. Or just like a porpoise leaping and cavorting among the waves, just for the pure, unadulterated joy of it, so too my mermaid. She is living in the moment and soaking in the day. She’s not drying out on a hot beach, waiting to be noticed. She’s too busy just having fun!