EveGriffinArtWork

Dogfish

Carved Alaska (yellow) cedar with oil stain and abalone insets

19 x 7 x 2 inches

1995

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I decided to make this carving after I had accidentally caught a dogfish in a crab pot. Pulling the trap up from the deep, black water, I was struck by the beauty and mysteriousness of this small, bottom-dwelling shark (sp).  Happily, I was able to return it to the water unharmed.

 

This was my second carving, after the beaver. It took me two years to finish and I would just as soon never have to dig out a set of zig-zag teeth like that again.

 

I was inspired by contemporary Haida work, especially carvings made in argillite, a soft, black shale mined in Haida Gwaii (a.k.a. the Queen Charlotte Islands).  I carved it out of a piece of a flat-grained, Alaska cedar board left over from a friend’s newly built deck and painted it with ivory black artist’s oil paint. The eyes are inset with California abalone. This abalone is much brighter than our local abalone and had been traded up the coast to this area for centuries. However, now that California abalone is protected, it’s imported from New Zealand.