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A SPECIMEN is an individual animal collected by a scientist to represent that animal's species. All too often these days, specimens are all that remain to remind us of creatures that no longer walk, crawl, or fly the earth. In dusty drawers of museums lie the husks of birds, the brittle bones of animals, skewered insects--vain attempts by scientists to preserve something of the natural world.

While these specimens may be useful to scientists, who measure, quantify, and dissect, these relics can make us forget that these creatures are or ever were anything but artifacts. When we see a mounted specimen we get no sense that it was once alive--eating, breeding, fighting.

The "Specimens" in this show are creatures that are extinct, were thought to be extinct, or likely to become extinct soon. Rather than try to represent the whole species, each of my specimens is unique to itself. Each is an individual with its own unique character and characteristics. In this way, I remind myself that each animal lost is lost forever. And forever is a very long time indeed. Too long to go without pink rhinoceroses, polka dotted dodos, and fish that rubbed elbows with the dinosaurs.

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"Gombessa"
70" x 43",© 2006
Gombessa is the native African word for the fish that scientists had named Coelacanth. Previously found only in fossils, it was thought to have become extinct with the dinosaurs. In 1938, a scientist recognized the fish in a South African fish market and the hunt was on. Since then, it has been learned that these fish have survived relatively unchanged for millions of years. Colonies have been discovered on each side of the Indian Ocean. The first was found between Madagascar and Africa, the other in Indonesia. The color of Coelacanths have been described as being a variety of blues with cloudy spots and luminescent green eyes. I decided to use Indonesian batiks in my life-sized version of this fish. The background of a hand-painted African cloth places this gombessa in his natural habitat.

"Polka Dodo"
40" x 43",© 2006
After completing the "Tickled Pink" rhino, I took out a list that I had made more than a year before. It listed names of animals that I though would be fun to depict in fabric. A dodo was one of them. Dodos lived on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar. During the 18th Century, sailors hunted them, and brought animals who hunted them as well, to this secluded island. Dodos were flightless and soon became extinct. We have no photographs (of course) or stuffed specimens of this bird--only artist's renditions. I'd like to think that my rendition captures an attitude and regalness of this creature who ruled his island for so long--even though he is created with polka-dot fabrics.

"Tickled Pink"
65" x 42", © 2005 Click here for an even bigger image
The inspiration for this piece came from a 16th Century black and white wood-cut by German artist Albrecht Durer--a favorite of mine since high school. While traveling and teaching, I was reminded of his "Rhinoceros" by a print at a student's house. Soon after, I was looking at fabric in a store and "saw" armor in the fabric's design. It was a luscious pink fabric. At that moment, the idea for a "pink" rhino came together in my head. I happily collected fabric--my pallet--over the next year and a half. Finally, the time was right, and "Albie" (named after Albrecht Durer himself) was born.

"Million to One"
30" x 52", © 2007
The Costa Rican Golden Toad used to fill the jungles with such a din that they drove scientists and researchers mad. In the latter half of the 20th century they began to decline rapidly. The last confirmed sighting of a Golden Toad was in 1984. A single male toad appeared three years in a row. He sang his song, but receiving no reply, he fell silent. We now know that the Golden Toad was the first documented casualties of climate change.

"Fructos"
36" x 39.5", © 2007
The fruit bat is ubiquitous throughout the tropics worldwide. Like all bats, Fruit Bats are intextricably interlinked with their habitat. They disperse seeds for trees, helping to spread species across great distances. Unfortunately, habitat destruction sometimes brings them into close contact with humans. It has been shown recently that bats can carry diseases that are not harmful to themselves, but are highly dangerous to humans.