Undercurrent

Bronze Sculpture
by Dahrl Thomson

Bronze. Edition: 15
17″H, 7″W, 11″D

The original for all of my bronzes is a stone carving. And the stone that this eel was carved from is a peach colored marble with reddish veining throughout called “Crema Espanol,” from Spain. The vein pattern in the stone reminded me of a Moray eel, so that is what I carved. (I seem to be drawn to make my own version of many aquatic creatures). As I wanted to keep this stone sculpture for myself, I had a mold made of the original and had the wax replica cast in bronze. After an item is cast in bronze, I hire a metal artist to take the cast pieces, weld them together and match the textures or smoothness, as the case may be, by sanding and sandblasting the piece in preparation for the patina artist. I then hire a patina artist to finish the sculpture with a great patina and clear lacquer to protect the finish. It is a lengthy, time-consuming, costly process to have a sculpture cast in bronze and made presentable. Luckily, there are two well-known experts whom I allow to handle these final steps, but I oversee the progress at each stage. It is fun to see my creation become another version of itself in a different medium and color. It is then also made available to the public in a small edition—in this case 11.