Baltimore Exhibit, a Welcome Stretch For a Snail

Of the many people who were interested in my work at the Artomatic show in Washington DC, in 2023, Felicia Zannino-Baker of Baltimore was the only gallery owner to speak with me about my work and, later, offer me an exhibit. I visited her , at Highlandtown Gallery, and was charmed by the neighborhood, the building and her skill at assembling interesting exhibits. She had in mind pairing my work with other woodworkers of contrasting styles.

Highlandtown Gallery

Invitation Card

Mark Supik, was one artist she had in mind and facilitated a visit with him that day at his shop, not far from the gallery. Mark has a business that does lathe turning for business applications and does his own wood turning for his artworks. Appearing to be about my age, Mark clearly had years of experience and skills as a wood worker. He showed me an impressive shop with an array of equipment. Several bowls he had turned had elegant, sensual forms as well as beautiful displays of grain and natural aspects of the wood. There were also examples of turned wood segments "stacked" into candle holders and abstract sculptures. Clearly, Mark knows his wood and has a deep appreciation for its qualities and possibilities. We had a good visit and he reinforced my impression of Felicia as professional and hard working. They knew each other for a long time, having gone to college together.

Mark Supik work

As I was preparing work for this show, I remembered Felicia commenting on one of my pieces at Artomatic, when we first met. She liked one of my wall pieces that I sold there. It was a single piece of driftwood that had stones and snail shells attached with a pigmented cement I use, that looks like clay but is stronger and waterproof. She felt the snail shells made it an attractive piece and encouraged me to do more of that kind of work. The site where I collect most of my materials, on the Potomac River shore, has thousands of snail shells that wash up at certain times. An idea germinated and evolved into a spheroid suspended by three driftwood "legs", covered with these shells. Building a structure with wire mesh around the tripod of wood, I then covered the mesh with strips of burlap impregnated with synthetic cement. Attaching different sizes of shells to the sphere with cement and changing their orientation, I was able to create a sense of movement across the surface. These shells vary in color grades as well, adding to the visual effect. The resulting sculpture evokes an other world organic entity.

Escargatoire from early stages to finished

The first time I encountered these shells, I was crossing the Potomac River in a john boat. Near the middle of the river, it felt and sounded like the boat was hitting gravel. Looking over the side, I saw thousands of snail shells floating on the surface. The boat was hitting these and its aluminum hull amplified the sound and sensation. Later, these shells washed up on the shore and were more easily studied. The adult snail shells can be up to three inches long and have a hard covering that can seal the opening to protect the snail inside. This cover is called an operculum, as I found out doing some online research. These snails are commonly called Japanese Mystery Snail and can refer to Heterogen Japonica and Cipangopaludina Chinensis, respectively from Japan and China. Both of these snails occur in Japan and have been introduced to North America, considered an invasive species here. Originally introduced as a food source for oriental markets in the US, they later made it into aquariums and surprised many aquarium owners by giving live birth to large quantities of babies. These in turn made their way into bodies of water where they have spread. They live on the bottom of the Potomac River and are usually unseen until they close their operculums and float to the surface. This happens at certain times of the year with many of these snails washing up on the shore to die, leaving their shells by the thousands.

When titling this sculpture with snail shells, I was thinking of names given to groups of animals such as a “murder” of crows or a “school” of fish.  One of the words that came up for a group of snails was French: “escargatoire.”  This carried a charm of its own and given these snails were originally a food source, escargot, it took first place.

Along with Escargatoire, some of my new work shown at Highlandtown Gallery were Painted Wood and Painted Wood Formations.  The two Painted Wood works were single pieces of driftwood to be hung on a wall.  I painted these with acrylics to de emphasize the natural wood aspect and enhance their form, exploring the textures and shape.  Shades of color were used to bring out the topography and aboriginal like symbols to add a sense of time and place.  I wanted viewers to “travel” these “landscapes” and explore them.  Three Painted Wood Formations were evolved from these by assembling two or more pieces of driftwood with synthetic cement.   Once painted with some added stones the individual wood pieces blend into one and become more complex forms  than those originally found as driftwood.  Painting these formations was a similar process I used for the Painted Wood.  These pieces were stand alone sculptures.

 Painted Wood and Painted Wood Formations

Felicia included David Hymes in this show, another woodworker who gave his woodwork a more functional and sculptural character. David turns slabs of wood into graceful forms serving as shelves and tabletops and laminates wood that he shapes into abstract sculptures and end tables. Some of my work and Mark Supik's were displayed on David's more functional pieces. Felicia created a "dialogue" between our work which made for a more interesting and unified exhibit. I like to say that some of my work provided a "primitive" contrast to Mark's and David's work.

David Hymes' table and end table, shelves, and stand alone sculptures

This was my first exhibit in Baltimore and I was charmed by my colleagues and visitors to the show, who were interested and engaging. Talking with visitors and the exhibit participants was a good opportunity for me to verbalize my ideas, inspiration, and process.

Author talking about his work