Fountain of Youth (Fawn)
This new work is one that I have been thinking about for some time. The core of the fawn is a “found object,” made of resin (or plastic?) over a metal armature. I have beaded him in peyote stitch, one of my favorites, as it facilitates wide variations in texture and bead size and is easy to work over complicated contours.
This young fellow began to come to life for me as I beaded, and I increasingly got the impression that I somehow had interrupted him as he enjoyed a new world…perhaps in some shady glade in the woods. The cool, bubbling spring represents the magical freshness that–if one is lucky–can accompany innocence. Thus my “Fountain of Youth” came into being.
NOTE: My sincere thanks are offered to William Donnelly and Bruno Pouliot, from Winterthur Museum’s Department of Conservation. These kind gentlemen generously shared of their time and skills, to help iron out a few challenges with this project. (Thanks you guys!)
Fountain of Youth (Fawn)
Design & beadwork by Leslie B. Grigsby; woodworking assistance by Lindsay Grigsby
Resin(?) fawn, glass seed beads (peyote stitch), thread, wood
Fawn: H.: 11 1/2″; L.: 11 1/2″. Rocky spring with water: L.: 13 1/2″; W.: 9 1/2″
Exhibited: Loan exhibition. Private Thoughts: Beadwork Sculpture by Leslie Grigsby for the New York Ceramics & Glass Fair, NYC (January 18 [preview] through 22, 2017).
Private collection, Massachusetts
Leslie B. Grigsby Beadwork 