Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Daphne, Apollo and the hat tree

This is a commissioned hat tree sculpture based on the myth of Daphne and Apollo that I made while living in Richmond, Virginia. At the time I wasn't making hats. It's life size with cold-forged steel, upholstered ultra-suede and hydrocal plaster cast & gold-leafed legs.

According to Greek myth, Apollo chased the nymph Daphne (Greek: Δάφνη, meaning "laurel"), Daphne prays for help either to the river god Peneus or to Gaia, and is transformed into a laurel (Laurus nobilis): "a heavy numbness seized her limbs, thin bark closed over her breast, her hair turned into leaves, her arms into branches, her feet so swift a moment ago stuck fast in slow-growing roots, her face was lost in the canopy. Only her shining beauty was left.