California Seascape
I've spent a lot of time at Catalina Island, and one of my favorite places is Two Harbors. Just outside Isthmus Cove is a large offshore rock called Ship Rock, a popular destination for divers.
California Seascape is my version of what lies beneath the surface.
An underwater world inspired by a place I know well.
Snorkling around Catalina gave me a firsthand appreciation for how much life can be hidden beneath the surface. From above, you might see nothing more than a rocky outcropping surrounded by blue water. Below it is an entirely different world.
I wanted to recreate that experience, not as a picture of an underwater scene, but as a place you could actually explore.
Almost all of the sea life in California Seascape is represented at approximately true size. The Garibaldi, sea stars, anemones, nudibranchs, sea urchins, moray eels, and other creatures aren't just decorative elements. They're inhabitants of this little underwater world.
I often tell people who see it:
"This is a way you can go diving without having to get wet."
One of the most gratifying parts of creating California Seascape was seeing it through the eyes of people who knew its subject intimately. The piece was viewed by numerous divers and marine biologists, and every one of them gave it their seal of approval. Knowing that people with firsthand experience of California's underwater world found the piece convincing was an especially meaningful compliment.
A Place Beneath the Surface
The funny thing is, California Seascape didn't start out as a giant underwater reef.
It started with an octopus.
I made the octopus first. Once he was finished, I decided he needed a nice place to live.
Originally, I had planned to make the piece much smaller. But the octopus had other ideas. He had so much personality that he demanded a home worthy of him.
So the project grew.
And grew.
Eventually, the octopus had a reef.
And he isn't permanently attached to his home.
The octopus can actually come out of his hole and interact with people. The Garibaldi can come off the reef, too.
Suddenly, this wasn't just a sculpture depicting an underwater world. It had inhabitants who could come out and meet their visitors.
It Started With an Octopus
Once the octopus had his home, the rest of the residents began to arrive.
I wanted the reef to feel like a real place, with creatures tucked into crevices and unexpected discoveries waiting to be found.
If you look closely you can see there's a moray eel hiding amongst the barnacles and zooanthids.
And there are lots of starfish including this brittlestar.
Meet the Residents
One of my favorite things about exhibiting California Seascape was watching people discover it.
Someone would point excitedly and announce, "I found a moray eel!"
I'd smile and say, "There's one more."
And then they'd start searching.
They would lean closer, look into the crevices, move around the piece, and eventually find the second eel. You could see the moment when they discovered it for themselves.
That's exactly what I hoped would happen.
I didn't want viewers to simply look at the artwork. I wanted them to explore it.
A Reef Made for Exploring
From Ship Rock to My Kitchen
Creating an underwater reef this large was quite an undertaking. California Seascape measures two feet by four feet and took approximately six months to complete.
It occupied my kitchen for five weeks while I built and covered the reef, which meant that for a while, my kitchen wasn't exactly a kitchen.
It was an underwater construction zone.
If you're curious about how a piece like this can actually be built from fiber, I've written more about the process on my Fiber Sculpture Techniques page.
The Story Behind California Seascape
California Seascape began with a place I loved visiting and an octopus who needed a home.
Somewhere along the way, it became something else: a chance to bring a little piece of Catalina's underwater world above the surface.
You can't actually dive into it.
But you can lean in, look closely, find something unexpected. And maybe, for a moment, imagine that you're at Ship Rock.