The inspiration for my current body of work evolved out of my first visit to the Seattle aquarium. Dipping my fingers into the cool water of open "touching" pools, sticky pink tentacles, prickly purple sea urchins, and squishy sea cucumbers lured me into their tide pool party. This experience awakened my childhood dreams and fantasies of a mermaid world. After numerous visits to the aquarium, “Mermaid Food” came to life. It developed into a series where the viewer visually dines on a bounty of underwater pastries.

Imagine walking into a room containing an abundant table set with lavish cake platters that are topped with bell jars. These containers hold what appear to be coral reef formations. Upon closer observation, you realize these underwater arrangements are cupcakes, tarts and cookies bursting with neon chartreuse brain coral and dripping with algae icing. Would you be tempted to lift the bell jars to indulge in the feast before you, or turn around and avoid the abundance of this sugary sweet fantasy?

In the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, underlying moral lessons are woven into fantastical plots. The concepts that shadow my mermaid mirage whisper ideas of excess and over-indulgence. In this underwater romance, lavishness foreshadows a great loss of natural resources in our world. Mermaid Food is a series of work that makes the viewer long to taste this excessively decadent display, entangling them in the illusion.