Teddy Jaws

("Teddy Jaws" 2013, Multimedia with fabric & plastic)

We're gonna need a bigger toy box.

Some of my toys are hand stitched, completely from scratch. This is not one of those. The teddy bear was part of a collection of old stuffed animals given to me by a good friend. I have boxes and bags of hand-me-down stuffed toys in my studio which is really convenient if I have the afternoon off but no specific projects to work on. This was one of those times when I just picked up a bear at random, and held it up to various toy parts and pieces of junk that I have lying around. Eventually I held the bear up to this plastic shark's head and though "Yup" and reached for my hacksaw. I also have a collection of random bow ties to pop onto finished toys. I had been saving that striped one for a while, but I think it works really well.

This piece really sums up my the theme of most of my work. If you've seen the other posts in my blog, you've probably picked up on the pattern on taking something cute and cuddly, and twisting it into something creepy and strange, or vice versa.

In this case, a body that says "Hug Me" and a face that says "Feed Me"