Echidna (Mother of Monsters)

2014 Mother’s Day card
May 2014
Materials:  lots and lots of vertebrae
artwork

Inspiration

In The Books of Magic, an old American Indian ghost says that everyone has a snake inside of them, which is their spine; this is the part of us that acts on instinct instead of reason.

Although the most famous human/snake chimera in Greek mythology is probably the gorgon Medusa, a more fitting one for this metaphor is Echidna, the mother of monsters, who appears human from the torso up but has the body of a snake below.

Here, then, is my 2014 Mother's Day card: a tribute to Echidna and to the human brain, where all monsters -- fictional and real -- are born.

Symbolism and Process

Coming eventually...