Freak Show

The show is called “Freak Show.”  My intention is not to make fun of the freak, but to celebrate all God’s freaks of nature, both real and unreal.  The show is meant to be fun and to demonstrate some visual word play.  Many of the paper dolls were drawn on a trip I took with my husband, who is a writer, to North Carolina.  I asked him to give me names of freaks, we’d play with the names, and I’d draw them.  We came up with Pinhead, the Swordfish Swallower, Lobster Roll Boy, and others, together.  Some of the real freaks of nature are animals that I just find funny, like flounder, because they have both eyes on one side of their heads.  And my large canvas is of Jubilee, an unpredictable event that occurs in only two places in the world, somewhere in Japan, and in Mobile Bay.  When Jubilee happens, oxygen levels run low in the water, and the fish, shrimp, crabs, etc…seem to dance out of the water and onto the land.  Folks can just walk up to them with a bucket and scoop up loads of dinner.  I love that particular freak show, though I’ve actually never seen one.