Keira Norton:

For the past several years, Keira Norton has been making sculptures depicting human/animal hybrids. Keira Norton views each piece as part of a narrative drawn from the physical and metaphorical connections between particular types of animals and aspects of the human condition. The artist is currently combining the supple forms and playful gestures of dolphins and whales with seductively posed human figures to create a series of peculiar exhibitionists. Keira Norton intends them as somewhat humorous representations of the contradictory forces at play in conventional ideas about beauty and sexual attraction. Their ambiguous nature has allowed them to evolve over time from many sources, including folklore, popular culture, and art history. For example, the influences for a half-dolphin female character Keira Norton calls “La Encantada” includes tales of mermaids from the Amazon, classic pin-up girls, and the nudes of Ingres and Manet.  

Artist Statement:

“Recently, I have been studying snub-nosed monkeys, and instead of focusing on their more obvious grotesqueness, have been inspired to capture their quiet watchfulness in small-scale portraits for the wall. Creating hybrids gives me the opportunity to be rigorous in my observations and playful in my interpretations.  I am also continually inspired by my desire to mimic and invent forms and textures using the raw materials of clay and glaze.“