"After the Storm" by Candice Raquel Lee

After the Storm (edition of 8), bronze
Size (in): 2H x 9.5W x 18" L with wall-hanging hardware.
$825 CAD including shipping

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The Sculpture: The development of this sculpture was a kind of magical unconscious process. I hadn't sculpted for a while and began playing with some clay with no preconceived notion of what I would make. As I worked, a mermaid began to appear in the clay. To me, mermaids have been done so often that I was reluctant to make one myself; however, as she took shape, I saw she was not a typical mermaid propped up on a rock like a pin-up with a tail. Somehow her belt of shells began to form, as well as a cryptic ball--a child's toy--in her hand. My mind suddenly understood her story. She was a young mother whose child had been swept away in an ocean storm. As she swam, frantically searching for her infant, she herself was washed ashore, still clutching her child's plaything in her hand. How the story ends is up to you. I envision the mermaid awakening to find her child playing on the beach beside her, oblivious to the danger that has now passed.

Though the mermaid is exquisitely beautiful there is something about her that evokes pity from viewers who tend to caress her hand or look at her in a sympathetic way without ever hearing her story.

I love the way the patina does not neglect attention to the little details of the piece--the belt of shells, the headband, the golden ball. The dappled waterlike effect on her tail is particularly evocative of the sea as well.

The Story: "After the Storm" is not based on any story other than that which I envisioned as I sculpted it.

E-mail: candice@candiceraquel.com | Phone: 519.853.9037