Invented Nature: Renee Brown

Last night, as Mr. Forager and I were taking our evening walk around Joshua Tree, we spotted the most amazing little creature!  Appearing to be a hummingbird, we moved in closer and took a few photos in the quickly disappearing dusk light.  Imagine my surprise when I opened the photos this morning and saw that it wasn’t a hummingbird at all– but an insect of some kind!  ( A pair of antennae we couldn’t see last night being an easy tell ).  A quick Google search confirmed what we had seen as a striped hummingbird moth!  It seems such a fanciful little thing, not quite real somehow.  Similarly, ceramic artist Renee Brown crafts her own fanciful interpretations of nature’s forms.

Inspired by stones, bones, and minerals, the artist expands on the reality of the natural world to create sculptures in which her imagination takes us beyond reality, yet still leave us believing these couldbe real.

In carefully straddling that line between reality and fantasy, Brown’s work may leave us questioning the vision before us.  Are my eyes deceiving me?  Is that a hummingbird I see?

To see more of Renee Brown’s work, please visit her website.

Artist found via Daily Dolan Geiman.  All images are via the artist’s website.