The outdoor, defective Megasquid is almost buried by this year's monsoons. I went outside to take pictures of it just after the sun went down. I was standing near it when I heard a buzzing sound under my flimsy Target sandal. I thought it was a large insect, but I had stepped on a small rattlesnake. I quickly moved away as soon as I noticed what it was. The snake retreated to a skeletal creosote bush, obviously very upset. I laughed at my brush with danger, although I don't think the small, scared reptile could have killed me. Going to work tomorrow at the Wretched Institution is much scarier to me than stepping on a snake. I was thinking that maybe it did bite me but I didn't feel it and now the poison is slowly working its way up my legs and torso to my brain. Any moment now I'll be dead. I see tiny fang marks on my foot, but I might be hallucinating them.
Megasquid buried up to its eyes
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potter and ceramic artist based in Tucson, Arizona. Self-taught and neurodivergent, he has worked in the medium of stoneware clay for 21 years, developing a practice rooted in literal construction and obsessive repetition. He makes non-traditional ceramics in a medium built on tradition, exploring the overlap between wonder and revulsion. Subject matter includes sympathetic monsters, insects, opossums, fast food mascots, and Halloween kitsch.
I am in love with my medium. I love the process of frantically birthing clay monstrosities, subjecting them to an epic trial by fire, and sending them out into the world.