My second piece for the Art Noir show at the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana was inspired by my cat Shamoo who died in December 2017. It is titled “Shamoo Was a Good Cat”.

For the piece, I wove some of his whiskers together to make an interesting shape. I had collected these whiskers as they fell out naturally and he left them around the house. My piece partly references the Victorian practice of braiding locks of a loved one’s hair after they died and then turning them into jewelry to use to remember that person.

The whiskers are suspended by a thread and hang in front of a whirling frame of black odds and ends. The collection includes vintage buttons, strings of beads, fake flowers, and cicada shells that I painted black.

The entire piece is enclosed behind glass in a shadowbox.

The piece is all in black and white, taking inspiration from the theme of the show. To me, it seemed fitting for a mourning piece. It is also perfect that Shamoo was a black and white cat.

One of the best compliments I have received about my art is that my style is “quirky conceptualism”. This is a good example of that.

This piece won third place in the 2D category. At first I was surprised that it was included with the 2D art, but now I think it’s pretty neat.