This is yet another sculpture in my amethyst and bronze series of work.

After cutting the bottom from one of the amethyst geodes I have from Sidi Rahal I put the geode away for some time waiting for inspiration as to how it might be used in my art.

This geode, as you can see, has a protruding top that has not been broken open. The inside is full of crystals.

I thought at the time that I would have to break the geode open to display the inside part. But, when I set the stone on a 12 inch diameter bloodwood base I was making, the thought came to mind that this geode looked very much like the Sorting Hat from the Harry Potter stories. The top part didn’t need to be opened. And now I can’t get this idea out of my mind?

The stone and the base were just fine. I needed a bronze piece for the sculpture and I originally thought to mould and cast a hawk to set in front of the geode.

But I didn’t really like this? I wanted something that was more aligned to a western theme. I tried my moose sculpture and I thought this was better.

I think the moose will fit with the Harry Potter sorting hat theme if people reference the context of the Patronus or spirit animal in the story. A Patronus is the concentrated form that your happiest memories coalesce into, creating a protective spirit that will shield you from dark forces, the soul-sucking Dementors, for instance.

Harry Potter’s Patronus was a stag. The moose is similar to a stag although it is not named as a Patronus in the story.

In some sense this difference coincides with my penchant to set my sculptures in situations that can be interpreted in different contexts, as discussed in my Artist Statement.