Henriette the Angler Fish

I am very lucky to be involved in an amazing art collective in Philly. We call ourselves Space Pirates, and one of our favorite ways to express ourselves artistically is through throwing huge, fantastical art parties. This year was our second annual undersea-in-space themed event, called "21,000 Beats Under the Sea" (last year, the first, was 20,000; a Jules Verne pun). We rented out one of the largest nightclubs in the city and packed it with art, music, and nearly 1,000 costumed revelers... it was a spectacular time!

While I contributed to several projects, there was one I made on my own: Henriette the Angler Fish. I decided some weeks before beginning planning that I wanted to create a larger-than-life sculpture out of found materials, with light-up components. I initially considered a small school of Barracudas; but then, when watching my favorite episode of Blue Planet (The Deep), I was struck with inspiration. I HAD to make an angler fish.

The first picture is of a finished Henriette at the party, with a girl that I don't know striking a pose (the picture was taken by Redlite, a friend and talented local event photographer). The second photo is the party's flier, deigned by my talented husband. Henriette actually lost all her teeth that night due to the number of people who wanted to pose with her "eating" them... but that's ok, I believe strongly in the value of interactive art, and it's nothing a little glue can't fix :)

Step 1 FYI

I am writing this Instructable to show you the basic process I used to create this particular sculpture, NOT to show you specific steps in how to replicate it! The idea of this technique is, in my opinion, to let your imagination wander, and to let the materials in your vicinity tell you what they want to become. 

In short, I wouldn't mind a bit if everyone who reads this Instructable goes on to make an enormous pink-and-orange angler fish; I just don't see the fun in it!

With that said, on to my process...

Comments

[Jack A Lopez]

That is one freaky lookin' party fish! I'm impressed!