Purrmaid
Illustration by Molly Gregory
2026 Black Rock City Honoraria Recipient!
After submitting proposals for 2024, 2025 and 2026, the Purrmaid received a Black Rock City Honoraria Grant! Third time's a charm! I really love this kitty and I can't wait to make her.
Stay Updated in Mews!
Now that we're moving forward with the build, it is also time for fundraising and fun updates. Follow along with this Purrmaid-specific link to my blog, Mews!
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PROJECT:
Idea
This mythical Purrmaid (half cat / half mermaid) is inspired by the art of El Gato Gomez and the vintage Kit-Cat clock.
She embodies the mysteries of the ocean...specifically, the fantastical kelp forests.
Philosophy
As a San Francisco Bay Area resident, I’ve been following the efforts to restore the health of the kelp forests and eelgrass beds along the Pacific Coast in California.
Kelp and eelgrass absorb climate-warming greenhouse gasses, improve water quality, and help protect coastlines from increasingly frequent and severe storms.
We’ve damaged a lot of our wetlands, marshes and mudflats through dredging, tideland filling and pollution, directly impacting the health of the ocean - and us!
Taking steps to improve and protect coastal habitat, like kelp forests and estuaries, will prevent the loss of these essential ecosystems.
I want to draw attention to this massive and crucial endeavor and engage with participants about small things they can do to help.
We are part of a living community and are all connected whether we feel it or not. Our choices and actions ripple out into our surroundings.
I've been dreaming of creating art about environmental issues and I love making cat art. Win/Win!
Description
The Purrmaid is half black cat (my favorite) and half Mermaid. She is suspended from supports that secure her body while allowing her tail to swing freely. Her tail from formed metal, whether it is repurposed tubing rings and scrap metal or sheet metal, cut to look like scales and painted with an oceanic palette of greens and blues. The tail glows from within with color-changing LED lights and is boldly outlined with neon LED strips. Her upper body is a sweet-faced kitty wearing salt water pearls and a clamshell bra, sporting a ukulele with strings made from LED strips. Her eyes mimic the motion of of her tail like the vintage Kit-Cat clocks.
The support structure/sculpture is created with bent and twisted metal tubing and rod and layered panels (metal or wood) of sea life to create the look of bull kelp forests and eelgrass beds.
The top of the support structure/sculpture resembles a flying Bat Ray and houses solar panels on its back. Soothing, water-effect lighting ripples down over the Purrmaid from the belly of the ray.
Dotting the entire support structure are sea creatures - both realistic and eclectic - and playful bubbles, painted with uv-reactive colors and illuminated with black lights. Small doors in some of the bubbles and sea creatures hide discoverable messages.
The Purrmaid and her bull kelp forest support structure sit on a base decorated to look like a magical ocean floor. The solar power system is hidden in behind a wall of sea grass.
