nee Thomas Bintz

Lost and Found Fish
exhibited June 23 - November 2004

"I enjoy having accidents! I paint with screwdrivers, sticks, brushes and actually whatever is within my reach. I use mostly discarded paint, and found materials such as: Styrofoam from docks and boats, cork from life jackets, buoys, slab wood, minnow buckets, blown trunk tires, etc. I use house paint, aluminum roof paint and spray paint. Everything I use is found, recycled and represented to you the viewer.

In making the fish, I begin by collecting all kinds of objects and shapes of assorted materials. Most of these I gather while walking the shoreline and beaches at different times of the year, mainly after storms.

In my travels, I have picked up blown trunk tires off the interstate. I have made them into eels and snakes and they are hung to go around or in corners and "ribbon" off the wall. They can be hung inside or out, around the pool or patio.

I have wooden boxes full of potential eyeballs. These could be bobbers, shot gun shells, croquet balls, toy wheels, gaskets, plumbing fixtures, marbles, door knobs, fishing lures, floats, bulbs, etc. It's really quite amazing what washes ashore.

The fins, lips, mouth and tails I make primarily out of tin, whether it be cut up minnow buckets, license plates, dust pans, pieces of palm trees, foot valve covers or old roofing tin. For teeth I use nails, glazing points, saw blades, window cranks, knives, bones, broken glass, shells, mirrors and what have you. I do quite a bit of "drawing" with the caulk gun.

The main inspiration for doing all this is living and being on the water. Whether it be out in my boat, on the shoreline or on the ice in the shanty, actually seeing and catching the fish. Travel takes me to favorite beach combing areas including St. George Island, Florida and Zihuatanejo, Mexico, where I make fish under a straw hut on the beach."

     - Captain Honk aka Thomas Bintz