By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Artist Kathy Robb has created an exhibit that highlights human connections with animals.
The centerpieces of her multi-media dioramas for her MFA exhibit "Human Nature" are porcelain paper clay.
The exhibit is on display now through Feb. 23 at the Moss-Thorns Gallery of Art on the Fort Hays State University campus.
Robb explores anthropomorphism, which is the attribution of human characteristics or behaviors to non-human entities, such as animals.
Robb said she has explored her personality, as well as her childhood trauma through the exhibit. Robb said all her pieces represent her in some manner, but they come out in different ways.
A pedophile exposed himself to Robb and then chased her when she was only 6 years old.
"I felt more like a wild animal," she said. "I felt like I was trying to survive."
She developed post-traumatic stress disorder and a great distrust of other human beings. But she found solace in animals and pets.
"I observed many similarities in wild animals and my experience," she said in her artist statement. "They are continually on alert, searching for food and watching for predators. I became afraid of humans and fearful that I was being hunted.
"Using the animal hybrids allows me to tell my stories free from the entanglement that human-to-human interactions bring."
The culmination of Robb's exhibit was the production of a crocodile in a piece titled "How Long Were You There?" Robb said the crocodile is representative of the pedophile who attempted to attack her. The title refers to her curiosity of how long the predator watched her before he approached her.
The accompanying piece is titled "Catch Me, If You Can," which is a zebra that represents her as the crocodile's potential prey.
"A lot of times, you don't want to deal with the emotions and the inspiration behind them because they're tough," she said.
However, she said creating the crocodile was cathartic.
The sculptures of "Becoming a Butterfly," with its accompanying video, are symbolic of her journey to healing. She said a butterfly's metamorphosis is symbolic of her movement from someone who was fearful of human connections to a social butterfly.
"That process," she said of metamorphosis, "is reflective of rebirth, redemption and second chances."
Although Robb said she studied the anatomy of various animals to be able to portray them more realistically, she in some instances has added human touches to the creatures.
Robb said the spikes on the back of the iguana for "It's All That" flop black and forth like a young girl flipping her hair. She added red human-like hair to further invoke thoughts about vanity.
In "Scorned," the choice of a human-snake hybrid is a metaphor for people who refuse to forgive others.
"Look Dad" is a diorama that includes a ceramic fawn and full-size taxidermy male deer that is on loan from the Sternberg Museum. The fawn is looking up into a tree at an antler that has been shed.
Robb said the piece is about how the fawn is looking toward being an adult.
"This is about as young children we want to be like our parents," she said. "We want them to notice us."
Robb is scheduled to graduate with her MFA in May. Her future plans include setting up her own studio and scaling down her ceramic sculptures to enter in national an international exhibitions and competitions.