===== Ivy Ebony =====

“And now, if you'll follow me ladies and gentlemen, we have a piece that I'm sure you'll agree is quite something to see. Weighing in at over 100 kilos, this sculpture is a solid cast of resin, dyed blue with white and green streaks just barely visible through the resin's slight translucency. You can clearly see the effect mimicking the murkiness of deep water with light slowly fading to blue, then black, the deeper into the interior you look. The resin has even trapped a handful of miniscule air pockets, resembling bubbles floating to the surface. The very act of creating such a cast must have taken days, building up the resin layer by layer, each stratum intentionally and carefully constructed to blend with those above and below seamlessly."

“The piece, titled Away with the Pixies, was inspired by the sculptor's experiences of Summer camps as a youth and young adult, the piece clearly resembling a forest lake, seemingly frozen in situ and plucked straight out of its basin, hence its conical shape with a wave-rippled top and tapering towards a point at the bottom, like an inverted glacier. The artist has said of the piece that she wanted to capture the magnitude of the mystery of Nature, the bits we never get to see, perhaps because they are buried at the bottom of a lake, perhaps because we simply do not look hard enough. Indeed, amidst the swirls of foam at the surface of the lake, did you notice the patterns resembling an older woman's face? This is a recurring motif in Ebony's work, though she has always been evasive about what woman inspires the visage."

“This piece is truly remarkable, blending realistic lake-bed topography with abstract representations of water, and is representative of much of Ebony's work, famous for bleeding the realistic and fantastical together in a way that elevates both styles. It is truly deserving of its runner-up position in this year's 3D art category. Now, if you'll follow me, we can move onto the first place entry…”

The group of tourists flash a few more photographs with their smartphones before trailing off after the curator, drawn to bigger and better pieces, soon forgetting all about lake-bed topography and Nature's mysteries. None of them deign to peer into the foggy resin hard enough, for long enough, to notice that the core of the piece is more opaque than it should be, and that the dark shadow within follows a strangely elongated shape. One with four fins, a long neck, and a toothy, cheeky grin. But none of them, nor the thousands of visitors to the art gallery notice the lake monster smiling out at them, plotting its next trick. It isn't for them, after all. But to the sculptor, Ivy Ebony, and those that visited Camp Ohiocester all those years ago, it is a reminder that there is more to life – and people – than meets the eye.

//Written by William B//