Tucson, Arizona-based sculptor Pokey Park’s ongoing enchantment with both domestic and closely studied exotic animals often makes them the subject of her whimsical, distinctive bronzes. Her love of animals was fostered as a child. Travel to far-flung places around the world has greatly expanded her repertoire of subjects.

She continues to create magical pieces while immersing herself in numerous passions: mythology, endangered and threatened species, ethnography. Drawing inspiration from all of her pursuits, she uses the flow of lines and surface patterns to create positive and negative spaces, affording movement and balance between the composite parts that make up the whole.

“My style reflects my belief that life needs to be celebrated with whimsy and attitude,” she says. “Everything has serious and whimsical aspects and dimensions. Ultimately, I look to express the underlying joy found in the world in my sculptures.”

Her work here this year is, as always, joyful and undeniably, exceedingly cute.
Three loveable raccoons, black-masked faces full of wonder, and the pleasure and comfort of closeness too, drape themselves in a tight collective ensemble of brotherhood/sisterhood. Paws and ringed tails are highlighted as they clutch each other in a family group hug.

Contentment and security is apparent in Park’s wonderfully realized bronze; she skillfully gives each of the three individual traits while making them collectively one. The lustre of the bronze – with nuanced patinas of white, grey and black – together with Park’s distinctively styled, fun realization of the trio ensures Cuddle will be beloved by viewers of every age.

www.pokeypark.com