The 50 foot ceramic mural "Sonoran Snake" was designed to fit a long curving wall with a sloping ground line and to lead the public to the entrance of the Sonora Desert Pavilion. The client wanted images of plants and animals from the Desert. I wanted a context that would expand these images beyond a descriptive rendering. Incorporating the life of the desert within the body of a 50 foot rattlesnake that appeared to be traveling through a day-night-day cycle provided a mythic dimension to the work. (The Hopi use a rattlesnake in their yearly Snake-Antelope ceremony to symbolize the earth's life forces.)

Nancy Selvage
project team: Warren Mather

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