Dreadful Beasts Talk at Canios

Interview of and by Amelia Persans

Q: What are you lecturing on and why should anyone care?

A: I'll speak about my series of drawings, "Dreadful Beasts." The project explores universal themes through family documents.

Q: Sounds awful. What are the drawings and why that title?

A: The drawings are based on the scrapbooks my great Aunt Bobbie religiously kept of her first two cats. She hated cats intensely and joked about running over the "dreadful beasts" with her car, before experiencing a complete feline conversion.

Q: And this is interesting to others because......?

A: There is something inherently funny about these documents - letters and greeting cards addressed to animals, unwrapped catnip Christmas gifts, etc., but there's also something sweet and sad about the role these surrogate children played in my great aunt's life. The two cats in the photos function as a type of mirror to our own desires, distresses and joys.

Q: Hmph. One last question, did you get dressed in the dark this morning?

A: No comment.

"Dreadful Beasts" artist talk: Friday, May 1, 6:30 p.m., Canio's Books, 290 Main St. Sag Harbor. Reception at 7 p.m. The show is on display until May 21.

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