Puma People: Boys in the Band 1987-1991, bronze, 21"x54"x14"                 Details of the five-member band are shown below.

 
   History
                                    
                             Bird # 1,                                         Clay prototype became Piano Man.                  wax from 1982 clay prototype                              Wax sculpture in-progress
                                                                                            1982, 11"x7"x5"                                                                                                                            Mother and Child.
            
1982: The sculptural idea for the prototoype of humanistic-animal figures, with a puma-like faces, was conceived in clay. The cascading mane, that dominates the back view, was a continuation of the mane on Nannette's Bird #1 from her previous series, Family Reunion. Creating a mold of the clay creature was the first step in carrying out the theme; the mold enabled Nannette to make duplicated images, multiple times, in wax; these wax images were manipulated to allow for experimentaion and detail, as the theme developed; none of the creatures had humanistic arms, legs, hands, or toes until Mother and Child was made. In this piece, the large Mother image tenderly holds a small child in her arms, who has claws for feet (from Family Reunion). The Mother ultimately evolved into Trumpeter and the Child became the Banjo Player. After making many images, Nannette had an artistic block and reluctantly, put her "puma people" aside for almost five years.
 
1987: While watching a MTV video on Television, with her children, Nannette saw a rock band performing and commented that the musicians on the screen were acting like animals. All of a suddenly, "the light bulb lit" and she knew her "puma people" were meant to be musicians in a band. All previous problems were quickly resolved; Nannette added arms, legs, a musical instrument, and a whimsical persona to each animal; humanistic arms and legs, as well as, paw-like fingers and toes were defined.