The Lizard Lounge

This sculpture was designed for the Western Fence Lizards (Blue Bellies) that live on the patio of the​ Bonita Museum. 

Here is a research video all about Blue Belly Lizards:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGrhmhTa0zU

This wood sculpture was created as a site-specific installation for the patio of the Bonita Museum. It caters to the Western Fence Lizard, also know as The Blue Belly.

​It has a series of interior platforms with entry doors to allow the lizards shelter. A plant grows from the top that drains into a dish in the bottom cavity offering them water to drink. Exterior plateaus were sculpted for lizards to sun themselves and do push ups.

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Here is My Process
First, I went to the Bonita Museum. I found that several Blue Bellies have been seen to live on the patio. I decided to build for them. I researched all about the lifecycle and needs of the western fence lizard. I decided to use wood for the sculpture, with a plant inset at the top and a water dish in the bottom. Here is my initial sketch:

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Next,I bought a bunch of pine lumber and drew out a series of consecutively larger circles that each hosted a set of jigsaw puzzle like exterior platforms. The interiors were also cut out to allow for water drainage and leaping lizards, but every other level was large, so as to create interior platforms...like little rooms for the lizard(s).

Next, I came back with a router and a dremel tool to add a decorative edge and multiple lizard doors leading to interior chambers. 

Next step, was to stain & seal the wood. I mixed 2 different stain sealers to get the exact purplish mahogany color that I wanted. 

Finally, I used wood glue to put them together with overnight pressure from an old stump.

Here it is installed at the Bonita Museum! And this guy came to the show...