Local Sculptor’s Creatures Hiss, Crawl & Swim

Pittsburgh native Jeff Fibus takes inspiration from the ocean and some of its fantastical, real-life creatures to create out-of-the-box sculptures. Some of his other inspirations include using AI to create images which he then turns into 3D sculptures.

Whichever direction he takes, Fibus’ art can be scary, creepy, weird or simply challenging. Sometimes, he is inspired by science fiction movies.

A Cobb County resident, Fibus’ workshop doubles as his basement/laundry room. A combination of friendly and threatening, these mini monsters tend to leap off the wall or their stands. Fibus is very technical about his method, and he explained, “My sculptures are made of paper clay, polymer clay for the teeth, claws and horns, and then I cover the entire sculpture in two coats of a clear, epoxy resin.”

When Fibus was 8 years old, he was gifted baby guppies which initiated his love of fish. He had fish tanks into his 20s; and after the family moved to Florida, he learned to Scuba dive and discovered saltwater fish. He’s had very little formal training in art, but his “aha” moment was being exposed to paper mâché by his third-grade art teacher.

Looking at his production schedule, Fibus usually has a digital image as a starting point. Sometimes, it’s just an image or idea in his mind. It takes on average about three months to produce one piece. His octopus took six months. He only tackles one piece at a time. Timewise, he can get carried away and work for several hours, a few times a day. He related, “Sometimes, it’s an hour here, an hour there, sometimes, when my vision is not clear, and I’m waiting on my subconscious to deliver a clearer image or come up with a solution to a problem, I might not work on it for days.

“Since I’m self-taught, I’ve definitely used trial and error to arrive at a method. My method is to start with an armature. The first of which is a ‘landscape cloth,’ a quarter-inch wire mesh. I cut a shape like fins out of the cloth using leather gloves and a tin snip tool. I then cover the shape with masking tape so the clay can adhere and then I put the clay on the shape.”

He also uses ceiling insulation as an armature, by compressing it into a shape, covering with masking tape, applying the paper clay, drying, then cutting in half to remove the insulation and re-attach the two halves. He also uses balls as armatures, applying the clay to half of an inflated ball, drying, deflating the ball to free the clay, repeating for the other half, then joining the two halves together to create a round shape.

He composes the sculptures in pieces: fins, eyes, tongue, the main body, then hot glues them all together. After it’s done, he uses either metallic or mica latex paints and then applies the epoxy resin.

For example, the dragon’s tongue is made out of two thick copper wires, covered in masking tape, then covered in clay. His latest work, “Yellow Fish,” took seven months to complete. The dragon’s teeth are made of an air dry, porcelain polymer clay. It measures 32 inches high, 27 inches long, and 18 inches wide, including the base.

He explained, “I paint my creatures with metallic and mica acrylics which add to their whimsical and other-worldly character. It is finished in two coats of a clear epoxy resin which adds incredible depth to the metallic and mica paints.”

Fibus’ sculptures are priced at $1,500 to $4,000 (for the larger, more detailed/lighted ones). His work has been featured in several shows, including the Marietta Museum of Art’s, “The Metro Montage XXII.”

Fibus concludes, “I am not an engineer, nor a chemist. I do not name my creatures. My favorite sculpture is the last one I made.”

His hobbies are kayaking and walking his dog, Luna, by Cochran Shoals Chattahoochee Park.