About Me
Hi there! Thank you for visiting. I'm Gabriele Joy, an Australian artist currently involved in many creative endeavours including sculpting, writing, soft sculpture, artist bears, drawing, and photography. Previous to this I have worked in puppeteering, with miniatures, special effects and ball jointed dolls. I'm always creating something!
I enjoy visiting the realms of my imagination and bringing back ideas which, after meticulous designing and prototyping, become art pieces I can share with all of you. I love being able to share the unique way I see the world in this way. Thank you for supporting my art.
From the Bottom of the Garden
After 8 years creating polymer clay dragons, 2020 brought about the change of artistic direction I had been hoping for in the form of beings from the forest floor and the bottom of the garden. Snails, slugs, beetles, mushrooms and more have changed the landscape of my imagination and the focus of my sculptures. These underappreciated and misunderstood beings have encouraged me back to the exploration of the earth under our feet in such a way that they are, at a slightly faster pace than a snail, changing my life.
Now, filled with the enchantment of the natural world once again, I endeavour to both share this sense of wonder as well as shed light on these unusual but incredibly necessary beings that inhabitat the underland all around us, through my art. I hope they capture your hearts and light that spark of enthusiasm for whatever is dear to you, just like they have for me.
Inspired By Nature
Almost all my snail and slug sculptures are based on real gastropoda of the world. From Malaysian fire snails and red giants, to carpathian blue and banana slugs. Did you know there is a Sir David Attenborough snail? Not to mention the iron plated scaly-foot snails of deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Colourful Cuban snails and unique red triangle slugs, just to name a few.
