Delivered and Installed

Yesterday I delivered and installed the seashell commission. Thankfully, everything when smoothly. No damage to the piece getting it down there. No car accidents. No major forgotten items. No installation iterations. It took a little over an hour to put it together, determine the exact location, and place it. I'm not totally surprised; I didn't think it would take long, but I was a little nervous that something would go wrong and I would have to drive back to Vermont without accomplishing the mission.

Epitonium apexaurum (Hitzig, 2010)
curly yellow birch, walnut, shellac, gold
82" x 48" x 1"

Unfortunately, the client had jury duty so she didn't get to see the installation, but her husband, sister, and interior designer(?) were all happy with the finished piece. I have to say I'm happy with the results as well. It looks better than I had envisioned in that the figure in the yellow birch is better than I could have hoped for and the scale of the piece is perfect for the space.
I named it Epitonium apexaurum (Hitzig, 2010) because the shape is based primarily on shells of the Epitoniidae family, which includes Epitonium. Here is a good example of a different genus in the same family, Amaea ferminiana (Dall, 1908):The apexaurum part of the name is just a reference to the fact that the tip is gilded, unlike any other species in the family. Fortunately, as an artist, I do not have to go through the same peer review process as a biologist or paleontologist in naming a new species. They would probably tell me, among other things, that I should have included it in the Amaea genus. However, I'm not sure how to pronounce that word and my nomenclature rules allow exceptions for such things (nothing more embarrassing then for an artist to go around mispronouncing the name of his own piece).