Skullz Are All Around

By Hunter Morrison

ers or cups to give to friends or use in exhibitions. But the idea of finding and experiencing them in

"There was a woodfire I participated in a few semesters ago and I had already started making my skulls, but I just didn't know what I was doing with them yet," Chaimowitz said. "When we started getting all of our pieces out, I had a skull that was poking through the ash that kind of looked spooky and morbid, and I just liked the morbidness of it. That got me thinking about people finding them out and about."

From the beginning, Chaimowitz knew that she wanted to make the subject of death a less taboo topic through her art. She also wanted to open the door to conversations to be had

"From there, I started brainstorming about how I wanted to get my skulls out there where people can experience them without having to go to a store to buy a skull," Chaimowitz said. "I wanted to bring beauty to the morbidness of nature."

Each of the 50 hidden skulls has a QR code on the back that will take you to the Skullz Around website. Here, the finder can send a picture of their skull and log their find, similar to the Pensacola Rocks Facebook page. They can then decide if they want to keep the ceramic skull or

"I wanted to make it interactive without having to be on social media," Chaimowitz said. "You don't have to be on any social media platform to participate in this, which was the main reason why I did it. There are many people who don't use Facebook or Instagram, so I wanted to make sure I can hit any person of any age regardless of

One thing that sets Skullz Around apart from other art projects is that it is accessible to the public in a very unique way. Instead of seeking to experience the art, the art seeks to expe - can reach a larger audience," Grubb said. "Beyond that, she works closely with me on a daily basis as a student in the ceramics studio and she has really become a staple of the UWF Art Department at large. We're always troubleshooting her ideas and talking about different projects she would like to do now or in the future, which is really fun."

Since the Skullz Around project launched in December, about 35 of her ceramic skulls have been found. All but five were hidden in Florida. One is also being sent overseas.

"I think, with this project, [Chaimowitz] has taken the first steps in realizing who her audience is and how to engage with that audience," Grubb said. "It will only get better from here."

"I've had a few responses where they've said, 'This just made my day' or 'This was so great,' and that's what I wanted," Chaimowitz said. "I wanted a positive response to something that people normally think of as creepy or morbid."

Along with the 50 skulls she originally created, Chaimowitz plans to continue making and hiding more ceramic skulls in the future. She hopes that her skulls will not only thrill but inspire those who find them.

"I hope that people will remember finding them, the joy it brought them, or the thought process that sparked in them about what is going on with the skulls," Chaimowitz said. "I'm not expecting to be remembered as an artist for this project; I mostly wanted to bring something to somebody else. I wanted somebody else to find something and to enjoy it."

"[I hope that people remember] the joy, or wonder, that they get from finding the skulls," Grubb said. "I hope they remember, or think about, how that impacted them. Because that is what art is about—how it makes you feel and then going back to figure out why it makes you feel such a way."

If you happen to be walking around downtown Pensacola or on UWF's main campus and spot something out of the ordinary, you are not alone. Over the past two months, ceramic skulls have been popping up everywhere, many in plain sight, across Northwest Florida. So what do you do if you encounter one?

Influenced by the Pensacola Rocks Facebook craze that took the area by storm a few years ago, UWF ceramist student Sara Chaimowitz pioneered the idea for Skullz Around, which is a project that aims to bring ceramics to everyone.

She spent the entirety of last semester creating 50 ceramic skulls, all of which vary in color and pattern.

"For this particular project, and what I do with most of my stuff, I find an object that I like," Chaimowitz said. "For this case, it was a skull cup that somebody had given me years ago, and I used that cup to make a plaster mold. Once the plaster mold was finished, I then used liquid clay to pour into the mold to make my pieces."

When she first started, Chaimowitz considered making her ceramic skulls into candle hold-

"I think the Skullz Around project is a great way to engage with and establish community," said Justin Grubb, adjunct professor and ceramics lab coordinator at UWF. "Additionally, I think that it is a way for the general public to experience art in a very approachable way—they don't have to go to a museum, or gallery, they can just happen upon it as a part of their daily lives."

Grubb, who oversaw the entire Skullz Around project from start to finish, has been a huge help to the artist. When he first began teaching at UWF, Chaimowitz was a student in his slip-casting and mold-making course.

"The slip casting process has allowed her to produce large quantities of the skulls so that she

In addition to Skullz Around, Chaimowitz is working on another project that will integrate her ceramic skulls. This piece will focus on the cycle of life and death.

"I just want to bring a smile to somebody's face," Chaimowitz said. "That's the whole thing with me and my ceramics, I don't want to just make something to make a dollar—that's not what this is about. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life, even though it took 30-something years to figure out. If I could have someone realize their dream sooner because they found a piece of my work in the woods or on the side of the road, that's all that matters." {in}

Skullz Around

skullzaround.com, @saramicz