No matter grown-ups and kids, collecting shells and pebbles is something must to do when visit a beach. But for New York-based artist Anna Chan, it’s become “a bit of an obsession.” Chan and her 10-year-old daughter spent their days at the beach, where they began collecting seashells and making animal-inspired shell sculptures.
As a jewelry designer, Chan has working on a small scale most of her life. It is a totally different experience when she can use her bare hands to sculpt large pieces. She saw great potential with this new medium and was determined to keep refining her work, so she moved some sand and seashells to her garage and started tryout.
Now her portfolio covers an entire array of land and sea animals. Chan carefully chooses shells that match the real life characteristics of the animal she’s creating. She collects different shells and finds beauty in them, despite of their colors, texture and shapes and even the broken pieces.
For example, she crafted a bird from scallops, mussels, clams, and horseshoe crab tails. While in another piece, she sculpted a lion’s mane with large, broken seashells. Below are some of Chan’s amazing shell sculptures and you can find more on her Instagram.
