The Birth of “Kazi”
My inspiration to create Kazi was sparked in summer 2004 during a visit to an animal park in the San Diego area. I was at the Giraffe feeding area and got close and personal with these genteel giants. I had the desire to touch the soft looking nose and pet the giraffes, but we were told not to. My urge to touch was so strong… I figured others must share my desire. I thought it would be great to have a sculpture to explore their features and this incredible long tongue.

"At the Palomar College Art Department Kazi's journey began"

I started to sculpt in wax and “Kazi”, named after one of the giraffes, I began to evolve and grow. He grew to a life size juvenile giraffe, modeled after dozens of pictures I took of him. At first his neck was only about a foot long, but as his head became more detailed, his neck got longer. It was a great interactive experience. At the time I was working on my art at the Palomar College Foundry Facilities and everyone who came along had to make comments or ask questions like “…are you going to make the whole giraffe…body and all”? I also was asked what I was going to do with a 4 foot tall giraffe head. I just answered: “I will give it to an animal park so people can touch it!"

Well at first it was just an idea, but I thought it would actually be great to have it at a public place. Why couldn't’t I give other people the opportunity to indulge in exploring and petting these wonderful creatures too? After I completed the wax model, I approached a park with the offer of donating the bronze sculpture of Kazi to place near the giraffe feeding area. I actually brought him to meet some of the staff and had the animal handlers check him out for accuracy. They agreed to give him a home. From this point on it still took several months to complete the project. Sometime during I got the invitation to show some of my art at the Natural History museum at the First Annual Wildlife exhibition. So I created not only on but two Kazi's.