Crocodile – Dorcas Casey
“I saw a crocodile and it did exist.” Jolyon Rea, Bristol Bus Driver, 2014.
Words from Dorcas…
My starting point for this project is a contemporary Bristol myth; the story of the crocodile sighted in the river Avon. This story chimes with my practice; I’m fascinated by the symbolism of crocodiles and the unique place they hold in the human imagination. For me this story represents Bristolian playfulness, humour and an appetite for mysteries.
However, hidden beneath the ridicule are underlying contemporary fears of rising temperatures and climate change, buried still deeper are more primal fears of predators lurking below. There is both humour and depth, poignancy and absurdity in this modern-day folk tale of the Bristol crocodile.
Dorcas Casey is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Bristol. She is interested in dreams, intuition, folk rituals, memory and stories. She works with many different materials including fabric, plaster, bronze, and ceramics.
Dorcas studied Sculpture at Winchester School of Art, including a semester at the University of Seville, and completed a Masters in Multidisciplinary Printmaking at UWE. She is an Academician at the RWA and has a studio in Jamaica Street Studios in Stokes Croft.
She makes processions and sculptures for Glastonbury Festival and exhibited her fabric sculptures at Banksy’s Dismaland.
She was nominated to work as a lead artist for Artichoke’s PROCESSIONS in 2018 and awarded a QEST Scholarship to study bronze-casting. Dorcas won the ACS Studio Prize in 2021 and in 2023 she was resident artist at Guldagergaard International Ceramics Research Centre in Denmark supported by the British Ceramics Biennial.
In 2024 Dorcas was shortlisted for the John Ruskin Prize, she exhibited her work in FAUNA at the RWA, and her horse costumes appeared on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury Festival.
The Idea
For this commission, Dorcas drew inspiration from the ancient marshes and waterways of Temple Quarter, the rich history of glassmaking, and the vibrant folklore of present-day Bristol. She envisioned something truly playful and visually captivating—an artwork that would spark curiosity, ignite the imagination, and invite people in.
“Crocodiles are ancient symbols of resilience and regeneration, creatures that reside at the margins of the unknown, serving as a connection between our present and the deep past. It’s no wonder that stories about crocodiles still capture our imagination.” Dorcas Casey, Artist
Driven by a desire to connect with the local community, Dorcas set out to create a stunning new family of sculptures for the Welcome Building. At the heart of this vision was a magnificent, life-sized crocodile resting at the entrance—a creature both awe-inspiring and welcoming. Designed to be fully publicly tactile, its textured skin would be crafted from materials shaped in community workshops, making it not just a sculpture, but a shared creation—a symbol of memories, storytelling, history, and collective artistry.
Starting the Making To begin with, the mother crocodile was scaled up from the original small maquette. A full-scale template was made as a guide for the shape of the sculpture construction and then the shape was constructed using an armature and hand finished with 600kg (94 stones!) of clay.
Community Collaboration: Greater than the sum of our parts. Through playful creative workshops with the local community, we collaboratively made a palette of textures for the skin of the crocodiles.
Dorcas worked with nearly 100 local people (and animals!) through youth groups, after school clubs, meet-up groups, community associations and the wider public to create the crocodiles’ skin by pressing objects like jewellery from their loved ones, cut glass objects, special mementos and even fingers and paws into clay.
This created a surface riddled with recognisable textures, impressions and marks personal to the maker.
“This has helped create a small but important link between local residents and the Welcome Building. I know many people are looking forward to spotting ‘their’ skin when the crocodiles are in their new home.” Nola Hersey, Chair of the Dings Community Association
Casting impressions from clay moulds with liquid latex Dorcas and Octavia painted layers of liquid latex onto the clay impressions made by the community. When this dried it became a flexible skin covered in texture.
Stitching together flexible skin covering onto crocodile form, with cast plaster and polymorph details Dorcas used these textured latex panels like a fabric. She cut and hand-stitched them together to form the skin of the crocodile. She used polymorph, clay and plaster to craft the eyes, teeth and spiny details.
Silicon mould making of whole crocodile by Castle Fine Arts A pink silicone mould was taken of the crocodile by mould-making specialists from Castle Fine Art Foundry. This mould captured every detail of the skin, the stitching and the clay impressions.
Cast from mould into bronze resin A bronze-resin cast was made in this mould, then pigmented and finished by hand.
“…the crocodiles have injected life and humour into the building design, adding to the engagement, interaction and collaboration we have sought to embed across the scheme as a whole. We are delighted with the result and hope everyone comes out to see the unveiling!” Andrew Clarke, Vice President, UK Office Development at Trammell Crow Company
And not forgetting the baby crocodiles…The process of making the baby crocodiles was slightly different. Dings residents made impressions in clay and Dorcas cast the clay impressions made in plaster moulds to create a palette of textures. She pressed clay into these plaster moulds to create the surface texture for the little crocodiles.
These clay forms were then cast in silicone by Castle Fine Arts Foundry and a wax copy created. These waxes were then used for the traditional ‘Lost-Wax’ process of bronze casting: they were coated in a ceramic shell, the wax was melted out and ‘lost’, before molten bronze was poured in. The finished crocodiles were pigmented in a process called ‘patination’ where chemical compounds are fused with the bronze surface to create colours.
“Dorcas has created something really special for Bristol, and a new landmark for Temple Quarter. Themes of creativity, climate change, motherhood, modern myth and folklore manifest and intertwine in the artwork which presents as a surprising and intriguing addition to Bristol’s public realm. It’s been great to see an artist run with this opportunity so fully and deeply, creating opportunities for local communities to contribute their mark in making something that is greater than the sum of its parts, and takes on a life of its own.” Jack Gibbon, CEO Bricks Bristol
Final thoughts from Dorcas: “Having lived in St Philips and The Dings for a proportion of my life, it feels poignant to me to make a piece of permanent sculpture for this place. I was amazed by the heartfelt contributions made by the communities who so readily got involved in creating this work.
Like all my projects, the ideas contained in this artwork evolved through the making of it. Themes emerged that I hadn’t expected.
One of these themes was that of perpetual transformation. The crocodile sculptures went through so many physical states and materials; malleable clay, flexible latex, bright green brittle wax, crumbling white plaster, pink silicone, glowing molten bronze. It felt like it echoed the flux and regeneration of the city, at a time when it seems that change is accelerating and in the process ancient things are being unearthed and old skylines momentarily revealed. Its like the city is shedding its skin.
It was a surprise to me that in the finished sculpture, the objects encrusting the crocodiles skin take on the appearance of things that have been underwater for a long time, part-submerged under the silt of a river bed, revealed for a moment before disappearing again.
This project made me think about the significance of small objects that are passed down to us from our ancestors, and the shapes and shadows of encounters with ancient creatures that are etched into the back of our minds and make their way into our folk stories.
Crocodiles seem to have overtly resisted change for thousands of years. They are like a portal back in time. I hope that this piece provides a still moment in an ever-changing part of the city. I feel that we have communally conjured up an image of something deep and ancient, a trace of ancestral magic hiding in the mundane and the everyday, just under the surface.
In a new city-scape where everything is high and grand, and commands you to step back and look up, I hope the crocodiles remind you to look down, come closer, pay attention, look back, and think about the undercurrent of human connections, stories, hopes and fears, that shape the culture of this unique city.” Dorcas Casey, March 2025
Where can you find the artwork: Welcome Building®
Welcome Building, 4 Glass Wharf, Temple Quarter, Bristol, BS2 0PS
Welcome Building® is situated at 4 Glass Wharf, Bristol, in the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone. It is near the historic Temple Meads train station, the Floating Harbour, significant (and relatively new) commercial buildings at 2 and 3 Glass Wharf, and backs onto the residential neighbourhoods of St Philips and The Dings. It is also located near a range of small independent businesses, which are located in the railway arches on Oxford St.
