The graduate director of our school at the time, Stephen Westfall, was friends with Marilyn Minter and he showed her this googly eye skull sculpture that I'd made as Christmas ornaments. I guess she liked it so much that she asked Stephen if I would make one for her. He implied that she'd send me something nice in return. I spent hours gluing tiny googly eyes and gold leaf on a plastic skull and sent it off, hoping for even a cast-off polaroid from her studio.

This was her gift to me.