The sculptor of a snow skull that appeared next to a graveyard on Saturday morning gave up a top job in special effects to focus on his unusual art.
Dom Norris spoke to the Gazette after wowing Tring shoppers with his work outside St Peter and St Paul Church – and leaving his business card at the scene.
The 27-year-old helped create gory scenes for 2007 British cop comedy Hot Fuzz, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
Among his tasks was to create a latex replica of Timothy Dalton’s jaw, so that his character could be impaled on a miniature church spire in a model village.
Former Tring School student Dom, now a gardener, said every line of education and work he has done has been in some way linked to art.
His latest piece outside of the church was called Memento Mori – Latin for, Remember You Will Die or Remember Everything Is Fleeting.
Dom said: “A lot of decent art tends to revolve around themes that people would tip-toe around and not really think of.
“It is to make you understand and realise that these things are only there for a certain period of time.”
The message – which encourages people to live life to the fullest – is reflected in the art itself, he said, which will eventually melt into nothing.
It’s the fourth year in a row that Dom has created snow sculptures in Tring. In the past, he has explored issues including the recession and war.
He works on his snow sculptures at night, so he ‘does not get pestered’ and to give people more of a surprise when they find it in the morning.
He worked on his latest piece between 1am and 8am on Saturday – only to return on Saturday night to find it had been vandalised.
Jane Banister, assistant priest and Tring School chaplain, said it was great while it lasted, and that a many gravestones from the Victorian era also have skulls on them.
She said: “It has made people think: Do I like that there? Is it the right thing to be there?’ and that’s always good.”
You can see more of Dominic’s work at www.facebook.com/domnorris.artist.