Who knows where he got the idea but it was at an early age. Other kids would want to play in the stream next to the house but Dillon would associate with them only long enough to gather some rocks and set them on the picnic table to dry. He must have been six years old then. A quiet boy.
He would paint the rocks and began calling them his pets. By eight years old he was gluing small rocks to larger ones and a lady at the craft store where his mom took him for paint suggested eyes and tiny accessories that she had in the store. It made a difference in variety and appearance in the rocks and in the boy who found some self-esteem.
People took notice of how that kid came out of his shell and how impressive the pet rocks were. He was doing special projects and selling rocks at fund raisers, making hundreds of dollars for charities by fourteen. I believe it was when things changed.
A well dressed woman, chunky with razored blonde hair was walking through the building during a fundraiser for the firehall and saw Dillon’s collection. I was there.
Apparently she told him that his pet rocks were a thing of the past and patented. Whatever she said changed everything because shortly after that he was done with rocks and began painting pieces of bone, bull skulls and any fragments he would discover in the woods. Nice work but creepy.
When he started driving, Dillon found a job in an art store where they allowed him to display his painted bones. He said the owner was impressed by the larger crowds and younger customers drawn to the store for his art.
The day I visited him there with some high school graduation cash, he gave me a wind chime of antlers and told me that art schools across the country were sending scholarship offers. He planned to work in the store over the summer of his freshman year. The owner told me there was a waiting list for special projects and Dillon said, “Uncle Dale, college will be like a vacation.” It’s what he said. He must be twenty three years old by now. I don’t know how he got into this mess.
I read the article again after the caregiver left my room at the nursing home. Local artist Dillon Shaw claims not to know the man who juried him to paint three human skulls. Economic struggles led to his decision to paint them for $1000 each.
DNA tests are being conducted on the confiscated skull found inside his shop. It is believed to belong to the man’s parole officer.
Marcus Mole was killed in a three car pileup on I95 and two painted skulls found in the twisted vehicle were traced back to Artsybones studio on Mulberry Avenue. Despite Shaw claiming Mr. Mole said he purchased the human skulls from a medical facility in Galveston, the authorities have traced the car he was in at the time of the accident to a missing couple in Baltimore county.
DAGilberthorrorwriter 