Winston Churchill sits serenely semi-nude in Buddha-like repose with two fingers raised in a victory sign. A 16-inch-long praying mantis stays perfectly still as if aware it’s been spotted. A Chinese dragon rears up menacingly on its hind legs, wicked talons exposed.

But wait, is that a toothpaste cap on that beetle’s proboscis? Is the dragon’s rough hide dotted with dried split peas? Are those handles from a Clorox bleach bottle, small bristle brushes, milkweed pods? Yes, everyday objects have wonderfully new uses in the hands of retired sculptor Matt Peloso.

Peloso, 88, looks at ordinary things with a trained eye after working as an artist for nearly 50 years, 13 of them spent as a sculptor and engraver with the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, PA. Flip over a 1982 George Washington half-dollar and there is Peloso’s engraving of our first President’s Mt. Vernon home.

These days, as a resident of Vantage House Retirement Community in Columbia, Peloso keeps busy creating whatever catches his eye. The shelves in his living room are overflowing with fanciful creatures, including a mermaid caught in a fisherman’s net and a miniature polar bear with its head poked into an igloo to catch some satellite TV.