Artist Ted Dewan is so determined to offer his head as a museum exhibit when he dies that he has now contacted curators in America.

Last week, curators at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Parks Road, Oxford, politely turned down Mr Dewan's offer - to leave his head to the museum in his will so that it could be shrunk and put on display.

He made the offer as he believes curators are preparing to repatriate the famous collection of 10 South American shrunken heads for ethical reasons.

Now, after being turned down by the Pitt Rivers, Mr Dewan, 46, has approached curators at the Museum of Jurassic Technology, in Los Angeles, to see if they would be interested in his proposal.

The North Oxford illustrator, whose 70ft high bamboo spire was the centre of Oxford's Luminox fire installations in March, said he was surprised to find himself at the centre of a "media storm" after his unusual offer became public.

He said: "Harper's Weekly in New York called me and I was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Front Row programme.

"The story lit up people's imaginations in a way I did not expect. Following the rejection from the Pitt Rivers, I have approached the Museum of Jurassic Technology in LA to see if they will accept my proposal, and it will be one of the options when I change my will later this year.

"People are very superstitious about what happens to their remains - that's partly why everyone was so interested.

"I would like to see the Pitt Rivers returned to its state of grace as a true temple of wonder. At the moment, there is a wall between serious academic work and art, and I would like to see this come down.

"Staff at the Pitt Rivers dealt with the whole issue majestically and with integrity and I don't want to criticise them in any way.

"Who knows what the museum's response would be if I asked them the same thing again in 10 years' time?"

Mr Dewan said he visited the Museum of Jurassic Technology in 1995 and returned in 2005 noticing that a cultural shift had occurred over a decade.

"There were some bizarre exhibits which made me think they might consider my offer," said Mr Dewan.

"One of the displays featured dead mice on toast and there was a three-dimensional radiograph hologram of plants - people were moved to tears by it."

Earlier this year, museum curator Dr Laura Peers alarmed visitors when it emerged she was undertaking an "informal review", which could lead to the shrunken heads being repatriated because of the ethics of keeping the heads, although Michael O'Hanlon, museum director, insisted there were no plans at present for the shrunken heads to be removed.