It's about time I say! I am so excited to show you the first of the series I am working on for my upcoming show at Xen Gallery. I know I have been talking a lot about polar bears and I have something to show you in that category too but you will have to wait... I can't reveal it all at once! I have also been using this new whale imagery. There is a little more of back story to this new work which I will let you in on now.
Last year I visited (in the interest of love) the island of Bequia. Bequia is an island in the Caribbean. There they have a long tradition of scrimshaw. While I was there I had the pleasure of visiting some local scrimshaw artists and I learned a little about this old tradition of the sailors. After hearing about the process and looking at the imagery I thought, this is what I do...only on clay (but I am not a sailor!). The seed was planted in my mind and I have been thinking about creating a body of work that is inspired by this ancient tradition. Originally scrimshaw was done on whale bones and teeth by sailors, often using pictures from newspapers and books (and the occasional risque girlie picture, wink, wink.) Nowadays scrimshaw artists do their fine work on horns, antlers and other types of bones from non-endangered animals. My intention is to re-create a modern interpretation of this ancient tradition, not using the bones at all, but instead clay and to celebrate the animals in which the bones were/are traditionally used and many of which are now on the endangered species list. So here is the first of the series. I'll be back soon to show you some more.
platter dimensions, 12 3/4" x 10"
Last year I visited (in the interest of love) the island of Bequia. Bequia is an island in the Caribbean. There they have a long tradition of scrimshaw. While I was there I had the pleasure of visiting some local scrimshaw artists and I learned a little about this old tradition of the sailors. After hearing about the process and looking at the imagery I thought, this is what I do...only on clay (but I am not a sailor!). The seed was planted in my mind and I have been thinking about creating a body of work that is inspired by this ancient tradition. Originally scrimshaw was done on whale bones and teeth by sailors, often using pictures from newspapers and books (and the occasional risque girlie picture, wink, wink.) Nowadays scrimshaw artists do their fine work on horns, antlers and other types of bones from non-endangered animals. My intention is to re-create a modern interpretation of this ancient tradition, not using the bones at all, but instead clay and to celebrate the animals in which the bones were/are traditionally used and many of which are now on the endangered species list. So here is the first of the series. I'll be back soon to show you some more.
platter dimensions, 12 3/4" x 10"
