The Breathless Zoo is coming!

The front cover of my book - The Breathless Zoo: Taxidermy and The Culture of Longing!  It is due out in early August ... fingers crossed. 

Regular readers will already know about the book, but if this is your first time, here is a little introduction.  Taking off from some of the things I talk about in this blog, my book explores the cultural and poetic history of preserving animals in lively postures from sixteenth-century cabinets of wonders to contemporary animal art. Why does anyone want to preserve an animal, and what does this animal-thing become? I suggest that taxidermy is always entwined with the enduring human longing to find meaning within the natural world. By drawing out the longings at the heart of taxidermy—the longing for wonder, beauty, spectacle, order, narrative, allegory, and remembrance—I explore the animal spectacles we desire to see, human assumptions of superiority, the yearnings for hidden truths within animal form, and the loneliness and longing that haunt our strange human existence, being both within and apart from nature.

Just to toot my own horn somewhat, here is what one of my favourite artists, Marc Dion, had to say about the book:

“With The Breathless Zoo, Rachel Poliquin has made a major contribution to the blossoming field of animal studies. This book is the new benchmark on the place of taxidermy in the social history of art, science, and popular culture. Marvelous, rigorous, and extensively well researched, the work is also refreshingly pleasurable to read. Throughout, Poliquin explores the complex questions around the rich cultural texture of taxidermy. And unlike other works on the topic, The Breathless Zoo examines not only what taxidermy is but also what it means. For those of us engaged in thinking about animals, this is the book on the culture of taxidermy we have long awaited—a book of great innovation that slices through the history of science, blood sports, and art.”

Toot! Toot!  Read more about the book in Penn State Press's online catalogue here: http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-05372-1.html

Also, if you would like to pre-order the book by amazon, indiebound, or powells, please click one of the following links.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0271053720/penstapre-20/ref=nosim/

http://www.indiebound.org/book/0271053720?aff=PennStatePress

http://www.powells.com/partner/33521/biblio/0271053720

Sheepman?

So, here you have Helmut Dick's performance piece which was presented during "Art Rotterdam" in 2006.  The half man-half sheep creature strolled around the art show in silence. Or, at least I presume he (it? they?) was silent.

See more here: http://www.helmutdick.de/ 

Frederick the Great's Horse

If you happen to be in Germany this summer, check out the Frederick the Great exhibition in Potsdam. You'll find the skeleton of Frederick's last and most favourite horse, Conde. 

Apparently Frederick was a touch horse-mad.  He usually kept no less than 40 saddle horses in his stable.  In 1754, he had more 100 horses.  Frederick had a number of favourites, but Conde, a piebald gelding, was something special. Frederick fed him with sugar, melons, and figs. Conde even followed the king into the Palace and is reputed to have broken several squares of marble in the hall. Even more particularly, Conde never accompanied Frederick into battle. He was too special for that.

After the king's death, Conde was placed in the royal stud and then transferred to the Veterinary School in Berlin with the charge that particular care be taken of Frederick's favourite.  Apparently this order was followed extremely well -- Conde lived to the great age of 38.  After his death, his skeleton was articulated and preserved at the Veterinary School, and his skin was stuffed separately.  Unfortunately, the skin went up in smoke and flames during a WWII raid, but the skeleton --as you can see-- has survived the centuries just fine.

The exhibition is presented by the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Goundation Berlin-Brandenburg to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Prussian king's birth.  It runs from April 28th until the end of October.

If you read German (I don't): http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/kunst/ausstellung-friederisiko-in-den-schatzkammern-des-philosophenkoenigs-11732973.html

Check out the exhibition's site here: http://www.friederisiko.de/

Oslo Natural History

Elise Lund sent me these images from the Natural History Museum in the Botanical garden in Oslo. As Lund explains,

"The dioramas were built after a big renovation of the museum in the 1970's and are still a part of the permanent exhibition at the museum. In the Norwegian hall, where the dioramas are installed, the visitors are presented with the Norwegian fauna as they walk from under the sea to the highest mountain top. The floor is tilting, so you actually have to walk upwards as you see the dioramas. The dioramas are all in different sizes, some very small showing zoological details, and some very large, illustrating wild birdlife in the northern parts of Norway."

Taxidermy cat boarding

This just sent to me from Wayne Maddison: 
 

Special Issue of Antennae out now

Make sure to take a peek at this special issue of Antennae co-edited by Merle Patchett and dedicated to art, plumage and birds. Merle Patchett has developed an international reputation based on her contribution to the subject of animal surfaces and geography. Curating the exhibition Fashioning Feathers provided the perfect platform to gather a unique army of artists and academics with a soft spot for the subject.

Along with contributions by Amanda Boetzekes, Kate Foster, Liz Gomez, Kirsteen Greer, Hayden Lorimer, Kate MccGwire, Marine Pacault, Perdita Phillips, Andrea Roe and Maria Whiteman, check out my interview with fabulous feather artist Kate MccGwire.

Download the journal at www.antennae.org.uk

Taxidermy takes to the Boards

If you happen to be in Philadelphia, make sure you catch “Buridan's Ass" by S. R. Plant on at the Iron Age Theatre. It's on March 27th and 28th.

Here is a short blurb:

"Ever since an aquarium explosion forced him to choose between running to the aid of his stricken girlfriend and saving the life of a floundering turbot, Mahone the taxidermist has suffered from Buridan’s Ass Syndrome - a fear of making decisions.

His business is doing so badly that he is no longer able to pay his young assistant, Ernest, and his hopes of impressing a certain French lady by expertly stuffing her badger are shattered when Ernest informs him that the creature’s pelt has set rock solid. And inside out.”

For more information: http://www.ironagetheatre.org/bass.html

Squirrel sushi

Montreal celebrity chef Martin Picard has published an eery cookbook that not only contains highly canivorous recipes but also offers presentation suggestions.  The ode to Canadiana and its Québécois traditions includes recipes for “Confederation Beaver” — stripped of its sacs, stuffed with its own tail and steeped in hot water — and “Squirrel Sushi” — with the paws, tail and head saved for presentation. 

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/02/controversial-montreal-chef-martin-picards-new-book-includes-recipes-for-squirrel-sushi-and-confederation-beaver/

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles

These images were sent to me by Amanda Montoya.

Strange Sightings

You'd think by now I would have seen it all, but then along comes a cowboy squirrel flashing his nuts.  I could break this down and discuss the anthropomorphic misuses of squirrels. But really, you don't want to read that. Just sit back and enjoy the show.

Not Quite Taxidermy ...

New Jersey photographer Kimberly Witham just sent me a few images of her work.  These animals are not taxidermied but roadkill, which she picked up on her commute to work.  Her images are so beautiful and she finds so many dead animals that I had to ask her a few questions about her work.  

 

You say you collect your animals by the side of the road?  Where do you live to find so many animals in such beautiful condition?

I live in High Bridge, New Jersey which is in the Northwest part of the state near the PA border.  I commute from my home to Newtown, PA for work several times per week.  (I teach at Bucks County Community College).  I have come to realize that I live and work on the border where the intense suburban sprawl of both the Philadelphia and New York suburbs begins to give way to preserved farmland and some amount of woods and wilderness.  It seems to me that there is an inordinately high roadkill incidence in this area.  As far as finding animals in good condition - I guess I am always looking.  I can spot a dead sparrow out of the corner of my eye while driving 60 mph. 

 
What do you do with the animals once you are finished with the photography?

The animals in my photographs are all buried in the woods in my backyard.  I try to give them a respectful end. 

 Your earlier work resonates with the silent power of things and the images are totally absent of animal life (human or otherwise). How did you find yourself to begin working with animals?

This is a tougher question to answer.  I will start by saying that I have never been interested in photographing people and I have always been an "animal person."  When I moved to NJ from New York, I was horrified by the number of dead animals I saw by the roadside.  It began with the deer.  During the fall mating season, I generally see anywhere from 3-6 dead deer per day on my way to work.  In this area, they have road crews who spend the day picking up the corpses.  The next day, there are more.  I began photographing the deer on site as a sort of catalog or pseudo-scientific study or census.  The rest of the work developed from that point.

While I have a strong interest in animals and the natural world, I have never wanted to be a nature photographer in the traditional sense.  When I began working with road kill, I realized that the bodies of these creatures had a very powerful resonance for me.  With the photographs in the Transcendence series, I hope to create tension between seduction and repulsion - to create seductively beautiful images which upon close inspection reveal that the animal in question is dead.  I always surpises me to see how long it takes the average viewer to realize exactly what he/she is seeing.   From time to time, I am asked "how did you get those animals to pose like that??" 

Like Transcendence, Domestic Arrangements mixes the beautiful with the grotesque.  The source material for these images is a combination of vanitas painting, natural history dioramas and Martha Stewart.  I find there is a very peculiar relationship to nature which exists in the suburbs - deer are lovely in the woods and fields but not when they eat the tulips, bird feeders are great as long as birds eat the food - when a squirrel intrudes it is considered a nuisance, raccoons are very cute until they get into the trash cans, etc.  I decided to take this one step further, using the creatures as a type of decoration.  I joke that these images are a visualization of the dioramas that would be constructed if Martha Stewart and Carl Akeley had a love child.  Interestingly, museum dioramas while essentially 3-D sculptural installations are ultimately viewed in a manner closer to that of a photograph.  The viewer is on the other side of the glass looking in - he/she is not allowed to enter the space.  
 

What is going on in the image with the deer on the bed with the ghost arm?

The Deertown series is the first body of work I created once I moved to the suburbs. It was a direct response to the number of dead deer I was seeing by the roadside. I will copy the statement for that series below. The images from the first part of Deertown are no longer on my site, they are photos of the deer by the roadside. The second part (the photos on the site) are digital composites. In these images, I combine images of roadkill deer, photos from hunters and taxidermists and interior home images from catalogs and magazines. The ghost arm image is a combination of a hunting photo (you see the hunter's arm) and a spread from a home magazine. The title is "Luxe" it is from 2007.

I should add that one of the deer's antlers was knocked off when it was struck by a car. See more of Witham's work here: http://www.kimberlywitham.com/kimberly_witham/Kimberly_Witham.html

Strange Sightings

Apparently this is a submission to a newspaper's Design-An-Ad contest from a Grade 7 student.   

American Stuffers make good tv

I haven't seen this program, but it looks like a gobsmacker.

I guess taxidermy makes good television.  Over the last few months I've been contacted by half a dozen American and British television producers and programs with an interest to develop series about taxidermy collectors.  Do you have a strange assortment of unexpected beasts? Have you seen a collection I should forward along? Let me know, and who knows ... you could see your very own ravishing beasts on television.

Human taxidermy (of sorts)

Enter "taxidermy" into a google search, and you never quite know what you are going to find.  For example, there is the story about David Morales Colón. He was shot in his San Juan neighborhood last year. Rather than display Colón in a traditional casket, for his wake the morticians at the Marin Funeral Home displayed his body riding a Honda motocycle complete with leather pants and sunglasses.  And yes, this is real.

Beastly Love: Joanna Shears

Beastly Love asks readers to tell us about
their personal affairs with the wild
world of taxidermy. Read more BEASTLY
LOVE or contribute your own pictures and
answers here +

NAME:Joanna Shears
AGE: 29
OCCUPATION: Taxidermist – Death&Glory Taxidermy
LOCATION: Bristol, England
TOTAL NUMBER OF TAXIDERMY PIECES: About 15 (four are in progress)
FAVOURITE PIECE: The 130 year old birds my mum and dad bought me for Christmas last year.  They birds both died on the day their owner got married.  She thought it was some kind of omen and had them mounted.

What was your very first piece of taxidermy? The first piece I owned was a piece I made myself.  I keep Rhino beetles and when my first pair passed away I preserved them and bejeweled them for an art show I was involved with.

 

Where do you find pieces for your collection? Ebay, gifts from friends, junk shops.  I also make a lot myself.

Where do you display your taxidermy? I’m living with my parents at the moment so they are confined to my room.  They don’t mind some bits but I can appreciate that it’s not to everyone’s taste.

How or when did you become interested in taxidermy? I’ve always been interested in it.  When I was little we would often visit our local museum which still has a massive antique taxidermy collection.  I’ve always loved it.  

What do you think taxidermy is?  Art? Souvenir? Kitsch? Nature?  Taxidermy is different things to different people.  People like Damien Hurst and Polly Morgan have really dragged it into the public eye as a high art form but I have to admit that my heart belongs to Walter Potter and the more kitsch idea of anthropomorphic taxidermy.

Do any pieces have names?   My beetles have names but that’s because they were previously well loved pets. The bejeweled ones are called Frank and Bertie. I’ve got a little blue tit that has been stuffed really badly. I felt sorry for him so I gave him a home. I think he deserves a nice name at some point.

Have you ever prepared a taxidermy mount?  Yes, I am a taxidermist and have just started up my new company Death&Glory.My first commission was a beloved hamster who had been in the freezer for 2 years waiting to be mounted. I had to custom make a hat, scarf, glasses and leather moccasins for him. Now Mr.Pookie will be warm and cozy for all eternity.

I recently mounted a mouse wearing a tiny bowler hat and smoking a pipe onto an adult sized bowler hat.It was my present for the secret santa at work.The recipient was very happy. Phew!

I’ve got a lot of exciting projects in the pipeline for 2012 but my mum has banned me from stock piling dead stuff in the freezer so I’ll have to mount what’s in there first before I get carried away.

Do you worry about displaying so much death... that is, do you ever get negative reactions to your collection?  I don’t really see it as death.  It’s just the outside of the animal.  Like leather or sheep skin.  I think all the death leaves it when you skin it.

I’m lucky that my friends, family and fiance are all really supportive.  A surprising number of them say they would love me to mount something for them.  One of my friends has even asked to come and watch me skin my next animal. 

Why do you think taxidermy is back in fashion? I think it’s back in fashion because it really encapsulates the vibe of the era of curiosity shops, side shows and wonder.  It’s an era of real craftsmanship and magic that’s an amazing antidote to the modern, slick, super efficient, technology driven world we currently live in.  Long live the past!

If you were reincarnated as an animal, what would you be and why? I’d either be a bird because who doesn’t want to fly? Or a crab because they’re my favourite animal.

Upcoming Exhibit: Fashioning Feathers

If you're in the Edmonton area, make sure to check out this upcoming exhibit: "Fashioning Feathers" curated by Merle Patchett and Liz Gomez.  It showed at the FAB Gallery in Edmonton last year, but will be opening at the Royal Alberta Museum in March.

Read more here: http://fashioningfeathers.com/