The story of “Luckyken” 1979; Mixed Media; 30”H x 16”W x 15”D
Missoula Montana was a beautiful place to be in the early seventies when I was there, teaching Ceramics in the School of Art at the University of Montana. There was a great interest in being outdoors, fly fishing, and big game hunting. I would regularly see fly fishermen in the rivers along the roads, as well as, cars or trucks in town with a dead deer over the fender.
Missoula also had a healthy secondhand store community and I was getting a little restless with my chosen media “ceramics”. As I roamed these secondhand stores I found lots of interesting stuff that might be used as art materials, including an old taxidermist mount that someone had neglected. The fur was rotting off, the eyes were gouged out, the nose was missing, for starters. I was disappointed that someone had neglected this poor animal and decided to “fix” it in my own way.
So, I bought it and took it back to my studio. I rebuilt the eyes with wood putty, carved and painted them to look like my eyes (blue). I “armor plated” the form with the “Lucky” beer cans that the hunters drank from. I added some mannequin hands to enhance the “rack”, and then I used some old shoe leather to rebuild the nose!
THAT WAS THE A-HAAA Moment!!! I was putting the skin back on the animal!
I was completing the cycle.
So, I began to explore a series of artwork that I am still involved with today. As an artist I use a range of materials including shoes, boots, leather jackets, belts, blue jeans, Hawaiian shirts, extension cords, paint and other materials to make my own “Taxidermist mounts”. Some are wall hung “Trophy Mounts”. Others are full bodied animals usually set off by another form such as “The Monitor” and the “The Merrimac” both finished in 1982.
