sheanderthal - resonanteye

Gathering, Art Opening, First Friday of December

15th of November 2016

In art, artwork, caveman art, events, horror art, macabre, morbid art, other media, posts with links in them, taxidermy,

Nature isn’t cruel or kind; it’s just hungry.

Statement for the collection, “Gathering”, which will be on display for First Friday in Kendall Yards in Spokane in December.

Facebook event information.

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I work with the feelings that remains and found objects give me, to make a piece that expresses that creature’s life.
Many artists who work with animal remains are more humorous than I am about it. I see the remains as a medium for art, with some neutrality, but I don’t make jokes with them. The horrors of life, death, and the hard times most animals go through, are the stories behind each of my works.

Usually, animals live difficult lives, and their bones speak to me about this.

I often get questions because there are other artists that do slaughter animals in the context of their work. I don’t do this.

Many of my pieces come from road strikes. I have been working on a series of photographs and an extended essay about roadside nature and roadkill, human safety, and how highways effect the animals that live near them.

As a consequence of this work I have seen that these wild animals are the survivors of repeated injuries (fractures and old healed injuries in their skeletons attest to this) and the way they interact with the road, the difficulty of their lives, fascinates me.

I work with human bones too. It is easier to buy human bone than many animals. I get my human bone from places which sell vintage anatomical displays and specimens. Yes, these bones are legal. I didn’t kill anyone to get them. I don’t use anything illegal, and I avoid using items which violate CITES or the MBA.

These works are dark. I don’t get silly feelings from death.

I’ve sold work and done commissions for vegans- for people who are animal and conservation activists. My work speaks of people’s misunderstanding of the natural world. Nature is full of drama, death, struggle, and strangeness. I try to use the materials I have to portray that.

Reminders of mortality are not for everyone. And yet, we need to be confronted with these reminders, because there’s a beauty in impermanence, a longing sensation, and we crave the reality of time’s dark passage.

The winter is the best time to think about endings, about death. Rebirth will come, but first we have to pass through the solstice- the darkest hour is always just before dawn.

Caveman hands, sheanderthal. Skull mounts and totem art.

30th of March 2012

In art, caveman art, morbid art, original art, other media, pictures, posts with links in them, taxidermy,

Here are some photos of all the things which I just got back from the speakeasy art show.

Some of these will be for sale at MY SKULL AND NATURE SHOP, others are already spoken for, waiting to be picked up.

The hardest thing about selling these (besides the amount of logical work that goes into shipping them) is parting with them. I really feel the creatures, you know? Like each one has a definite personality, to me. So when someone buys them it’s like saying goodbye to a friend.

At least awesome people buy them. That makes it a lot easier.

Click through to see more photos.

These were, until now, on display at the Oak Street Speakeasy in Eugene, Oregon. I have had three waves of art showed there over the past year, along with Jameson’s, the Horsehead, and Unfine art museum. These are my favorite places to hang my work- the crowds that go there all seem to like it, and I get good feedback from the folks in these places.

Plus, the speakeasy is where every good death metal and sludge doom band plays, here in town. So of course I like hanging my skulls there.

(more…)

ready for the art show!

4th of November 2011

In artwork, caveman art, events, love, morbid art, motivation, oregon living, pictures, posts with links in them,

Labels ready, statement ready, credit card machine set up, everything is set…

and I am still nervous.

I always am, I’ve been doing shows for over a decade and I get nervous as hell every time.

Wish me luck folks.

Oh yeah, side note: here’s my facebook art fan page, if you’d rather “like” than “add”.

I don’t bite, drop me a line! Or come on out to the show. I love seeing internet people in real life.

feather and tar

21st of August 2011

In artwork, caveman art, deep thoughts, ethics, health and safety, morbid art, oregon living, other media, politics, travel, true stories, videos,

human bones, on the other hand, are just fine. as long as you didn’t collect them yourself.

The most recent revisions to the migratory bird act can be found online; my favorite part, and the most useful, is the list of species NOT covered by the act. These are the birds I find, use, and adore (along with game birds, and pets). If you decide to scroll to the bottom (or actually read the notes, I don’t know what kind of sicko you are, after all) you will find quite an extensive list, many of which you will also find represented in my artworks.

I collect a lot at wildlife facilities, and the feathers and bone I collect there are from birds that do not inhabit north america or the US.

As for bones, skulls, and incidentals of mammals and reptiles/amphibians- I don’t use anything on the CITES list, I either purchase or obtain my pieces legally; sometimes through roadkill salvage where that’s permitted, by finding natural remains, or by beach combing.

It’s not hard to find beautiful natural objects. Simply taking a walk away from other people is often enough. I use plant materials, as well, and collect those in the same way. There’s something deeply fulfilling about walking, looking, and finding. I will use anything I find in some way, just about- whether for my private collection or for artwork.

I do have an artist’s statement hanging wherever these sorts of works are shown. If you’re at the gallery it’ll be right by the first piece you see when you walk in. I will probably post it up here this time too.

my daily routine.

20th of August 2011

In art, artwork, deep thoughts, female tattoo artist, how-to, journal, learning, motivation, oregon living, personal, pictures, posts with lists in them, questions, step by step, tattooing, tech, travel, true stories,

I have two separate routines for work. it depends whether I am having a tattoo-studio day or a home-studio day.

if I’m working at the shop, I wake around ten or eleven and lay around like a slug until it’s time to rush to work. I arrive, drink coffee, plan out my hours. talk to clients. clean my inks off or monkey with a machine until “real work” shows up. I leave right after the shop closes for the day. I usually don’t do any other art on these days; working on commission is draining (satisfying though!)

if I’m not going in to the shop, I wake up late, noon or one. I have coffee and laze around a little.then eat, and start looking over the mess I left the previous day. usually I will have something drying and ready to be worked over a little more. so I pick up where I left off. at some point I’ll reach a moment where everything is tacky. then I start something new…I work a little, stop and stare. smoke, have a sandwich and more coffee.

a lot of times I’ll just get in the car and go exploring, searching for objects or supplies, detritus. things that make me feel creative. it’s a lot of walking along the river or the side of the road.

I work until very late at night when I’m doing my own art. I’ll stay up until the birds are talking. sometimes I work all night and into the next day. coffee is my friend. this happens a lot more in the winter. I tend to have a very hard time waking up in the mornings, it’s always been that way.

of course I spend about two months each year “on the road”; I can’t call it a vacation because I usually am tattooing just about that whole time- I don’t like not working anyway. but when I travel I have no routine at all, and when I return it takes me a while to get back in rhythm with my schedules and routines at home.