Guild of Taxidermist conference 2012


2 nights in Derby saw me mingling with the big dogs of the taxidermy world. I ate breakfast lunch and dinner with the first genuine taxidermists I’ve ever met. Serious stuffing. On my first night I found myself having dinner with ‘The Mozart of fish taxidermy’- Matthias Fahrni; Who gave us lectures on the fine art of fish and their immaculate preservation.

Matthias Fahrni
Fish isn’t my bag but his enthusiasm and extreme dedication to perfection was incredible. He and his wife were lovely.  We talked about Switzerland and his wife tried to convince me not to bother with this veganism stuff over some custard chat. I held as firm as the film on the custard.

It was refreshing to be in a place where you can talk about road kill and it not be weird. We were all one.

Obviously I kept my true artistic identity secret. I am an artist not a taxidermist- But for one weekend I absorbed their knowledge and power. If they new there was an impostor in their midst, I would have been hung, drawn and quartered.
Everyone was very serious about the subject. They were like proper fine artist photo-realism types and I’m a wee bit more abstract with my subject matter….

Anyway-it was good. Even though it felt like being the new girl at school, I braved the rave, made friends I will be back next year with a moustache.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Plug Me In, Turn Me On

Image
I've been banned from Facebook again.  Whoops. My mum says I need to stop. It’s like, my 5 th   time now. They keep telling me that if I do anything wrong again that’s it. Wiped off the face of the face…book. I’m a repeat offender you see. Keep publishing indecent material apparently. God knows what I was dreaming about but I woke up and the first thing I did was this. It's a collage not a metaphor. Currently living in an ex mental day care centre and I found a curious collection of informational photographs, crying out for a collage or two.  These pictures of plugs were my favourite. Plug Me In, Turn Me On BANNED After creating another masterpiece, the first person I had to tell was Facebook. It turns out that Facebook can’t handle a few pieces of paper stuck together, crafted simply with an eye for detail and glue. Facebook can handle the hideous sites devoted to woman’s breasts and arses and all manor of other shameful public shows and grotesque acts of the mor
Read more

Debut Contemporary: CON ARTIST: Crimes Against Artists Humanity

Image
Subtle There's  a man called Samir Ceric in a Gallery called Debut  Contemporary  on Westborne Grove that has bullied, manipulated and lied to thousands of young, naive and inexperienced artists. Playing on the fact they are desperate to make it in the art world.  Here’s some advice for free:  YOU CAN’T BUY YOUR WAY IN There is no short cut to fame and glory. You get it by hard work and hard work only and if you are willing to work hard YOU WILL SUCCEED. You don’t need to pay over 400 pounds a month (for min 3 months contract) for a mentoring scheme from a man with no background in art whatsoever… Astoundingly Samir Ceric had just been voted (AND WON) the Hospital Club’s 100 most influential people in the Art and Design category. "I CHOKED ON MY LOAD" Now let me give you some background on the winner: A serial and self-styled entrepreneur, with numerous failed/bankrupt business and absolutely no art qualifications at all. I was amazed
Read more

Like A Lamb to the Slaughter. Easter special.

Image
Like a Lamb to the Slaughter I had arranged for some people to come round. They just wanted to see what I got up to on my day off, take some picture ect.  I was planning on using a hare (it being Easter and all) but the only thing that was budging was a lamb.  I was planning on crucifying it before I knew about Gunther Von Hagens and his idea of taking a dead body to the Pope.  These baby lambs died of natural causes soon after birth.  Sinking feeling I decided not to wash the blood out. It's the harsh, stark  reminder of the brutality.  I then turned the spot light on and...
Read more