Charlie Tuesday Gates

I am in Thailand...... Beautiful scenery. We've driven past numerous cats and dogs that are everywhere dead by the side of the road, there was this incredible snake on the beach with a noose round it's neck...And all I am allowed to do is look....from afar. Because of course I am on the first family holiday in ten years and not an adventure of a lifetime. There's loads of jaw dropping roadkill here and I can't do anything about it. All I'm allowed to do is pick up dried squashed toads. I have to keep this secret from my family and hopefully eventually customs.  Where did this image come from Obviously I haven't brought a camera to one of the most beautiful place in the world so have nothing to show of my 'adventures' Any images I use are not mine-But the things might have looked quite a lot like that. ? The places I have seen have been full of bloody tourists. I haven't seen one of those beaches that are clear of people. I don't think it'

Alix Fox from Bizarre Magazine came round a few months ago. We had a great time at the bottom of my garden, opening up children's toy trunks full the dead things things I like to make sculptures out of... Somethings are obviously deeply offensive but viewed with a massive sense of humour it's fine.   I also showed her the ropes in regard to this D.I.Y Taxidermy stuff. Here we are in my studio having a gay old time. You really can do it yourself with things you have at home. Just use your imagination! ...That's all I had to work with. It was really strange having people round poking fun at your stuff and taking hundreds of photos. It's hard letting people into the deeply private world of me and my animals.  My art means a lot to me.... You'll have to dig a little deeper to find out why but it's in here I promise. I cover a lot of things up with humour- that's because I'm afraid I won't have anything intelligent enough to say. Comes from being surround

TONIGHT!  (Wednesday 16th Nov 7pm) The Doodle Bar 33 Parkgate Road Battersea, SW11 4NP 'Fro m the creator of D.I.Y Taxidermy LIVE we bring you a special event. Charlie Tuesday Gates, ‘Taxidermist’, sculpture and performance artist will be talking about the inspirations behind her work and warped imagination. This is a story of triumph over absurdity.  From humble beginnings growing up on a Army Camp rubbish dump, to big dreams of working on the shopping channel- Teaching herself taxidermy and then bringing it to the stage….all in the style of a crazed substitute teacher.….Who’s possibly maybe drunk. This is a no holes barred talking & pictures event! So if you feel like getting inside the mind of Charlie Tuesday Gates and experiencing verbal diarrhea of an artistic kind, then come on down this Wednesday 16th Nov. 7.15 pm The Doodle Bar This talk is FREE! Love from Charlie Gates x *** There will be no big words, lots and lots of pictures and of course boo

For those of you who feel like getting inside my brain for one night then come on down to the  Doodle Bar  16th Nov! I'll be regurgitating it- talking about the who's, what's, where's and how I  come up with all these obscenities. My inspirations, what happened to me when I was young, deep and apparently meaning full stuff delivered with my own brand of humour. So if you were to scared to see a live show, now is your chance to just come look and listen very safely. You can even ask questions to my face. Follow everything all the time on   TWITTER & FACEBOOK! Love from Charlie Gates x

Lives less ordinary ..... London is jam-packed full of people who make a unique contribution to our city. This week we talk to Charlie Tuesday Gates, the taxidermist. A pretty tomboy – in jeans, baggy T-shirt and floral-print baseball cap when we meet – Charlie Tuesday Gates is all bubbly vivacity and infectious laughter. Get her talking about animals, and her eyes twinkle in childlike wonder as she enthuses about their beauty. It’s almost easy to forget that you’re surrounded by death. ‘I got this for my birthday last year,’ she chirps, pulling a battered leather suitcase from a shed. ‘It’s the first thing I ever did. You might want to stand back,’ she says, flipping open the lid. ‘This one smells a bit.’ There’s an odour like a rugby team’s sweaty sock collection, and a dessicated fox’s remains jut from a pile of salt. With tail and nose still intact, legs thrust aloft, it could simply be playing dead. Except for the ribcage protruding from peeled-back skin. Next to it lies a kitsch

I was asked to do a D.I.Y Taxidermy talk/demonstration at this event. THRILLING WONDER STORIES A t the Architectural Asscoiation. LIVE in NEW YORK & LONDON Read all about it in this article  by   The Guardian '.....  This is the Architectural Association's third annual speculative sci-fi-inspired design jam, where architects are invited to think way out of the box, their imaginations cross-fertilised by "mad scientists, literary astronauts, design mystics, graphic cowboys, mavericks, visionaries and luminaries". They're not joking. Guests in London this Friday and Saturday (there's a parallel event in New York) include Vincenzo Natali , director of warped sci-fi movies Cube and Splice, author Bruce Sterling , taxidermy artist  Charlie Tuesday Gates (hosting a live workshop) and special effects supremo Andy Lockley , the man who folded up Paris in Christopher Nolan's  Inception , among other feats. It's the shape of things to come, you know.

Time Out came round. Alexi Duggins and photographer R ob Greig to be precise. Together Alexi and I skinned a magpie and chatted about what, why, how- the in's and out's of it all. And here's the finished article. My studio, 'Number 11' and me on page 12.  A better version will appear one day spontaneously. The magpie is now a beautiful headpiece.  More beautiful creations here.... Mind Like Magpie