Upcoming Holiday Sale.

I'm excited to announce that I will have a table at the Guelph Holiday Vintage and Makers' Market. This event hosts vendors who create one-of-a-kind handmade goods or sell interesting vintage finds. It takes place Saturday December 12th 2015, from Noon-10pm, in the basement of St. George's Anglican Church. 99 Woolwhich Street, Guelph. 

I've been working hard making small faux-taxidermy head mount sculptures. These little woodland creatures are very cute and sweet, and I'm having a lot of fun making them. Each one is unique. They have been built up by hand, without the use of molds, then painted. They will be mounted on small plaques so they can hang on the wall.

I'm also making more felt anatomical brooches; hearts, teeth, cell structures and more. These look like tiny medical diagrams made out of fabric. They are hand sewn with visible stitches and remind me of old well loved and patched up stuffed animals.

This is also my first venture into jewellery. I've made a few wax patterns;  miniature heart, vertebra and rodent skull. They were then molded and cast with self curing dental acrylics. This ties into my dental tech training, as the wax process is similar to building up a tooth for casting a crown.

I will also have some of my small paintings and buttons available. 

Hope to see you there!

My "other" category is growing...

I really have been focusing on the taxidermy in the past couple months. I'm still practicing on small animals and found... parts of animals. I'm enjoying the sculptural aspect of it. I really just enjoy doing anything that's hands on and creative. I've come to realize I'm all over the map when it comes to my art practice but this in particular is really satisfying my bridge between science and art. I'm trying to create something that retains beauty and a sweetness with these animals, Memento mori like dioramas. There's a delicacy and intimacy here. When I was in my early teens, my mom and I used to go to workshops and make our own teddy bears. This feels a lot like that, only with a touch less innocence. 

I have a far way to go with getting things accurate, but that is my goal. I would love to apprentice with a taxidermist to learn how to do things properly to achieve nicer faces (I'm having trouble making the lips not look horrific!). I'm not ready to work on larger animals on my own, because of the chemicals, supplies and permits involved in tanning the hides, but I really have the desire to learn on something bigger than a squirrel.  I've been reading a lot online, joining forums and asking a lot of established taxidermists questions in sometimes over enthusiastic emails. There are courses offered out west, mostly in the States, that I am thinking of enrolling in. I day dream about working in a museum, preparing animals for species preservation as my "day job".  

The majority of these projects are being documented on my instagram and tumblr accounts which you can link to at the side, or on the bottom of the page.

Welcome back

I've made a new mobile-friendly website to keep up with the times. I took quite a long break from producing work to make a career change, which was an attempt to bridge my visual art skills with my love of science and anatomy. I went back to school for three years, moved to Guelph after graduation in 2012, and went straight to work as a Dental Technician. After another three years, I am now slowly easing back into my creative side and trying to bring art back in to focus. I've also been learning how to do taxidermy in my spare time. It satisfies both my interest in anatomy and my passion to keep learning new things.

The majority of the work currently shown here is older, mostly from about 2004-2010, but it's all work that I'm most proud of. I will still be making some additions and rearranging certain areas, but I wanted to "go live" as soon as possible. I will do my best to continue adding new work as I make it, but feel free to take a look, or follow me on instagram, for the most up to date happenings!