Bury my heart at wounded knee

This week's featured piece of assemblage art is the first of two entitled 'Bury my heart at wounded knee' - after the 1970 book of the same name by author & historian Dee Brown that covers the history of Native Americans from their perspective.

My work follows the theme of the book, which describes a series of betrayals and injustices by the US government, who are portrayed as destroying Native American culture through warfare, forced relocations and persecution.

'Bury my heart at wounded knee (1)' is a 470mm x 610mm x 190mm assemblage box featuring one of my original pencil drawings, antiqued mirror glass, bird skull & vertebrae with vintage frame and antique bullet, billiard ball and brass plaque.

Wounded Knee was the location of the last major confrontation between the US Army and Native Americans. It is also the place where Crazy Horse's parents buried his heart and some of his bones after his death in 1877.


Outsider art - Ian Sherman

One of my good friends and fellow artist is Ian Sherman - he gave a ground-breaking talk at the Royal Academy of Arts on 'outsider art', the first time this revered body has looked at this area of the art world. The panel in London was chaired by the Editor of Raw Vision magazine John Maizels, and featured Thomas Roeske, Director of the Prinzhorn Collection; Marc Steene, Director of Pallant House Gallery and Founder of Outside In; Jane England, Director of England & Co Gallery and Ian Sherman, an artist associated with the 'Outside In' project. The point of bringing them together was to consider the inclusion of Outsider Art in the commercial art market and the impact this has on artists, collectors and collections.

As a taxidermy & assemblage artist and painter, I consider myself to be an outsider artist because other than my apprenticeships & mentoring, I didn't have any formal training after I left school. Ian himself prefers to call himself an 'idiosyncratic' artist because his work is often split between two or more styles. I'm proud to have a few of Ian's assemblage pieces in my own art collection (see the gallery below).

He lives and breaths his work, and is massively prolific - with stunning oil on board pieces sitting alongside his quirky and intricate assemblage and sculptural work (like me often using found objects). His creations have been widely documented and exhibited by Pallant House gallery in Chichester.

Ian is a great inspiration to me, and I urge you to check out his work and support those of us who are creating art on the outside of an inside world. A belated happy new year to everyone on my team, family, friends and supporters.

A book of work

I have published a book to showcase my taxidermy art to galleries and collectors. It features 38 unique pieces of artwork, with descriptions and close-ups of many of the key details.

Inside the front and back covers I have delved into art's ancient past and used paper marbling, a technique of decoration that dates back thousands of years and was first used in the Far East.

When you buy one of my taxidermy art pieces you will receive a complimentary copy of my book. They are also being sent out to key galleries in the UK and abroad in 2016, and a limited number will soon be available to buy.

I am indebted to graphic designer Andy Wright from Coast Creative in Braunton for helping me bring this project to life, and to my partner Charlotte Hunter for her work on the text. There is a small team of dedicated and talented friends who support me behind the scenes in many different ways - thank you to you all.



Recording the process of taxidermy art

There is a huge amount of talent here in North Devon, and I have been honoured to have award-winning filmmaker Mikey Corker following my work this week.

Mikey is a fellow surfer, and has built a global reputation through documenting another local man Andrew Cotton in his quest to surf the biggest waves on the planet! I'm keen to record the process behind my taxidermy art, and the techniques that are used in the modern era in this ancient practice.

In the photos you can see me working on a carp that died from natural causes at a local lake. While I love re-using antique taxidermy pieces, I have learned how to carry out taxidermy myself so that I can achieve exactly the effect I want when I assemble my new works of art. Mikey is not only filming me in the studio, he's going diving in the lake to show the habitat where the fish live - now that's real dedication in a British winter!

We plan to release the first completed short film by Mikey Corker in the New Year, watch this space.

The Goodman Fish

I recently sold two pieces of my taxidermy art to prominent collectors from my ongoing exhibition at the Broomhill Art Hotel in North Devon; one is a work with a lot of personal importance, the 'Goodman Fish'.

David Goodman was a renowned artist and conservator who trained at the Royal Academy of Art in London. I had the privilege to serve a five year apprenticeship with him learning the skills of gilding, carving, painting and conservation. He has been one of the most influential figures in my career as an artist. David died in 2013 aged 95.

One of his key mantras was the use of vertical stripes in art. I followed this in the 'Goodman Fish' - two gilded perch with stripes behind that mirror the natural beauty of these wonderful creatures.

All the animals used in my taxidermy art come from either antique collections, or as in this case, have died of natural causes and have been ethically sourced. The second work sold is a commission, using silver gilded koi carp.

Taxidermy art in the media

It's good to see the contemporary taxidermy art movement getting coverage in the media in the last few days. The Financial Times included a feature on Harriet Horton in the 'how to spend it' section of their website - describing how "neon lighting and pop colours enliven the macabre".

http://howtospendit.ft.com/personal-luxuries/94701-harriet-horton-a-playful-take-on-taxidermy

Dirge Magazine looked at the book published at the end of last year by Robert Marbury, 'Taxidermy Art' which aims to dispel misconceptions about this ancient form of work, saying it is "fusing unlikely elements together to create whimsical, grotesque, or elegant works of art".