“Have you ever been homesick for a place that doesn’t actually exist anymore? Someplace that now only exists in your mind?” – Jenny Lawson
Yes Jenny. Sometimes.
Last week, I was talking with a dear work friend about taxidermy.
Well, rather, she was talking to me about taxidermy and how she found it a bit creepy.
More than a bit creepy.
As she started to explain, I stopped her (probably too abruptly) and said (probably too aggressively) “No! … I love taxidermy. The worse the taxidermy, the more I love it. Have you ever seen bad taxidermy?!”
After a few moments of stunned silence, she cleared her throat, “Ahem,” and said, “Well, what … what is bad taxidermy?” She sounded genuinely interested but also more than a little bit afraid, which, to be fair, is how I suppose anyone should approach the topic of taxidermy, and in particular, this genre of taxidermy.
Yes, genres of taxidermy. Aside from just the average, boring, run of the mill taxidermy that one comes across quite regularly in the North East, there’s more contemporary taxidermy – anything from mixed media to steampunk taxidermy. There’s reproductions, dioramas, museum mounts, skin mounts, full-body mounts, pet taxidermy, medical taxidermy. There are taxidermy art toys and oddity exhibits. And, of course, my favorite genre: bad taxidermy.
After I professed my love of poorly taxidermied animals, I shared a few links.
Also, before you say something, I am well aware that taxiermied isn’t actually a word, because taxidermy is a noun and you can’t really past-tense a noun, but, well, it should be a verb. I am going to write Cambridge. They seem much more reasonable than the Oxford folk.
Share and tell began, my plan to change hearts and minds.
Followed by an absolute work of art:
How do you get inspired for your personal work?
Adele Morse: For my taxidermy, the inspiration comes directly from the animal. I don’t think “today I want to make a…
That’s all it took, she was hooked.
I think. I mean, she seemed interested. She’s also known for being very nice.
I shared example after example of animals that were preserved in the most awkward, at best (or should I say, the very best) ways possible.
After a few minutes she started to look up examples of bad taxidermy on her own – there is seemingly and endless supply of taxidermy disasters … and almost all of them are hilarious.
She admitted that perhaps she was a bit too quick to judge the art of preserving dead things.
Most of the time, it’s just a decapitated creature nailed to a board, staring blanking into your soul – or the abyss. Someone killed and ate the poor creature, and then turned their leftovers into creepy (sometimes really cool) home decor. “Let’s immortalize this experience and flavor in a way that will haunt my grandchildren,” but with plastic eyeballs.
I don’t actually have anything against mounts, not really. Especially if the animal was well loved and made someone’s table. It’s actually nice that the whole animal is used for something.
Of course, we eventually took a detour to Jenny Lawson, my always favorite blogger, with my favorite blog post of all time:
I really wish I still had left over Copernicus Valentine’s Day cards. It’s possibly one of my favorites. I wouldn’t be sad to get him in the mail, picture or … him.
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