Friday, June 8, 2012

Extracurricular activites: Taxidermy with Rebecca

the flock


If you were at the student exhibition on May 25th, you may have noticed a colorful flock of birds perched among the paintings and drawings.  First year student Rebecca C. Gray has been teaching herself and other students taxidermy.  Her patients are pet shop fatalities, and she intends to use them as subjects when she takes the still life painting class at GCA. 
Rebecca C. Gray and Adrienne Stranger at the operating table
David Troncoso with his first two birds


canary with an attitude!



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5 comments:

  1. JuliaJune 9, 2012 at 3:17 AM

    Amazing! I would love to learn from her xD

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  2. AnonymousJune 10, 2012 at 8:33 AM

    Carl Akeley would be more than pleased to see students at a school like GCA doing taxidermy!

    Small birds are some of the hardest things to do well, so this is not exactly taking the easy route to learning--all the more impressive!. My one criticism is that the feathers need to be better pinned while the mounts are drying. Of course, good pinning is much easier said than done.

    If they haven't already been looked into, some of the older books can be particularly helpful with this kind of thing, e.g. John Rowley, Leon Pray, etc. Along different lines, WASCO sells a DVD with Dave Luke showing techniques for wrapping bodies that might also be useful. Again, just in case they haven't already been looked into.

    Hope to see more taxidermy posts as things progress. Best of luck!

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  3. Berta CaseJune 11, 2012 at 1:52 PM

    Way to go, Becca!
    Your Mom

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  4. Berta CaseJune 11, 2012 at 1:52 PM

    Way to go, Becca!

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  5. EileenSeptember 5, 2012 at 9:25 PM

    This is beautiful! I'm actually currently producing a film entitled, DEAD ZOO. After visiting a bar in Canada and seeing a pair of taxidermy tigers fighting, I began working on the screenplay that would eventually become DEAD ZOO. It depicts a world where Bodies and Machines merge. A prosthetic love story about what it means to be human, and what it means to be alive. Now, I'm finally making this film - you can check out the full synopsis, concept art photos/video and crew here: http://www.indiegogo.com/DEADZOO?a=1091407

    We have an Oscar-nominated 3D character artist working on the 3D graphics! We also have a myriad of CRAZY perks for contributing, including your own taxidermy animal!!

    Please take a peak and pass the word. Thank you!
    http://www.indiegogo.com/DEADZOO?a=1091407

    ReplyDelete