Thesis Complesis

My thesis is finally done! What started off as something experimental has developed into a skill and a style that I am glad I can have as part of my portfolio. I'm not sure how it's going to fit into the overall scheme of my career as an artist, but I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from friends and faculty. And, now I can say I'm an amateur woodworker, electrician, and taxidermist.

So here it is, the story of Egor the Brave:

 

I'm planning to move out of Baltimore in the coming months, so I'm selling these bulky things. Numbers 2 and 8 are gone, but if you're interested in any the others, please contact me at egmaatman@gmail.com for prices. Graduation is Monday. Eep!

Carcass Week!

What a hectic month I've had! First of all, my boy and I've moved into a new apartment, and moving commanded most of my time these past couple weeks. The apartment came with an adorable cat who was left there (hrmph) by her previous owner. I re-named her Bird... she chirps sometimes.



Last week I completed a t-shirt design based on a news article. The article can be viewed here. What's believed to be the world's oldest cemetery was found in Jordan, and archaeologists found fox remains buried next to the human remains, and were treated similarly. This led scientists to believe that the foxes may have been kept as pets.


Larger View

Based on this project and the items we moved into her apartment, Bird probably noticed our fascination with skeletons, oddities and the like. The day after Valentine's Day she gave us a gift: a tiny dead mouse!



She must have known it was the perfect size for the piece I am currently working on for Thesis. I've never tried taxidermy before, but the internet gives you pretty easy step-by-step instructions. I've been a vegetarian for several years now, so it took about an hour to muster up the courage to make the first cut... but after that it was surprisingly easy.





i've spared you the gory details. the second one is for scale... I'd have to say it would probably be easier to stuff a bigger mouse, but I took what I was given. In a future post, I'll show you what this little guy gets used for.

Flappy New Year!

One year closer to the Apocalypse. Can't wait!

So far I've had a pretty productive break. I finally started and finished the portrait of my grandparents that I'd been promising them I'd do for a while.

...I tried.  I shaved a couple years off 'em.

Then I decided I'd do a couple little pieces for fun. These are going to be hanging up in Patterson Perk on Eastern Avenue, along with some framed collages, the Wanderin' mind, some wacky wall sculpture I'm finishing now, and more!

Kit Gloves. Collage and acrylic on two 6" wood panels.

And for good measure, here's a peek at my thesis as of the end of fall semester.

Next semester I'll be making four more box constructions, and then documenting all of the pieces and putting them into a hand-bound book.

Thanks to Janna Morton for taking pictures, I was so sleep deprived on the last day of class that I forgot my camera!

Egor the Brave, page 5

This is my last box construction of the semester. While I definitely had a good time... I'll be glad to have a month-long break from whittlin' little horses and the smell of wood glue.

I might try to add another layer in front of the trees on the left to add a little more depth, and put a few more highlights around the house frame shape at the top.

I also tried using a new technique that I found here to put text on wood panels that will accompany the box constructions.  So far I've made five, one for each of the boxes I've made so far.

And to close, as always: 

better, updated photos of everything will be posted when I complete this project in May!

Egor, Page 2

Ongoing work on my thesis, illustrating Egor the Brave, a Russian folktale.

This is page two, where Egor and his three sisters are being captured by the evil tsar and his army.

Better photos of all of these will be up at the end of the year!

Page one of "Egor the Brave"

In the seventh year, in the eighth millennium,

In the reign of Tsar Feodor,

Sofiia the Wise gave birth to three daughters,

And the fourth was a son, Egor the Brave:

His legs were in pure silver up to the knees,

His arms in red gold to the elbows.

Details:

Senior Thesis

So midterms are quickly approaching, and I have yet to blog about Senior Thesis! I've been working on making box constructions that will be used as illustrations for a Russian folk tale: Egor the Brave.

My hope is that these will be readable as illustrations, but also interestingly esoteric and strong enough to stand alone as individual artworks.

This is my messy studio. I get lots of splinters, and occasionally glue in my hair.

The first two boxes I've completed are actually the third and fourth pages of the story. They both occupy the same construction, though for the final presentation (which will be in book format) they will most likely be seen as separate pages, like so:

Page Three, Egor's torture and imprisonment scene.

Some details:

Page Four, Sofiia the Wise appears as an apparition, setting Egor free.

And some details:

If only blogger didn't make all my photos look extra washed out. 

Oh well, more on Egor soon!