Bird 2

Another small animal.


The body was still warm when I picked it up. A reminder that anything can happen at any moment. Life can evaporate into thin air. Treasure the moments.

Currently on a leaf bed, sitting on my balcony now, I hope to be a bit more careful with this one.

An update about the squirrel- my schedule has prevented me from spending adequate time back in my hometown Los Gatos to properly re-dig the body, so RIP forever in the earth little guy.

Kazu Sano

I have been feeling sad lately, during this unfortunate time. Kazu, you were not only a great artist and teacher, but you were also a kind, knowledgeable, and respectable person.

You have impacted my life so much. I wish I could have spent more time with you.

I send my love and support to friends and family of Kazu.

I really miss you. I will always remember you...

Kazu Sano's website: http://www.kazusano.com/

Saving the Dead 1

These couple weeks I am finishing up numerous projects, and will put them up on my website soon. But of course, I have not forgotten...

I realized that it has almost been a year since I picked up my first dead. My busy schedule has pushed the end of this experiment for a little longer than I wished. But finally, I am another step towards closure for the bird and mouse.

One container filled partway with bleach, and another container filled partway with linseed oil, a few paper towels, gloves, and I am all set to go. The animals were dropped into first the bleach, to break down the dried flesh, and then their parts were dropped into the oil to seal and harden the bones, and to stop the bleach from breaking down the bones further. Sounds easy right?


First lesson learned: I need to pay attention. Duh. Pay attention when dealing with more than one animal. Unless you are an expert at bone identification pertaining to animal species, do not drop two different animals into one container.

Second lesson learned: Regularly turn the animals as they float in the bleach. Because they float, one side of their bodies would break down, and the other side would remained unchanged. Uneven flesh being worn away results in uneven bone erosion which results in lost bones. This was a mistake I made with the bird, and that resulted in a bird skull that disintegrated on one side and left the other side crumbling. Hence, no bird skull, and only the beak. :-(

Third lesson learned: I knew that the small bones would be a pain in the ass to salvage, but unless you have the necessary tools, it is nearly impossible to get any bones out in one whole piece. The bleach broke down thin areas too fast and the bone became soft as wet paper, tearing easily. So maybe starting out small for this type of project is not the wisest decision.

So, to start my collection, I have a pair of bird legs, a bird beak, and a mouse skull with the back missing. The back missing from the mouse skull is not a total loss, as I can see the inside skeletal structures.


Now all I have left to do is to find a display box. Then I can put this aside and move on to other animals.

And, to add to my accidental collection of dove eggs, two new abandoned little ones, now housed in my ugly sculpture.

Squirrel

Back in my hometown, Los Gatos...

I was riding my bicycle along Winchester Boulevard, when I passed by this little fellow.


So many

dead animals

So sad.

Whilst I am away of the city, I might as well take advantage of the setting, as I cannot bury animals anywhere near my apartment in San Francisco. He deserves a proper burial. It's the least I could do in exchange for his skeleton.



I'll check back the next time I'm back down.

New Addition to the Family

Brought him home a couple of days ago. Named him Lum.




~Special thanks to Mark.~

As for the bird and mouse? Still not quite... I may have to speed up the process somehow when I find some time. Then, I will name them. Then it will be one big happy family: Me, my invisible wonderful husband (it is great being married to my work), Lum, and the two critters!

Stuff Happened

Damn! Have not posted for a while! Knew that I would slack off sometime.

First, the Portals and Peepholes show was awesome! Like stepping into another world! In case you missed it, here are photos from the event.

Well a lot has happened. I don't feel like going into detail about it today, so here is a summary of topics to talk about in near future posts (and by "near" I mean within the next week or so):

• Chromagination and Chromagination Book Release Party in San Francisco
  
• Open Studios
• Urban-Muse

Good stuff there; check out the websites!

Anyway, still tending to the body farm (click on "death" under labels) on my balcony, I am reminded of an old bronze sculpture I did a couple years ago. Uglinteresting piece of work.

I don't know how clearly the shapes read, but it is basically an abstract female body with a hand in place of her head, holding a staff with feet at one end, and the second hand at the top of the staff, holding a cage. The cage has her face as the base.



Inside the cage are dove eggs. A dove has made a nest in a shrub of one of the plant boxes out there. The dove laid three eggs, only one egg did not survive and it was just one egg in the cage for a few months.

Then one day a dove (cannot verify it was the same dove) was back in the same nesting area, only this time, she was just keeping one egg warm. Unfortunately, that egg was abandoned due to an unintentional spook to the dove.

Now r.i.p two fetuses, birds that were to be, but never will, their spirits reside in an open birdcage, free to fly, free to come and go as they please.

So I guess technically, I have four small bodies....

Body Farm Update

Checked on my animals (bird, mouse) to see if they are doing okay, after all, it has been a couple months. Just because they are no longer alive does not mean you can ignore your pets! I'm a responsible owner he he...

They look fine. No bugs though, I don't think the city is the right place to attract insects.


Their eye sockets are starting to show, and the bones of their feet are apparent, and intact. They look dried up.

Decomposition of the body is a slow process....

Dead Mouse

My zombie bird has a new pet

Aaaw, its so small... only a baby!

Dead Bird

My first animal carcass!!!

I was walking home a couple days ago and found this dead bird on the sidewalk.

With the protection of tissue paper, I peeled the body off the cement by one of the birds' leg. It was gross! As I trotted towards my apartment, the body bumped against a part of my hand, which made me very uncomfortable. Even though I was only a block away from home, it felt too long to have a dangling carcass in your hand. I freaked out a little because I thought I felt it twitch, and thought maybe this sticky lump of feathers was still alive. Nope- just me freaking out.

There was a cross-guard near an elementary school I was passing. She looked at me funny. I told her I was going to give it a proper burial :-P

Got home, threw it in a soil box on the balcony, found a container, cut holes in the container, bird in the container, sprayed water on the body to keep it moist, hid it in shrub.

Now I wait. Hopefully bugs will get to it to clean the flesh off the bones.

I will have to do some research eventually so I can reassemble the bones if all goes well. I hope to have some great bone/skeletal structures soon!!!