Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The Assemblage Menagerie

Thanks for the nice reception you game to my vintage dog assemblage piece last week.  I created it quite a while ago when I was teaching classes on assemblage.  The one I featured last week, I call Vintage Dog:
He was inspired by my childhood dog, a border collie named Happy, and his embellishments are all about nostalgia for a happy childhood.  
This dog, Lucky, channels the 1910's era; I feel like he could be one of those dogs that you see in pictures playing poker and smoking cigarettes.
The cats were created to feature different ways to use texture mediums in assemblage and also to  incorporate the ideas of the mysterious:
They were all very fun to make.  The base were these manikins from Dick Blick.  Tim Holtz has done some altered birds which are a little similar, but I couldn't find them easily on his site - anyone have a link? I don't see myself teaching the animal assemblage classes again, but I do have a class outlined that uses a human manikin as the base.  Have you ever done a similar altered project or assemblage?  The animals are curious . . .

13 comments:

scrappyjacky said...

I have 3 small human mannikins all ready to alter.....just waiting to get some inspiration!!

Sian said...

I've never done anything like this before and I think they are cool. There is something about them, each with their own personality, that demands a second look. And a third.

Heather said...

I love the black sparkly cat best! They are wonderful creations & you are opening my eyes to all kinds of creativity that I never knew about :)

Anonymous said...

Fabulous !!
I have never tried this but your art with these is lovely and i love the themes you chose for each

Julie Shoemaker said...

Rinda these are wonderful. I agree with you on the red dog, but those cats are the meow! You just sent me on a frenzy looking for Tim's altered bird, which I couldn't find. I did see some great altered birds though...looking for a supplier.

Cheri said...

I have never tried this, but they sure are interesting. I just wanted to say, you've really got the focus down great. Love the photos!

Elizabeth said...

Fantastic work on the cats. Love them!

Denise said...

I really love these, I've never seen any like it and they are fascinating- great photos too

Anonymous said...

I've never tried anything like this, but I love them. Sian is right, I kept going back to look at them again and again. There's something about the red cat's expression that pulls me in. And I love the combination of the red and turquoise.

Catherine said...

My that is quite the menageie.
Delightful and oh so clever.
The little black winged cat is pretty darn sassy : )
Catherine

Nellie Mae said...

Way coooooool!!!!

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

I've never done anything like them but they certain are neat! I love the red winged cat!

laurie said...

i am so enthralled with these little creatures! they are very unique and fascinating.
i have never attempted such a project but would love to someday.