About Antler & Canvas Art
DEER ANTLER ART
The deer antlers used in the creation of the art pieces in THE ANTLER SHOP began as antler sheds — that is, they are the product of the very natural process by which members of the deer family shed their antlers yearly. From start to finish, each piece goes through numerous steps, each done by hand, one of which is the use of food grade wax, before it is presented as a finished art piece that is ready to provide decades of enjoyment.
I created my first antler art pipes in the mid-1970's as favors and gifts for friends. Reactions were extremely favorable. Not long after, I could frequently be found at art fairs like the Brady Street Festivals in Milwaukee or in Madison along State Street near Lake Street Station or in the Library Mall on the UW-Madison campus or at the Record Shanty in downtown Whitewater. Life took some interesting turns and priorities changed. And antlers took a back burner. But collecting deer antler sheds and the tools to improve the art didn’t.
The extensive process each piece goes through today is based on years of improving the necessary skills and significant advances in the tools of the arts and trade. But, at the end of the day, the basic process still looks very much like it did 45 years ago when I started.
To learn more about antlers, visit these pages:
CANVAS ART
The pieces on display which may or may not be available for purchase in the CANVAS ART SHOP are all experiments in colour, created by the combined hydrodynamics of acrylic media, water and oil, and influenced by fire, air pressure, gravity, and anything else that comes to mind and is within reach. I’m also experimenting with progressively larger works as well, only being limited by the space with which I have to create. Nearly as many as have been created have been started again. The point at which I call a piece done is always up for debate; there is no definitive answer.
There are countless quotes by famous people from all walks of life who attempt to explain what art is or what the creative process is or how to appreciate it or what it's societal value is or whatever. The lists of the what's and how's and why's are endless. Here is a baker's dozen that serve as an inspiration to me, that perhaps might somehow also serve as one for you, regardless of what in life you do.
"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he [she] grows up." Picasso
"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." Henry David Thoreau
"Every artist was first an amateur." Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Have no fear of perfection -- you'll never reach it." Salvador Dali
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Margaret Wolfe Hungerford
"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells." Dr. Seuss
"Creativity is Contagious. Pass it on." Albert Einstein
"Once in awhile you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right." Robert Hunter
"People fail to understand that we paint in order to experiment." Edvard Munch
"Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do." Edgar Degas
"Art is never finished, only abandoned." da Vinci
"The painting rises from the brushstrokes as a poem rises from the words. The meaning comes later." Joan Miro
"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for." Georgia O'Keefe