Teddy Skull Series Artist’s StatementHumans routinely direct the course of evolution in domestic animal species through selective breeding. In companion animals breeding is driven more by marketability than function. Like designer dog breeds, the teddy bear is a creature whose shape is dictated by social trends and the changing definition of ‘cute.’
Genus Ursulus: Teddy Skulls is a pseudo-scientific study of the morphology of skulls of teddy bears. Morphology refers to the form and structures that differentiate one breed from another but also give a sense of the story of the individual. The genus name Ursulus comes from the Latin ‘small bear’. Using a variety of store-bought teddy bears as ‘species’ source material, I am reverse-engineering what their skulls look like and the differences and similarities between ‘breeds.’ My approach is to make up evidence and document, present, and interpret that evidence in a formal manner.
I consider the skull to be an elegant structural armature for life, something that reveals historical clues and hints at individual stories that may never be told. It is tangible evidence of a life lived—not just the death at the end of a life. I forget that for many people the skull mainly symbolizes tragedy and death. The skull of the teddy bear folds a few more layers into one’s response to skulls: the teddy bear is a subject that is linked to childhood and innocence, but also to the man-made and unnatural. I also think a teddy skull is quite humorous—a wickedly light take on a heavy subject. A teddy skull becomes an emotionally loaded image that brings up a wide range of responses.
To sculpt with wool I use a process called felting, which refers to compressing and matting individual fibers into a united solid mass through use of heat, pressure, moisture, or mechanical means. In industrial use, machines compress wool into sheets of felt mechanically by repeatedly plunging beds of sharp, barbed felting needles into loose wool to mat the fibers together. I use the same technique on a smaller scale using a handheld needle to poke loose fibers into a solid shape.
November 2006
