Feathered Fox, faux taxidermy fabrication with chicken feathers

Mixed media artist Julie Dives creates modern memento mori that combine modern sculpture and illustration with trophies of bygone centuries. Animals of all sorts are a common motif that runs through Julie’s portfolio website.

Feathered Bear, faux taxidermy fabrication with goose and chicken feathers

I really love the artist’s recent work in her Mementos series. Referencing hunting trophies, the artist creates convincing approximations of taxidermy animal heads – like foxes and bears – using various materials. Perhaps most interestingly, Julie forgoes the use of fur, instead creating each animal’s coat out of colored feathers. The resulting “trophies” are slightly off-kilter, uncanny valley approximations of the animals in question, realistic enough to force a closer examination.

www.juliedives.com

Julie also works in wo-dimensional media such as printmaking and drawing. In these works, she tends to layer images of different objects, like Victorian medical illustrations and implements, or line-heavy drawings of birds and bones. Each image is a perfect blend of macabre and elegant.

Crow, etching with hand drawing