Coastal Traveler - Spring 2008 - (Page 36)

Turning roadkill into art By Ashley Harrell She keeps surgical gloves and plastic bags of many different sizes in her car, and uses them to transport roadkill from Highway 1 to her freezer in Point Reyes Station. That might sound creepy to some, but for Judy San it’s just a part of the artistic process. She’s an amateur taxidermist, and apparently a very talented one. Judy San (San is not Judy’s last name, but her preferred Japanese title of respect) won “Best Habitat” in the mammal category of the Western States Taxidermy Championships in Redding, California. With her “raccoon in marshland,” Judy San, who had been mounting animals for just a little more than a year, defeated professional taxidermists who entered deer on rocks and bears in streams, with a score of 83 points out of a possible 100. The habitats were judged on realism, craftsmanship, artistic merit and originality. “Nice look for a wet sand — water looks very natural,” the judges commented on the scenery surrounding Wallis, the likeness of a 26-pound raccoon that Judy San picked up on her way to work one day. “He had a beautiful coat,” Judy San said. “I was really glad to be able to preserve it.” The raccoon was only Judy San’s second mount, and it took third place in the open mammal competition. Judy San’s badger, Sadie, and skunk, Viola, also placed third in the open mammal competition, and her owl, Osley, placed second in the novice bird category. In 2008, taxidermists consider themselves artists, striving for natural and aesthetic perfection, and above all, realism. The art has come far since its origin thousands of years ago, when man discovered that animal skin could be soaked and preserved (a process known as tanning) for shelter and clothing. The first taxidermists were hunter-gatherers who covered mud and rocks with animal skin to use in hunting rituals. By the 17th and 18th centuries, most towns had a resident taxidermist. It was in the 20th century that Carl Akeley, known as the father of modern taxidermy, revolutionized the art form with his finely molded animal replicas and elaborate museum displays. In pursuit of his craft, Akeley was trampled by an African elephant and killed a leopard with his bare hands. Judy San is not quite so hardcore, but she did receive extra points on all of her mounts for constructing her own mannikins through a process called carcass casting. After she removes the skin with an Exacto knife (“It slips off like long underwear,” she says), Judy San buries parts of the body in sand and covers the exposed parts with plaster. Most of the competitors ordered their mannikins from catalogs, Judy San said, which doesn’t allow for a perfect fit or unique positioning. This chips away at the project’s realism – the primary goal in taxidermy. “The judge said that because I was casting, the skins fit perfectly,” Judy San said. At the world championship, master taxidermists are constantly pushing the envelope and trying out inventive and new methods, according to Alan Dowdy, president of the California Association of Taxidermists. “To win the world title, you have to come up with something out of the ordinary that no one has seen before,” he said. “People try to do better each year with something that looks more and more realistic.” Dowdy recalled reading about a deer head that won in a previous year for the lifelike drool trickling out of its mouth. There were pieces of corn in the drool, and the deer’s mouth was open like it was chewing, Dowdy said. Judy San does plan to enter the Western States Taxidermy Championships again. She taught herself the craft because, “I was tired of watching little critters turn into pancakes on the road.” With a long history of craft-making, Judy San was able learn from The Breakthrough Mammal Taxidermy Manual and a video on carcass casting. While she’s delighted to have received the awards, Judy San’s interest in taxidermy is mainly educational. She donates her mounts to the museum of the Marin County Schools Outdoor Education facility at Walker Creek Ranch, where kids can get “nose to nose with some animals they’ve only seen at a distance.” Judy San has mounted voles, badgers, foxes, and scores of other forest creatures, all of which she’s donated to Walker Creek Ranch. Although she returns the skinned bodies of the animals to where they came from, Judy San said the ranch sometimes keeps the skulls and puts them on display. To speed up the decomposition (also known as cleaning), they use “a bug box” of flesh-eating, Demisted beetles. Judy San is willing to take on additional projects just as long as the animals involved weren’t purposefully killed. “I’m not going to mount Bambi.” Photo by Jonathan Kirn 36 coastaltraveler spring

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Coastal Traveler - Spring 2008 Contents Coastal Connoisseur Coastal Picks Coastal Scenario Coastal Art Coastal Driver Coastal Roadkill Coastal Eco Coastal Hotel Coastal Desert San Diego La Jolla Laguna Beach Malibu Santa Barbara San Luis Obispo Big Sur Carmel Monterey Santa Cruz San Francisco Sausalito Mill Valley Stinson Beach Bolinas Olema Point Reyes Station Fairfax Inverness Marshall, Tomales Sebastopol Petaluma Sonoma Coast Redwood Coast

Coastal Traveler - Spring 2008

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