Motivational Skulls

Today’s skulls are a by-product from two of the many recent lectures by The Skullmaster.

Jeannine Luby in Scranton, PA told us: “I heard Noah speak in Scranton PA in September and was inspired by his work. While on vacation in Williamsburg, VA I decided to create a skull from the shells I found at a beach along the James River.”


Cynthia wrote: “I just took Noah’s class during my MDC training over the last two weeks and when he was in Crotonville, we still had our masking tape art up on the wall. Well, as we were taking it down, I bunched it up into a ball and found myself forming this skull like shape. I really enjoyed the class. Thanks—”


C. Foley says:

It is wonderful to see how the Skullmaster’s influence is always paid forward in inspiring his past students. Thank you both for submitting you work for us to share. Also, if any of our readers who have been inspired directly by the Skullmaster or indirectly through one of the wonderful artists that we feature everyday, we would love to hear from you. Please send your work to our Submission Box.

Skull-A-Day on Tour: Charlottesville, VA

I'm going to be giving a lecture & workshop about the Skull-A-Day project and my own design & consulting firm Another Limited Rebellion at Piedmont Virginia Community College this coming Wednesday, February 17th at 6pm. It's free and open to the public! If you're in the Charlottesville, VA area I hope you'll stop by and say hi.

PVCC campus
Black Box Theatre
V. Earl Dickinson Building
More info: 434.961.5362
Or go HERE for maps of the campus.

Skull-A-Day on Tour: Gel 2010

I'm happy to announce that I will be once again participating in the Gel Conference in NYC on April 29 & 30! This year I'll be leading a workshop called "Generating Creative Energy" in which participants will meet at the Etsy headquarters and take part in a hands-on exercise to experience the benefits I found in creating Skull-A-Day. For more information and to sign-up for the nearly sold-out conference go HERE.

And if you haven't seen it yet, here's my talk from the 2009 Gel Conference...

Noah Scalin at Gel 2009 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.

Skull-A-Day on Tour: December

I thought I had finished my travel for the year after the non-stop tour in October, but my December has suddenly filled up with Skull-A-Day related talks! Since these are not really public events I've haven't promoted them, but in case you're interested here's what I'm up to:

• December 7th: speaking to design students at Syracuse University – Syracuse, NY
• December 9th: talk/workshop at the Intuit Experience Design (XD) Forum– San Francisco
• December 11th: talk/workshop at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art's Art NOW Teen Symposium – Richmond, VA
• December 15th: talks for the New York Public Library's SmARTZ events for teens at two branches (Grand Concourse, Bronx & Grand Central, Manhattan). – New York City

If your organization is looking for a speaker on generating creative energy I'd be happy to talk about traveling to your town as well. Contact me at "skull" at "skulladay.com".

Skull-A-Day on Tour: Philly Recap

I spent Halloween weekend in Philadelphia taking part in the Day of The Dead event put on by the fantastic folks at the Mütter Museum...


This is the second year of this annual event and I was asked to be the keynote speaker. In addition I did a book signing...


and my Papercraft Skull was included in the craft-making portion of the day...



As a bonus a small selection of my original Skulls were put on display...


And my Skull Chair also made an appearance in their ofrenda that was set up for just the day...


I also got a personal tour of their amazing collection of medical oddities (including more skulls than I could count) by curator Anna Dhody, who was the person who actually brought me to the event...
It was a great conclusion to my intense month of touring and a perfect way to celebrate Halloween and Dia de Los Muertos. Thanks again to everyone at the Mütter for their hospitality! If you haven't been to the museum yet, do yourself a favor and go the next time you're in Philly, it truly is a skull-lovers paradise!

p.s. I also filmed an interview with the museum director Dr. Robert Hicks for his program "No Bones About It" while I was there, so expect to see that as soon as it's online.

Skull-A-Day Press: Philadelphia City Paper

There's a nice mention of my upcoming Halloween talk at the Mütter Museum in the Philadelphia City Paper.




Read the whole thing HERE.
(And no, I don't know what "silk bubbles" are either or where they got that from!)

Skull-A-Day on Tour: Sandusky Recap

I just got back from a lovely weekend in Sandusky, Ohio where the fine folks at the Sandusky Cultural Center curated an all skull art show inspired by my project which they called, appropriately enough, "Skull A Day". I sent 15 of the original skulls for them to display along side of art by 17 invited Northern Ohio artists. There was even a display in the entryway of skeletal work by local middle and high school students! All of the art was fantastic and there was a great crowd at the opening (which featured skull cookies and chocolates). I signed books, gave a brief talk on the project and met a bunch of really nice people.

Here are a few images from the installation:



The Kotkowski family drove over an hour to check the show out and have me sign their skull!...


Fellow artists the Josh and Callie had me at their house for a lovely dinner and not only did I leave them a skull on their table (made of the cute holiday confetti that decorated it)...


...but I also discovered a cute face in the remnants of my desert plate. Do you see it?

Thanks again to Charles T. Mayer who coordinated the whole thing and was my kind host.

If you're in the area do stop by, the show is up through November 29th.

Off to Philadelphia next...

Skull-A-Day on Tour: Sandusky, Ohio - October 25th

Just a reminder that I'll be in Sandusky, Ohio on October 25th! The Sandusky Cultural Center is doing a show of all skull art that will feature a dozen of my original Skull-A-Day pieces. I'll be giving a talk about the project and signing copies of my book Skull at the opening. More details can be found HERE.

October 25th 1-4pm (lecture is at 2pm)

Skull-A-Day Exhibition Opening, Lecture, & Book Signing
Sandusky Cultural Center
2130 Hayes Ave.
Sandusky, Ohio
(exhibition runs through November 29th)

image shown: 33. Libro del Cráneo

Skull-A-Day on Tour: October

It should come as no surprise that October will be a busy month for me. Here's a list of the events I've got scheduled, if you're in the area I hope you'll come out to one or more and say "hi"...



October 7th: Richmond, VA
Talk 20 slide presention on Skull-A-Day
6pm @1708 Gallery 319 W. Broad St.
RSVP HERE
FREE

October 9th: Hollywood, CA
Skulls exhibition opening & Book Signing @ Chaos Gallery at Museum of Death
6-9pm @ 6033 Hollywood Blvd.
(exhibition runs through just October 14th)

October 15th: Louisville, KY
Lecture & Book Signing
Louisville Graphic Design Association 100 Show
6-9pm @ The Mellwood Art Center 1860 Mellwood Ave.

October 17th: Richmond, VA
Book signing at Blood Lake
7:30-11:30 @ 13131 Overhill Lake Lane

October 25th: Sandusky, OH
Skull-A-Day exhibition Lecture & Book Signing.
Sandusky Cultural Art Center
Details TBA @ 2130 Hayes Ave.

October 31st: Philadelphia, PA
Talk, workshop, & book signing.
Day of The Dead event at the Mütter Museum
10am-5pm @ 19 S. 22nd St.
Free with museum admission.

image: 139. Skull-O-Lantern