Skull Appreciation Day 2012

Just a reminder that June 4th is Skull Appreciation Day!

The editors of Skull-A-Day will be partnering with our friends at Philadelphia's Mütter Museum for a special one-day event!

 If you're in the Philly area I hope you'll stop by the museum between 10am and 5pm for an exhibition of 50+ original skull sculptures, plus dozens of pieces of skull mail art sent directly to the museum from artists from around the globe!

The event is FREE with regular museum admission! Museum information can be found HERE and a map of the location is HERE. Hope to see you there on June 4th!

And hey, even if you can't make it, we want to hear from you about how you plan to spend your day and of course we want to see pix of the aftermath!

Skull-A-Day Press: Brains Skull part III

Even more kind press about my recent Mütter's Skull of Brains!...

 Wired Article

Alltop-Holy Kaw! post

Trend Hunter post

Skull-A-Day Press: Mütter QÜESTIONS

In addition to the recent brain slice skull I made at the Mütter Museum they also had me answer some fun questions on the blog for their fantastic store!

Read the entire interview HERE.

Skull-A-Day Press: Brains Skull

There's been lots of great press about my recent Mütter's Skull of Brains!...

Neatorama Post

 

Flavorpill Video of The Day!

DudeCraft Post!

The Daily What post!

[BONUS] 379. Mütter's Skull of Brains

Last month I made a special trip to visit my friends at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia's Mütter Museum. Anna, the curator, asked if I could make a new skull for an upcoming project of theirs and of course I said yes, and then suggested that I make it in the museum itself. Since most of the items on display are very fragile I figured I'd be working with display jars or other non-historical materials. However, to my delight they had just acquired a collection of hundreds of beautiful real brain slices encased in acrylic (which had been dubbed "Zombie MRE's")! Since they're very sturdy I was allowed to used them as my material and I was set up in a lovely room that holds the card catalog for their library. Over the course of two days I arranged the slices on two large old library tables and climbed a ladder over and over making sure the image looked right from a single vantage point (where I would eventually take my picture). All told I used 375 slices and a bit of fabric for the eye/nose holes...

While I was there we filmed a few video segments as well...







As always I had a wonderful time with the staff of the museum and can't wait to get back there to do something else! While the piece itself was only temporary and dismantled shortly there are still tons of great stuff to see in the museum (including a few of the original Skull-A-Day pieces on display right next to the gift shop). I highly recommend you visit the Mütter Museum you're ever in Philadelphia, you won't be disappointed.

Skull-A-Day on Display: Street Anatomy, Chicago

The fantastic Street Anatomy blog is hosting its first curated art show in Chicago next month and my work will be included! If you're in the area I hope you'll check it out...

STREET ANATOMY

A group exhibition featuring the human anatomy in contemporary art and pop culture.

International Museum of Surgical Science
1524 N. Lake Shore Drive. Chicago, IL

September 3 - November 19, 2010
Opening: Friday, September 3, 5-9 pm

Curated by Vanessa Ruiz 

Featured Artists:
David Foox 

Emilio Garcia  

Stephen Shanabrook 

Jason Freeny
Noah Scalin 
CAKE
Robyn Roth 
Heather Tompkins
Ryan Gerdes

Skull Event: Mütter Ball

Hey folks just had to let you know about a fantastic event for skull-lovers coming up next month at the terrific Mütter Museum (which I recently visited)...

Come together and party like it’s 1859 at the world famous Mütter Museum on Friday, March 12th for 2010 Annual Mütter Ball, benefitting The College of Physicians of Philadelphia!  The evening will be a Victorian-inspired affair, complete with authentic 19th-century punches and a VIP Absinthe Lounge! The evening will features the music of one of Philly’s hottest DJs, Maria V!  And, of course, the Mutter Museum will be open for free visitation!

The Mütter Ball is a must for fans of all things Steampunk, Tim Burton and Edward Gorey! Guests are encouraged to come decked out in their best Victorian-inspired garb! Tickets are going fast, buy today at: http://mutterball.eventbrite.com/!

And this week only they are even offering 10% off admission prices to Skull-A-Day readers if you use the discount code “mutter2010"! I'll definitely be going, so I hope to see you there! Tickets and details are HERE.

Skull-A-Day Press: No Bones About It!

On my recent visit to Philadelphia's amazing Mütter Museum I had the honor of being interviewed by the museum's director for his web show "No Bones About It!"...

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.

[BONUS] Night At The Skull Museum

This past weekend the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts hosted "Night At The Art Museum", a Halloween themed event for kids featuring spooky crafts, stories, games, and more. Even though I was away and couldn't participate in person I was glad that Skull-A-Day could still be a part of the night. A slideshow of my skulls were shown to the kids and then they were given an assortment of craft materials to make their own skulls. As usual the results were terrific...

Corinne - Age 5

Max - Age 5 1/2

Gabriel - Age 5

Colin - Age 6

Donovan - Age 3

William - Age 3

River - Age 6

Wyatt - Age 4 1/2

Carrington - Age 5

Jackson - Age 6 1/2

Nikos - Age 5

Kyah - Age 10

Ian - Age 4 1/2

Alexis - Age 6

Liam - Age 6

Caleb - Age 6

Eva - Age 8 3/4

Lulu - Age 5

Nick - Age 8

Jen - Age 38

Carla - Age 7

Annie - Age 7

Annie - Age 7

Felix - Age 8

Jeremiah - Age 7

Greta - Age 5

Carla - Age 7 & Mariel

Amena - Age 12

Shoa - Age 9

Unlabled

Thanks to all the kids (little and big) for participating and Megan for suggesting that Skull-A-Day be a part of the event! And hey, if your own little ones make some skulls this Halloween (or anytime really) do send them in!