Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder
When Natalie Williamson sees a skull or a decaying animal carcass she doesn’t see something unsightly or disturbing she sees something that has the potential to be beautiful.
Her unusual sculptures and wall hangings are created using, largely, natural materials with skulls, antlers and skeletons as the main features.
Natalie explained that the idea for her original art work came from her final year project at university which didn’t go as planned, she said: “For my final project at university I started making decorated skulls, to create shadow art which is where you make a big pile of junk to create something pretty on the wall. I started collecting and decorating the skulls to try and make the shadows on the wall but I just couldn’t get it to work, when I took it apart I was left with all these decorated skulls and it started there.”
They say that all art is subjective and this is certainly true when it comes to Natalie’s work. Last year Natalie covered Bark House Mountain Base at Ashness Bridge with her skulls as part of C-Arts, this was Natalie’s first exhibition since university but she got know what people thought of her work.
Skulls are not just a raw material, Natalie sees her work as a way of honouring and representing the animal that the skull belonged to, she said: “I always take photographs of things before I take them and strip them down and that’s how I get an idea of what I want to do with it; if I find it in a flower field I’ll cover it in flowers, if it’s near the water I’ll try and make it water themed or beach themed.”
“It’s my way of giving something that has died another life and, in my mind, trying to make death beautiful.”
Natalie only works with skulls which she has found or someone has told her about, none of the animals have been killed for her work, she said: “I try and be Cumbrian based, I’m not a big walker but I know the kind of places that animals will go to die along walls, flat land, rivers. I have a lot of friends who will go out walking and pick things up for me or they’ll tell me where it is because they don’t want to touch it. I also know a lot of Farmers who tell me if they’ve got anything.”
“I also go to Scotland for two weeks every year and look specifically for deer antlers. I always go in April because that’s when they start shedding. It’s becoming a bit more difficult in Scotland now because of the hunting ban but it just means that I have to find them naturally.”
“When hunters leave the skulls with the horns cut off it means that I can embellish them; it’s kind of like I’m picking up their rubbish and making it into something beautiful – that’s how I see my art anyway.”
It isn’t just antlers and deer skulls that make up Natalie’s collection, she also uses sheep, cows, mice, birds, hamsters and part of a whales skull has fallen into her position, she’s also started experimenting with butterflies and taxidermy.
While Natalie prefers to use solely natural elements to create her pieces she has started to introduce different elements including mirrors, beads and fake flowers.
Although it wasn’t until she studied textile crafts that Natalie started using skulls she’s always been fascinated by skulls and animals, stopping and examining road kill to see if she can use the animal in some way, she said: “Even as a child my parents were always tell me not to pick things up.”
Bone is not the easiest medium to work with and Natalie has spent years perfecting the process. All the skulls and bone that Natalie works with have been sanitised which, in itself has proved problematic. It’s important to Natalie that she keeps as much natural character of the skull as possible but bleaching them took too much colour out of them and turned them bright white. The peroxide in blonde hair dye has the same sanitising effect but leaves the colour.
That’s just one problem, she’s also had to find at glue that will hold things in place, learn to drill through bone and find the best way to strip the skulls – obviously naturally is best.
Natalie’s potential has already been recognised and several pieces of her work have been sent to Dubai to be displayed in show homes, she said: “I have a very, very mixed response and I absolutely love that.”
“I will never ever stop doing what I do; I love going out and hunting for skulls and decorating them. If I can make a living from it then that’s great but if I can’t I’ll never stop because I just love it. I do it for myself more than for money.”
Contact via www.beautifuldemise.co.uk for more details and upcoming shows.
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