ODDLY IT’S ART;

THE ROADKILL ARTIST

By Delfin Vigil

Like lots of young girls growing up, Sarina Brewer was always fascinated with nature. She loved to collect fossils, rocks and bones on her cousin's farm. But her passion was for pets. Her family even had a little graveyard in the yard for pets that died -- which they'd dig up and take with them whenever they moved. Rather than bury the remains again, Brewer would sometimes save the bones and build little shrines to her late pets in her bedroom because she wanted them to have an afterlife. So it shouldn't have been too surprising when Brewer began to collect roadkill and incorporate body parts into her sculptures and oil paintings. Every day this Minneapolis taxidermist-turned- artist addresses the inevitable question with the same answer: "I call it art. You can call it whatever you want."

The Pink posed a few other questions by e- mail exchange.

So, are you a Goth or something?

Uh ... yeah, maybe in 1987, when you would be called a "dark-sider." I don't really feel any particular connection to the Goth culture, but people often assume I do. People assume a number of things about me when they see my work. The other thing they assume is that I'm a guy. They're often caught off guard by my sex, as well as my appearance. I don't see anything about me or my persona as "dark and brooding." I don't really think there is a category I could put myself into. I've always just been a little different from other people. The only reason I prefer to wear black these days is because the bloodstains don't show (only sort of kidding! )

Have you ever freaked yourself out with one of your creations?

Sometimes I think of the carcass art as 3-D scream therapy, but I'm never freaked out by what I make. I'm not doing it for shock value or to intentionally gross people out. I know some will disagree, but I think what I make is beautiful, and that's why I make it.

Sometimes I freak myself out in a good way. I surprise myself once in a while. I'll be working on something that I think is going to be a simple, mundane project. Then, the next thing I know, I've slipped into some sort of frenzied art trance, and when it's all over and the dust has cleared, the finished product has ended up being 10 times wilder and weirder than I had initially imagined.

What inspired you to do this? When?

I'm not exactly sure how I got into doing this type of work. There wasn't one pivotal moment or a sudden epiphany. All I know is that it all started quite innocently. I have always been interested in freaks of nature -- frogs with extra legs, cows with two heads, cyclops piglets and the like. I loved going to the sideshow tents at the state fair as a child. There I could see living animals with parasitic twins and other deformities. My interest in taxidermy can be traced back to my earliest memories as a child, and my infatuation with freaks just continued to grow over the years.

Where do you get your materials?

The animals that I use are roadkill, discarded livestock, destroyed nuisance animals, casualties of the pet trade or died of natural causes. None of the animals I use are hunting trophies or were killed for the purpose of using them in my art. A strict "waste not, want not" policy is adhered to in my studio. Virtually every part of the animal is used in some way. I think of it as recycling. I figure why not make art out of something that would otherwise go to waste?

What was the first mixed animal you created?

I've always resisted the conventional and been drawn to the peculiar, so naturally the very first thing I ever mounted couldn't be normal. Right out if the gate, the first animal I mounted was a two-headed squirrel -- he's sort of the Custom Creature mascot/ambassador now. He hangs on my wall like a framed first dollar that hangs on the wall in bars across the country. Each subsequent mount I made just got weirder and weirder. Now there's no turning back. In the past I mounted a good number of normal animals for the sole purpose of exhibiting my technical skills to potential buyers, eventually pulling a ribbon in a regional taxidermy competition. So with that mission accomplished, I rarely mount an animal in a traditional manner anymore -- I concentrate on outlandish fictional creatures.

What are some of your more popular requests like?

I sell my work to anyone from your urban vampire to a forward-thinking grandmother. But my client base is mostly tattoo/piercing shop proprietors, sideshow collectors and people who simply collect unusual taxidermy items. Many people who are actually working in the sideshow business commission pieces to tour on the road with. So my more popular items are classic sideshow staples like the feejee mermaids and two-headed animals.

Have you ever turned down a request and, if so, why?

No. I've never had a request too outrageous, or that I felt was inappropriate. I consider myself an artist first and a taxidermist second. My clients are paying for artistic interpretation and artistic expression. Most traditional taxidermists (who mount sportsmen's trophies) scoff at the idea of mounting someone's pet or creating a fanciful creature to a client's specifications. And if they did accept such a commission, their sportsman clients would question their professionalism and credibility, not to mention what other taxidermists in the industry would think. What I'm doing has been called abhorrent by Bill Haynes, the ethics chairman of the National Taxidermists Association. Most taxidermists consider themselves craftsman, not artists, and would never consider going outside the lines.

How do people react to your work?

Obviously People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and militant Humane Society people get worked up over my work -- which I think is pretty ignorant. McDonald's hurts animals, I don't. I think any educated person who takes the time to read my bio (regardless of whether they like my work or not) would realize any criticism of my character is unfounded. I've had a Web site for about five years now, but I just recently redesigned it to include a few pictures of myself and a biography page. The most important point I want to get across is my love and admiration of animals. Without knowing my motives, people get justifiably upset. If people think I'm going out and slaughtering innocent animals, naturally it's going to change how they perceive my work.

What's the difference between taxidermy and carcass art (esodermy)?

The word "taxidermy" literally translates as: "taxi" (to move) and "dermy" (skin). So the word describes a process -- the moving or stretching of an animal skin over an armature. This process is officially referred to as "mounting" an animal, not "stuffing" it. True taxidermy involves a chemically preserved (usually tanned) animal hide that is stretched and sewn over a mannequin. Some taxidermists now freeze-dry their small animals and call it taxidermy, but technically it isn't because they never remove the skin. My carcass art sculptures do not use the skin, but utilize the actual muscle tissue and skeleton of the animal -- and therefore is not taxidermy either.

Have you ever worked on an animal you knew before it died?

That situation has never presented itself, so I don't know if I would have a hard time or not. If it were my pet, I don't think I could do it. This may be a weak analogy, but I think I wouldn't be able to do it for the same reason many surgeons won't operate on their close friends and family members. It would be impossible to remain objective and would be too hard emotionally. I may still be able to do it, but I might not be able to do it well.