"BLOW OUT!"Nina Vivian Huryn
August 2009
12"h x 20"w
Materials: Leather, tooled, painted, dyed on wood with found objects.
Skeletons at a gas station/repair shop taking advantage of the end O' Year Blow Out sale!
"A SMALL COLLECTION OF DEATHS"Nina Vivian Huryn
January 2006
23"h x 30"w
Materials: Wood, leather – tooled dyed and painted, purple taffeta, found objects
Someone once told me that in his country (Mexico) there are several different levels of afterlife you can go to depending on what sort of death you experience. Of course a hero's death is the one you wish for and the stupid, careless death must be avoided. "A Small Collection of Deaths" is based on this theory of afterlife. The deaths are sorted with the heroic ones at the top and the senseless at the bottom (with an evil one tossed in down there too!). Up and down the staircase humans meet their life's ends as the skeletons watch, help, or... forget to notice.
At the top are the heroes. Firemen climb the stairs to meet their doom, a hazmat worker succumbs to radiation, peace keepers - a nurse and doctor work to save others in spite of the risks to themselves. Traveling down the staircase we see a woman helping her friend at the risk of her own life.
Below them the unfortunate victims of fate, succumb to circumstances beyond their control. A woman dies in a fire while she sleeps, others sit on their homes as the water rises. The skeletons practice their water ballet.
Lower still we see a workman tackling a job that he is untrained for, the skeletons hand him more tool. A foolish pair of teens practice extreme sports, one launches himself off the staircase on his skateboard into oblivion as the skeletons watch in amazement. They don't notice his friend frying in the power station near his crumpled dirt bike. Taking a break from the carnage the skeletons listen enraptured as an old couple rest on the steps telling tales of the wonderful long life they have lived together.
Down at the bottom a beautiful woman wastes the rest of her life by diving off the staircase, we see her just yards from impact as the skeletons watch in mock horror. A drunk takes his final tumble, the skeletons hold out cups to catch his spilling booze. In the corner in the dark underneath the stairs a suicide bomber lights the fuse, the skeletons hand him a baby and bring a schoolgirl in for a closer look.
This assemblage consists of 12 wooden squares, each wrapped in fabric – purple, one of the liturgical colors in Christian symbolism expressing sorrow and mourning. The images on each square are carved and stamped into leather, then painted and dyed. Each leather square is nailed to the wood and fabric with an assortment of nails and brads then embellished with found objects.
"WE CAN FIX IT"Nina Vivian Huryn
October 2009
30"h x 40"w
Materials: Leather, tooled, painted, dyed on wood with found objects.
The leader of a large crew of skeletons is working with his wisest assistant to solve a very disturbing problem. Some of his followers are doing their best to be of assistance to them. One arrives flourishing a pair of scissors. Another shows up with a handful of sharpened pencils. Others bring an eraser, x-acto knife, tea, toast, and encouraging words. But over to the right notice three sneaky snakes ridiculing the plan and proclaiming to have a better one...to the shock of the wide eyed skeleton behind them. The big skeletons to the far right wait – one seems pretty skeptical that a solution can possibly be found, the other is impatient, anxiously wondering "What's the wait?" In back the rabble leap and twirl, happily oblivious to the fact that any problem exists at all.
Meanwhile, unnoticed by all but a couple of pet lovers, the whole crew is infested by large spotted maggots. They have a symbiotic relationship. Since many of these skeletons are still partially skin-on the grazing, sucking maggots are essential to them reaching their final bleached bony beauty. In return, the maggots as well as the skeletons will benefit when "the problem" is fixed.
Materials: leather – tooled, painted, dyed on plywood. Accented with nails screws, brads, tacks and found objects
"HIVE"Nina Vivian Huryn
Units1 thru 16, 2004, Units17 thru 32, 2008
72"h x 96"w
Materials: Plywood, canvas, leather, found objects
Hive is a 32 piece embellished construction consisting of canvas covered plywood squares and rectangles, almost every one featuring a catalytic converter cover or other heat shield.Each is framed in tooled leather illustrated with the inhabitants of the hive in all stages of life – eggs, larvae, pupae and the full grown bee-like insect.Other found objects flow with the illustrations – wire chunks, tire tread, broken fence, washers, screws, lids, various pieces of metal, plastic, even paper that I found in the street and on the sidewalk.Hive has no story really; it is simply a moment in time.
Hives are revealed with the first crash of a wrecking ball – when the side of the building is peeled away and individual rooms, closets, stairwells, are suddenly exposed to the sunlight.
I thought Hive was complete when I first presented it at The Sandusky Cultural Center in 2004 but when I walked into the gallery and saw it glittering on the wall I knew it was not so.Sixteen pieces (4'wide x 8'high) were not enough.It needed to be at least twice the size.I had to make 16 more pieces.That meant – find 16 more catalytic converter covers.Yes they are ubiquitous, but not when you really need them.It took three years to find enough to begin the expansion.I think it might now be complete.
"HOLY GHOST"Nina Vivian Huryn
August 2009
10"h x 10"w
Materials: Leather, tooled, painted, dyed on wood with found objects – cell phone pieces, red rocket tops, construction fence, and cigarette butts.
The Cardinals wait for the answer.
"ORANGE STUDY"Nina Vivian Huryn
2 Skulls, 1 Maggot
October 2007
8"h x 6"w
Materials: leather, found objects, construction fence on wood
A collection of interesting rubble organized within a grid of construction fence.
"ORANGE CONSTRUCTION"Nina Vivian Huryn
October 2008
12"h x 20"w
Materials: Wood, canvas, construction fence, leather, found objects.
Downtown Cleveland has been totally torn up for several years now so I have a nice supply of many different versions of construction barrier fence.Big lattice, tiny squares, diamonds, some wire reinforced, some plain – you name it! I'm sure there are types that I have not seen yet.But they are all the same color – ORANGE.And when they start out fresh they are all the same shade of orange.It must be a scientifically studied and OSHA approved.Only as the fence ages to you start to get variations of color.
Here is "Orange Construction".Skeletons and larvae leap from the fresh digging, the fence can't hold them but it sure snares plenty of treasure.
"USE CAUTION"Nina Vivian Huryn
2010
24"h x 32"w
Going to work is dangerous and there are warnings and notices everywhere to remind us of that. Not that it is doing the hapless workmen and oblivious skeletons seen here any good. They are dropping like flies! Even the break room isn't safe. I can't believe they are tipping the vending machine!
The action in "Use Caution" moves comic book style across eight individual panels. Leather illustrations are nailed to newspaper wrapped plywood and accented with junk. A large piece of old siding insulation is featured across the center seam.
"COFFIN QUILT"Nina Vivian Huryn
1997
71"h x 93"w
Materials: cotton canvas, polyester satin, dyed, painted, appliquéd. Found objects.
Bee nymphs morph into skeletons and honeycomb chambers become coffins in this quilt I made in 1997. Ten years ago there were massive losses of wild bees due to an infestation of the varroa mite. I used to love to stand underneath a linden tree in June and smell the blossoms and listen to the hum and drone of thousands of bees as they worked gathering nectar and pollen. That year the trees were silent. Now it is 2008 and the bees continue to die from a new mysterious disease that threatens to wipe all bees from our planet.
"THE ROSE (FIRE)"Nina Vivian Huryn
Quilt - 2008
Circle 80" diameter
Materials: Canvas – painted, dyed, appliquéd. Satin backing.
A swirl of larvae like skeletons form what seems to be a rose out of their roiling, overlapping bodies. The individual panels are haphazardly stitched together with thick waxy thread - creating centipede like stripes between the individual "petals". Chips of red and orange sequins glint like flying embers. It is a Fire Rose. But is this a quilt? Maybe it is a sail, or part of a tent.
"RED THREAD"Nina Vivian Huryn
October 2007
Quilt – 60" x 60"
Cotton canvas, painted, dyed and appliquéd, accented with washers, rawhide thongs and found objects. Panels stitched together with waxed linen thread.
Up, down, up, down, and finally up. Five skeletons in a row tangled up in long, winding, twisting red thread. What are they doing? I do not know but they have been planning it for a while – they brought pillows to cushion their heads.
"FABULOUS ODDITIES FROM THE GRAVE"Nina Vivian Huryn
October 2007
Quilt – 48" x 48"
Cotton canvas, painted, dyed and appliquéd, accented with washers, sequins and found objects. Panels stitched together with waxed linen thread.
Wild! Weird! Step right up and visit our World of Wonders! See the Dog Face Boy, the Light Bulb Crusher, the Bony Beauty and other friends and family members – brought here direct from the grave for your entertainment!
"INFANT ENCASEMENT"Nina Vivian Huryn
Infant funeral encasement (shell) with Mort cloth
1995
Encasement 26"l x 12"w x 6"h
Cloth 51" x 44"
A baby is a wild thing, a creature of God like a sparrow or a fox. This encasement is a thorny, prickly shell to protect it on its journey to the afterlife. Glittery and toy studded to amuse it, and soft and snuggly inside to protect it. The Mort Cloth is to be spread out with the encasement laid on top of it. In each corner of the cloth is a medallion illustrated with scenes showing skeleton guides lovingly assisting the baby. This little one didn't have a life so the skeletons show him one.
A silly story, Lewis Caroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter" is included on the cloth for the baby's farewell. My first choice had been verses from "Who Killed Cock Robin?", but they were just too sad.
When I first thought of making the infant encasement I had planned to nestle it in pine needles atop 2 stuffed pillows. The top one painted canvas like the mort cloth turned out to be. The bottom pillow tooled with leather scenes of skeletons and the baby – like what turned out to be the medallions on the mort cloth. The encasement itself is much the way I had first envisioned it.
"HELP THE SKELETONS FIND THE LORD"Nina Vivian Huryn
October 2006
A three piece game: Tryptic (game board) 33" x 40" closed,game cloth 29" x 60" , spinner 9.5" x 10", plus pegs and playing pieces.
Materials: leather tooled and painted, wood, fabric with board panels of illustration board painted with gouache.
The skeletons are a happy carefree bunch, yes there are occasional quarrels, petty wars and other mischief but they are basically a well adjusted, empty headed lot. There is one thing though... among the boney ones there is a small but head-strong group who are possessed with the belief that they can get to heaven. They are unable to accept the fact that they are "the earthly remains" and that they will never "see the light". This honor is reserved only for the soul and once the soul has flown there is no way for the skeleton to gain entrance. These believers are constantly building ladders and towers, climbing trees and mountains, riding catapults and rockets into the starry sky all in vain. (We all remember the famous "Reddy Killowat" incident!) Their plotting and planning is never ending.
I now present to you: "Help the Skeletons Find the Lord", a fabulous game first issued in 1981 for a toy show I took part in in NYC's East Village. This is the deluxe 25th Anniversary edition! It should be set up on the floor. There is room for five to gather around and play. Spin the wheel and help your skeleton climb the makeshift ladders to the brilliant door in the sky. Climb up, hit a meteor and tumble down, land on a comet advance four spaces – don't forget to grab your key! First one at the door on an exact spin is the winner. Does the door open to heaven? Of course not!
"HELP THE SKELETONS FIND THE LORD"Nina Vivian Huryn
October 2006
A three piece game: Tryptic (game board) 33" x 40" closed,game cloth 29" x 60" , spinner 9.5" x 10", plus pegs and playing pieces.
Materials: leather tooled and painted, wood, fabric with board panels of illustration board painted with gouache.
The skeletons are a happy carefree bunch, yes there are occasional quarrels, petty wars and other mischief but they are basically a well adjusted, empty headed lot. There is one thing though... among the boney ones there is a small but head-strong group who are possessed with the belief that they can get to heaven. They are unable to accept the fact that they are "the earthly remains" and that they will never "see the light". This honor is reserved only for the soul and once the soul has flown there is no way for the skeleton to gain entrance. These believers are constantly building ladders and towers, climbing trees and mountains, riding catapults and rockets into the starry sky all in vain. (We all remember the famous "Reddy Killowat" incident!) Their plotting and planning is never ending.
I now present to you: "Help the Skeletons Find the Lord", a fabulous game first issued in 1981 for a toy show I took part in in NYC's East Village. This is the deluxe 25th Anniversary edition! It should be set up on the floor. There is room for five to gather around and play. Spin the wheel and help your skeleton climb the makeshift ladders to the brilliant door in the sky. Climb up, hit a meteor and tumble down, land on a comet advance four spaces – don't forget to grab your key! First one at the door on an exact spin is the winner. Does the door open to heaven? Of course not!
