Black Alice

I am excited to be a part of a Kickstarter for a new series of black-light posters inspired by the Alice In Wonderland stories by Lewis Carroll called Black Alice.

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The project features 16 silkscreened posters of characters and scenes from Alice In Wonderland & Through The Looking-Glass illustrated by 8 different artists. And each one features special elements that only appear when they're viewed under a black light. Of course I had to hide a skull in both of my pieces.

Black Light

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Black Light

 If you'd like to own these posters you have to participate in the Kickstarter that is only running now through the mid-July! Find out more about it HERE.

[BONUS] 409. The Visible Skull

I created this skull from the pieces of a vintage model kit called The Visible Head...

It was made specifically for the Skull Appreciation Day 2013 exhibition FACE OFF: Skull-A-Day VS Street Anatomy at The International Museum of Surgical Science. As part of the show we asked the participating artists to use a provided template to create a new digital work, that we could cut apart and recombine with other artist's work. Vanessa Ruiz, my co-curator, and I thought it would be fun to take the challenge as well, so I made this piece as my homage to Vanessa's blog Street Anatomy, which is interested in anatomical art that goes beyond just the image of the skull. You can see how our pieces looked mashed up on the poster for the show...

FaceOff: Skull Appreciation Day 2013

I'm very excited to announce the details of this year's celebration of Skull Appreciation Day!

Skull-A-Day and Street Anatomy have joined forces to bring together the greatest collection of skull art, to celebrate the 3rd Annual Skull Appreciation Day! The resulting exhibition of skull inspired art works co-curated by Noah Scalin and Vanessa Ruiz will be on view at the International Museum of Surgical Science, in Chicago May 31 - August 25, 2013.

Featuring

Mike Egan

Tom French

Emilio Garcia

Ali Gulec

Joshua Harker

Meyoko

Nicholas Obery

Rx Skulls

Dan Springer

Rob Tarbell

In addition to showing their existing work, each artist has been asked to complete a frontal view of a skull in their own style using a template we provided. These skulls will then be split apart (digitally) and combined with other artist’s skulls to create a dynamic and unique collection of skull art prints. Each skull will be comprised of the work of two different artists, one from Skull-A-Day and one from Street Anatomy. At the end of the exhibition the respective skull halves will be brought together allowing us to see each artist’s complete skull piece. To kick it off, Vanessa and Noah have created their own original mash-up for the show poster!

The show opens with a reception on Friday, May 31, 2013 from 5-9pm. Hope to see you there!

And stay tuned for more details on how you can participate even if you're not in the Chicago area!

FACE OFF: Skull-A-Day VS Street Anatomy

May 31 - August 25, 201

International Museum of Surgical Science

1524 N. Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL

The Gift of Skulls

Just wanted to share a few lovely skull gifts I was given recently.

This beautiful cup was made by Bruce Gholson of Bulldog Pottery...

I got a set of fun duct tape bookmarks from Lauralyn Sciretta as part of her Bookmark-A-Day project (which I featured recently on my other blog MakeSomething365.com) which she sent along with a fun collapsible skeleton...

Thanks guys!

36 Skulls in Richmond, VA

Just a reminder to our friends in the Richmond, VA area, my show 36 Skulls (featuring 36 of the paintings from my 100 Painted Skulls project) opens today at Book, Bikes, and Beyond and runs through the end of the month. If you're in the area I hope you'll come out for the reception which starts at 7pm tonight.

36 Skulls by Noah Scalin

February 1 - 28

Books, Bikes, and Beyond Thrift

7 West Broad St.

Richmond, VA

Opening reception Friday, February 1 @  7pm

[BONUS] 407. Skeleton Damask

I was recently offered a chance to create a temporary mural installation in the Loo Gallery at the wonderful Lamplighter Roasting Company here in Richmond, Virginia.

The Loo Gallery is actually their bathroom and each installation is painted over when the next artist creates their piece!

I decided to create a new wallpaper damask style pattern using only the bones of the human skeleton. I had previously created a smaller wallpaper pattern as part of my original Skull-A-Day project, but I had never done something so complex.

Since the end result was so large and complicated it required two 18" x 24" stencils to create one complete section of the pattern.

I had my friends at BIG SECRET laser cut two sets of the stencils out of thick, flexible mylar and I worked with them in rotation, since they would quickly start dripping from the layers and layers of metallic spray paint I was putting on them.

The installation took three days – or rather nights, since I was coming in after hours to give the toxic fumes a chance to air our before customers would arrive in the morning – to complete. Of course I wore a Bane-style ventilation mask the entire time so that I wasn't breathing in the fumes either...

The piece will be up for the next month or so, so if you're in the Richmond, Virginia area please stop by Lamplighter and check it out in person!

And who knows, maybe this will get turned into actual wallpaper one day, like my Ornamental Skull wallpaper at Designer Wall Coverings & Fabrics.

[BONUS] The Gift of Skulls: Skateboard Pez

During my recent trip to Sandusky, Ohio I was given this wonderful gift of art from R!ch Cihlar, who was inspired in part by Skull-A-Day to create his own daily Pez art project! This piece was made on day 233...

You should definitely check out the other pieces R!ch is making as part of this project on his blog HERE.

Thanks again R!ch!

Squared Skulls in Sandusky

I will be visiting Sandusky, Ohio this weekend to talk about my work as part of the Squared exhibition at the Sandusky Cultural Center. 25 of my original 100 Painted Skulls will be on display as well! If you're in the area I hope you'll come by and say hi.

Squared Opening

Sunday, January 6

1-4pm

Sandusky Cultural Center

Find out more about the exhibition HERE.

[BONUS] Passages Academy Skulls

I recently made a visit to Passages Academy in Brooklyn, New York to talk about my original Skull-A-Day project. While it's not unusual for me to speak at schools about art & creativity, this was definitely a unique situation: Passages Academy is a full time educational program for incarcerated and detained teenagers.




I have to admit I wasn't sure what to expect. The building I arrived at looked like a fairly typical school, though it was clear from entering that security was strict. I was quickly introduced to the coordinator for the Non-secure placement students, who explained that, while unlikely, there was the potential of violence and that they have trained staff on hand to deal with it, so if something happened while I was there I should just stay out of the way and not get involved (no problem there!). 

A dozen students were brought in to the room where I had set up my slideshow and there was quite a bit of commotion. After a fair amount of wrangling, the staff got things settled down as much as possible and I got started. At first there was some disruptive behavior (nothing I haven't seen at normal high school presentations, mind you), but then suddenly, after only a few slides, there was dead silence and complete attention from everyone in the room! The only interruptions were for appropriate questions from students clearly eager to know more.

After my 25 minute talk we shifted gears and the staff brought out some random materials and I challenged the students to follow my lead and make a skull of their own. There were no other directions given and again after a bit of noise the group quickly settled into a quiet round of intense art making. As my host Jessica Fenster-Sparber put it, "Students had not been asked to stop talking, jeering, or moving about; they were simply absorbed in the creative experience at hand."

Every single attendee (as well as some of the staff) made an incredible piece of art on the spot. Each was unique and reflected the thoughtful observation of the materials that they were given. Several people made multiple pieces in the time they had available and more than one asked if they could use a marker to autograph their own piece.

 
I was happy to be able to share some inspiration from my own experiences and glad to see that it had an immediate impact on the teens in attendance. 

Thanks to Jessica Fenster-Sparber for coordinating the event and very kindly providing copies of my book Unstuck to all of the students as a means of further inspiration!

*Images of artwork created by Passages Academy students courtesy of Jessica Fenster-Sparber

[BONUS] Student Skulls

One of my favorite things is knowing the positive influence my original Skull-A-Day project has had on young people and I recently had another opportunity to do discover that this week at Douglas S. Freeman high school here in Richmond, Virginia.

At the request of art teacher Rebecca Field and her student teacher Meghan Sadler I gave a talk to a group of art students, many of whom are in the midst of their own daily art project inspired by my own. At the end of my talk I was kindly gifted this lovely collection of skull pieces that they made as part of their projects!

Only one piece didn't make it home with me, a real carved potato!

Skulls by: Charlie, Grace, Mikayla, Marqel, Connor, Karolina, Victoria, Olivia, Rob, Turner, Matthew, Laura, Michael, Everardo, Rachel, Anne, Peyton, Katharine, Carly, and Amy.

Thanks again to the students for their enthusiasm and great questions.

[BONUS] Bicycle Bell Skulls

I recently agreed to do an art barter with Skull-A-Day friend Dan Springer AKA Skulluxe! He sent me one of his custom painted bicycle bells and a blank one to paint and send back to him.

Here's the one he sent me...

And here's mine (which I'll be mailing off soon)...

Have you ever done an art barter? I highly recommend giving it a try!

403. Dead Media

I was commissioned by TCC Visual Arts Center to create this new installation called "Dead Media"...

It's made from 497 VHS videotapes, which were kindly donated by several friends (thanks again Mimi, Robin, Quillan, and Stephanie), the staff/students of Tidewater Community College, and also culled from my personal collection.

The overall size is 20'-8" x 8'-11" (6.29 x 2.71 meters)

In the spirit of the famous painting The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger, the skull was created to only look correct from one point and is actually quite distorted in real life.

Hidden amidst the whole and broken tapes are several Easter eggs, including this tape from my personal collection...

The piece will be on display from September 14 through November 1st at the TCC Visual Arts Center in Portsmouth, VA, and if you're in the area, you're invited to come to the opening reception this Friday starting at 7pm. Details can be found HERE.

Students at the school have been encouraged to take the tapes when the piece is dismantled and create their own skull art.