Musk Ox Sculpture – Nick Mackman Animal Sculpture

Common readers of my weblog will know that final yr I joined Wildlife Worldwide’s Competition of Wildlife in Spitsbergen. In the course of the journey I ran workshops for the passengers. For my demonstration I made a polar bear sculpture, which was auctioned to lift funds for sea chicken monitoring and planting native bushes right here in Devon.

The shopper who received the polar bear sculpture turned out to be a severe wildlife fanatic. He had just lately visited Greenland and had been struck by sightings of the extraordinary musk ox. He determined it will make an awesome topic for a sculpture. We agreed the small print and, filled with enthusiasm, I began work on the musk ox sculpture.

As with all my animal sculpture commissions, I begin with the anatomy. Whereas researching musk ox, I found they don’t seem to be bovine (associated to cows) nor do they secrete musk! They’re in actual fact a sort of untamed goat, alongside the strains of an American mountain goat sporting an enormous woolly coat. The ‘musk’ odor that was famous by European settlers was probably the odor of urine on the coat.

Musk ox are prehistoric trying creatures, and I felt it was necessary to seize the inherent wildness of those magnificent beasts. They sport a really fascinating coat, which transitions from a thick wool overlaying on their backs to longer nearly hairlike strands on the legs. This was actually difficult to mannequin. Clay is a really stable materials. It isn’t simple to create the impression of sentimental hair blowing within the wind.

Because the musk ox sculpture took form, my subsequent problem turned the glaze. I settled on a matt end to realize a pure, rugged look. The end was constructed up by rigorously making use of a number of layers of underglaze. A lightweight sheen was utilized to the eyes to maintain them shiny and fascinating.

I do know from my very own expertise {that a} wildlife journey can present recollections that stick with you ceaselessly. There’s no higher technique to commemorate the expertise than by commissioning a singular art work. In case you’ve had an identical expertise in your wildlife journey, contact the studio and we are able to create your individual distinctive animal sculpture to have fun the occasion.