INTERVIEW WITH TAXIDERMIST & JEWELLER JULIA deVILLE

New Zealander Julia deVille is a Taxidermist & Jeweller, who works in an amazing Collingwood studio in Melbourne and runs her own jewellery label Disce Mori.
She employs a unique method of Taxidermy, Silver, Gold, bones and stone craft as jewellery and installation work for various gallery exhibitions, and private commissions. Bringing back to life stillborns and animals that have died of natural causes.
She holds a strong position when it comes to animal rights and has donated her own body to the Institute for Plastination in Germany.





zBZ:
I read that you had met an retired Taxidermist in Melbourne, who taught you how to skin animals. Do you remember your first taxidermy piece?
JdV: The very first piece that Rudy and I worked on was a bird holding a diamond in its mouth.
The Sparrow Broach, that is combined with silver and gold, is the first taxidermy piece that I created on my own, which is one of a kind.


zBZ:
You work in a studio space in Collingwood is this your first studio?
JdV: No this is my forth studio. The first was a room, in a house that I was living in, in Collingwood. Then a studio in the Pattersons Building on Smith Street and now here still in Collingwood, my studios have all been in Collingwood.
zBZ:
Are all of your suppliers close by?
JdV: All of my suppliers are in the city, so 15mins away. I have everything that I need close to me like Friends of The Earth, a good organic food store, and the Collingwood Children’s Farm at the convent.


zBZ:
What came first for you, Taxidermy or Silver & Gold metal casting?
JdV: Umm… I enrolled in some short courses at NMIT and at the same time I met Rudy the Retired taxidermist, and started to learn taxidermy.


zBZ:
Why are you compelled to make taxidermy jewelry?
JdV: I think at the beginning it was two crafts that I was learning so it was natural to me to combine the two together and it’s what I have been doing for the past 10 years. Jewellery is more interesting for me because of the history and sentiment behind it and the longevity of the materials.Taxidermy is of interest to me because I am interested in nature and animals and that kind of thing, and also there is a difference in the fragility of the materials, and the fact that they can decompose quite readily if they are not treated quickly.


zBZ:
Are there many laws in Australia regarding the ways that your practice should occur?
JdV: Yes there are laws that restrict, not in terms of the combination of materials but anything native or protected I can’t work on. You can get permission to be able to do so, but even then I wouldn’t be able to pick up something that I found dead on the side of the road. It has to be signed off by a park ranger or someone authorized. Or say it was a specific type of bird or Avery and one of their birds died they could donate them to me.
I tend to work on more domestic animals and stillborn farm animals and that kind of thing to avoid any of the red tape.


zBZ:
How do you acquire your taxidermy pieces?
JdV: Well they are found or donated, so If I find things my self I keep them. I also get random calls from people saying they have something that they would like to donate.


zBZ:
Which piece is your biggest in scale and how big was it?
JdV: The biggest piece as an Ostrich skeleton, that is 2 meters tall, so that’s the biggest.
zBZ:
Do you plan to make larger scale pieces in the future?
JdV: For my next show I have got an adolescent fawn or stag and I am hoping to source some larger animals, but again it just depends on what I come across.


zBZ:
Do you make your pieces initially for your self? And do you ever stray from your original designs if instructed by a client?
JdV: Yes, I design for myself only. I will stray from my design but only if it’s in the realm of something I feel happy with. I won’t do anything that I don’t think is in within my aesthetic.


zBZ:
I have an amazing fluffy cat called Zucker, and I want to one day have him taxidermy, have you worked on any of your own pets & do you have any plans to?
JdV: I will definitely do my guys (x 2 dogs) when they pass, but these are the only pets that I have had. I have only had Chilli for 6 yrs and Scout for 4 years, so I haven’t had any other pets since I have been doing taxidermy.


zBZ:
What is your ideal taxidermy subject?
JdV: It depends on what im working on. At the moment I would like a calf because I want to do some pieces about the dairy industry, the bobby calfs are taken away from their mothers when they are only a few days of age, and not fed anything. This is something that I feel needs a bit more attention. There are so many vegetarians who drink milk. They don’t realize that there is a higher cost to that and also the cruelty that is injured by the dairy cows.
Of course there are things like giraffes and lions, those sorts of animals but they are very hard to obtain, died of natural causes, and I am not interested in obtaining animals any other way.


zBZ:
Your work is often very intricate. When you work, how do you stay focused, and do you work alone?
JdV: I have three assistants, so there is generally people here, they are good at reading me, and when’s a good time to chat. When we are all working on more intricate full on pieces we generally are all quite and concentrative.


zBZ:
Could you please explain the processes behind the kitten drawn furnery cart piece, in terms of ideas, preparation, and taxidermy creation, and a rough timeframe that’s involved for you?
JdV: The time is kind of hard to explain because I make those kinds of pieces over months. The taxidermy of the kitten and placing it in the right position can take the better part of a day. I have the hearse made by a guy who makes miniatures, and then added my own decorations, so I cast little adornments in silver and the tack for the kitten, which is the reigns and the holsters that holds the cart on, it's all made from rosary which we hand make so this stuff takes hours and hours, we also make the rosary fabric, which is kind of like a lattice work, and again that’s a very time consuming process. So a piece of rosary fabric maybe 4x4cm, will probably take about 3 hours to make at least, and that’s after years of practice.


zBZ:
At your first forthcoming exhibition for the year, what can we expect to see?
JdV: It’s going to be a much stronger animal rights theme, in my previous exhibitions there generally needs to be a dialogue with me to get that understanding across. This exhibition is going to be a lot more literal and obvious. I think there needs to be a bit more waking up when it comes to the way animals are treated.


zBZ:
Do your pieces have their own unique stories?
JdV: Everything I just make. I don’t design anything, I just get an idea or have some material and I will put my head down and just start making something. I will document it after I have made it, so that I can remake it. I try to work more organically.


zBZ:
What’s the main emotion that you feel when you are creating your jewelry pieces?
JdV: I guess it's just intense focus really, because I’m making such intricate pieces and I get quite lost in the process. Once I start working on a piece I can spend hours and not realize how much time has passed. I wouldn’t stay there’s any strong emotions other then it’s just deep concentration.


zBZ:
Is it easier to Taxidermy younger animals then older, in terms of muscle structure?
JdV: No. So long as the fur and feathers are intact it doesn’t really make a difference. Smaller animals are generally a bit fiddlier but bigger animals involve a lot more physical strength, so there’s always a happy medium. Like those still born deer because they are generally a good size to work on.


zBZ:
Is it difficult to move them into shape?
You just have to have a good eye and have an understanding of how they look in nature. I often choose to not make them look natural as well so it just depends on the effect that you want to go for.


zBZ:
You have a permanent installation at the MONA Gallery in Tasmania of Funery Urn’s for people’s ashes; can you talk to me about how this works and its purpose?
JdV: There are only two people in there at the moment. The first Urn is David Walsh’s father so I went down and put the ashes in for that one and the next one was his nephew, where I just sent the urn down and the family member put the ashes in, then the installation team installed it for me. Anyone can buy a burial plots and get buried there if they choose.
zBZ: Do you have to travel to Tasmania often?
JdV: It was more during the design process that I was going back and forth every few weeks, I spent a week there installing before the Gallery opened up.


zBZ:
Do you know many women that practice taxidermy?
JdV: Nowadays it is becoming more common but I don’t know any older taxidermies that are female. There a lot of female artists working in it now overseas and I get a lot of interest from female and girls wanting to learn taxidermy. You know when my teacher and that generation were around there wouldn’t have been many female taxidermists.


zBZ:
What are your plans for the future, what’s next for you?
JdV: We are going to move back to New Zealand. I will still keep a studio in Melbourne and will visit quarterly and have my assistants working for me. That decision was made in order to start to slow things down a bit after working so hard for the past 10 years. And just wanting to be near my mum and move on to that stage of my life, so yeah we will probably be looking to go back next year sometime, but I need to do this show in August and a few other things before that happens.


zBZ:
You also stock your Disce Mori range of jewelry, where can we find your pieces?
JdV: You can visit my website www.discemori.com that lists all of the stockists.

-- Owari --