Artist statement

Galleries, Creative Directors and Publishers all asked me for my artist statement, so I had to write one.
Internet is a good source of examples of artist statements and “How-To's”, but what if I want my artist statement to be more simple, what if I don't need as many words as most artist statements have?
What to do? Do what people expect me to do and make up a complete story around my work, or stay true to myself, say a few words from the heart and let my work speak for it self...
Of course being the stubborn woman I am I did the latter, so here's my short kind of artist statement:

I don't use skulls to shock, I just try to give the beautiful skull a second life.
I love to give my “girls” something human that the viewer can relate to, make them look beyond the skull.
This can be something aesthetic like body language, facial expression or clothing, but it can also be an emotion.
Sometimes I like to say something with my work, make people think about or be aware of things that are going on in this world.
But other times my work is just a pretty object that reflects my vision of a song I love, a book I read or fashion photos I see in magazines.
There is just one rule for me: I only use skulls from animals that lived and died cruelty free.

So basically I just do what I want and make what I love to make, and only hope someone else sees the love I put in my work and also love it.

Esther Verschoor (1967)
The Netherlands

Important

If you like my work and are inspired by it:
Please don't buy skulls/bones from eBay, craigslist, etc. because that way you don't know the source!
Always make sure you use cruelty free skulls/bones and not from endangered species.
For me cruelty free means: natural dead after a natural life, roadkill, etc. so no animals killed for their fur, meat, bones, experiments, etc.
If you want to use skulls from endangered species better go to Bone Clones or Skulls Unlimited and buy the artificial skulls.
Understand that there are laws you have to obey when it comes to import and export animal parts, so do your homework!
Be prepared that the right papers you need for import/export animal parts are a lot of work to obtain and cost a lot of money.

FAQ

I noticed that there are a lot of misunderstandings about my work so here the answers to the most asked questions:
  • I don't use pre-made bodies. All dolls/figures have bodies completely sculpted by me without a mold. They are full sculpted bodies without soft or poseable parts.
  • I use different types of skulls: Real animal skulls I obtain from my (cruelty free) taxidermist Erwin, real skulls found in nature/roadkill by friends who gave them to me, artificial skulls I bought from Bone Clones or Skulls Unlimited, or skulls sculpted by me from paperclay (also no molds!)
  • My dolls/figures vary in size. I make big ones up to 95 cm (37.4"), but also as small as 12 cm (4.7"), and everything in between.
  • The clothes of my dolls/figures are completely made by me without a bought pattern and exclusively designed for each doll. So no... I don't use fashion doll clothes.
  • I don't do commission dolls or remake an already sold doll/figure. Each one is a one of a kind and will stay a one of a kind.

Shop

If you are interested to buy one of my dolls then contact me by e-mail.
No commission inquiries.

Layaway

I'm offering a layaway plan.
Contact me and I will put the item on Reserve for you. A NON-REFUNDABLE down payment is due at that time. The balance is due within 90 days. We set up a payment plan at the time of transaction and I will invoice you for those payments. The item must be paid in full within 90 days of initial transaction unless we agree on other terms.
I reserve the right to remove the reserve and sell the item if the item is not paid in full within 90 days without refund of the down payment.
NO EXCEPTIONS

Credits

Photos of Esther were made by Patricia van de Camp.
The Menu font I used is Tangerine, Copyright (c) 2010 by Toshi Omagari.
For the main menu font textures I used photos 249 and 759 from Grunge Textures.