Aussies 'n' Fairy Tales Week: Shaun Tan, Artist and Alchemist

From the foreword - it's the Brothers Grimm themselves, being told stories by a fox

Shaun Tan, author and illustrator extraordinaire and winner of many, many awards, including:

• Three time winner of Best Artist for the World Fantasy Award

• Best Professional Artist Hugo Award (2011) and multiple award nominee

• Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award or ALMA (2010)

• Academy Award (aka Oscar Award Winner) for The Lost Thing, Best Short Film (animated)

It's very likely you know of him or know his work, especially if you follow children's literature, fantasy or animation (he also worked as a concept artist for Pixar's "WALL-E").

While Mr. Tan's illustrations have always had that uniquely Australian slightly off-kilter sense of fantasy underlying the mundane, and has always seemed to seamlessly weave the fantastic or 'other' into his largely suburban illustrations, it's only fairly recently that he created works specifically based on fairy tales. It turned out that he found this more challenging than he initially believed but, boy did it pay off!

Thousandfurs

Note: His Thousandfurs sculpture (shown above) was also a Spectrum 21, Dimensional Art Nominee/Finalist for 2014, which were held in May (they are 'the' coveted International Award for Contemporary Fantastic Art).

The Three Little Men in the Wood (Die drei Männlein im Walde)

As I've seen this quoted elsewhere in entirety, I'm including the whole of Mr. Tan's statement about the project here, as it will be of special interest to fairy tale folk, and those artists working to "illustrate" fairy tales (in whatever manner and media):

In 2012 I was approached by my German editor Klaus Humann of Aladin Verlag in Hamburg to consider a cover illustration, as well as perhaps some some internal drawings for a new edition of the Grimm Brothers collected folk tales written by Philip Pullman (the well known author of the His Dark Materials trilogy). I thought about this for some time, as I've always wanted to do something Grimm related but didn't have an ideal approach (or much time for commissions). Philip had chosen a selection of 50 favourite fairy tales, and written them with a thoughtful clarity that will appeal to modern readers yet keeping true to their original spirit. I was particularly interested in the scholarly notes at the end of each tale, offering background, critique and even a few suggested improvements from a writer's point of view; I was also interested in Philip's introduction which praises the concise, 'cardboard character' narrative of Grimm's fairy tales and points out they do not necessarily benefit much from illustration. A good problem for a visual artist! And one I'm inclined to agree with: I'd long ago researched fairy tales as a possible illustration project, but soon gave it up as the tales had such an abstracted quality about them, I couldn't think of a suitable 'way in' as an artist who favours representational imagery. While I love such illustrations as those byArthur Rackham, I've always felt they conflict with my own less literal experience a reader. And in many cases, the tales are just too strange or irrational for conventional 'scenes'. 

The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich
(Der Froschkönig oder
der eiserne Heinrich)

So I was a little reluctant at first, but soon began to think of ways I could avoid painting or drawing altogether. As a child, I was actually more obsessed with sculpture than painting and drawing, working with clay, papier mache and soapstone, and was reminded of this when browsing through my collection of books on folk art and particularly Inuit scultpure and Pre-Columbian figurines from Mexico. Many of these small, hand-sized sculptures are strongly narrative and dreamlike, and offered a 'way in' to thinking about Grimm's stories as part of an old creative tradition. The works I ended up creating hopefully convey the spirit of each tale without actually illustrating them, like anonymous artifacts in a museum open to all kinds of interpretation.

Though Philip Pullman's Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm was published in the UK and US, each with a nice cover, it's the German edition that is the most wonderful, thanks to the inclusion of illustrations by the, incredibly adaptable, Shaun Tan.  Mr. Tan created some fifty sculptures representing Pullma's chosen fifty tales, which are photographed beautifully and are displayed in the edition throughout. While there are no plans at present, to translate it into English, (I don't understand why myself, as the edition with Shaun Tan's sculptures would be my first choice), one of the wonderful things is that Mr. Tan hasn't stopped there. He continues to be inspired by the tales and is in the process of enlarging the collection of fifty sculptures to at least 60.

Here is a very recent one, from Shaun Tan's blog, with his note:

"One of several new sculptures inspired by Grimm's Fairy Tales, this one for a the story 'The Blue Light' (Das blaue Licht), about a solider taking revenge against those who have wronged him (including the witch above). I began this series as a set of illustrations for the German edition of Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales published last year, and have since continued to create additional works for other stories that I found particularly intriguing outside of that collection. By 1850, the Grimm Brothers included over 200 tales in Children's and Household Tales, so there's certainly no shortage of inspiration; as Margaret Atwood notes, 'no emotion is unrepresented'." (Shaun Tan)

          

Little Red Cap (Rotkäppchen)

         

Godfather Death (Der Gevatter Tod)

I find it interesting that, in a discussion with Neil Gaiman, Shaun Tan says the way he uses words is, he believes, not just his style but also a cultural thing:

Gaiman: Your stuff is always laconic. One of the things I love about it is that a picture is worth a thousand words and you make your pictures work very hard. 

Tan: Part of it is that I don't trust myself as a writer. I still lack confidence, probably because the first 20 or so stories I wrote were roundly rejected. I actually started out as a writer and then converted to illustration because I realised that there was a dearth of good illustrators in genre fiction, at least in Australia at that time. I diverted all of my resources to visual imagery, and as a result I noticed that my writing did become more and more pared down, until it started to approximate my normal speaking patterns. When I write a story I imagine I'm telling it to someone like my brother. And we don't talk that much [laughs] – it condenses everything down and that's a very Australian thing, too.

And that trait might just explain why Australians on the whole seem to be so drawn to fairy and folktales and enjoy working with them.

The Nixie of the Mill-Pond (Die Nixe im Teich)

There is a wealth of information on Shaun Tan's work all over the internet, from his website to interviews to articles and awards, so I won't repeat much more here. I will only say that I am so glad Mr. Tan found illustrating fairy tales to be such "trouble" and found his own way around it. The sculptures are unique and beautiful and, now that they exist, it seems odd they didn't before.

           

The Stolen Farthings (Der gestohlene Heller)

A Riddling Tale (Rätselmärchen)

The Twelve Brothers (Die zwölf Brüder)

I can't wait to see what tales he tackles next in his Grimm sculptures and hope to see the collection together on day as well.

Iron John (Eisenhans) - (Not to be confused with The Frog King or Iron Henry)

(You can see many more of the sculptures from the German edition HERE in a previous post of mine and from a related one over the the SurLaLune blog HERE with an additional write about the book.)

Rumpelstiltskin (Rumpelstilzchen)

In the meantime, he is back to being very busy as author and illustrator and already gathering awards for his latest offering, Rules of Summer, about two brothers, living in a world of fantastic creatures and crazy gizmos, in which one breaks all the rules and the other does his best to stop him doing so... or save him. At home in Australia, this last month, Shaun Tan won both the Ditmar and the Chronos National Awards for Best Artwork for Rules of Summer, and just this past week he also won the 2014 Illustration Prize for Children's and Youth books from the German Gemeinschaftswerk der Evangelischen Publizistik (GEP), another prestigious illustrators award, also for Rules of Summer.

These 3 sculptures were sold at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2013 (sob!)

Here is a brief list of popular works as author and illustrator (or illustrator only, where indicated):

• Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link (2008 - interior illustrations)
• The Lost Thing (2000)
• The Arrival (2006) (Which has also been made into an amazing piece of folktale-like theater - see pics below)
• Tales from Outer Suburbia (2008)
• Grimm's Marchen (German edition only) by Philip Pullman (2013 - illustrations/sculptures)
• Rules of Summer (2013)

Shaun Tan's website can be found HERE.
He blogs HERE, usually with works-in-progress or pieces that likely won't be published elsewhere, as well as occasional news.

Aussies 'n' Fairy Tales Week: Bruno Torfs "Phoenix" Fantasy Garden

The fantastical sculptures of Bruno Torfs, nestled in a temperate rainforest garden setting in South-Eastern Australia, wowed, moved and inspired 1 000's of visitors from all over the world for over a decade, until, in the midst of a devastating national bushfire disaster in February 2009, amidst great loss of lives, homes, unique rainforest habitats and more, this beautiful garden also became a casualty. While it doesn't compare to the loss of life, losing great art is worth mourning in its own way and many of these mythic sculptures were lost forever.

While, at the time, I was concerned with family members there and fire fighting cousins who were battling against the odds (all of whom survived and got to safety) to hear of the loss of the Torfs' gardens affected me very deeply. (I'll explain why shortly.)

The Torfs family, who lived at the unique garden and gallery, managed to get to safety but lost their home, over 300 paintings and sustained great damage to the sculpture garden. Friends and neighbors in nearby Marysville weren't as lucky and lost not only their homes but their lives. The area remained in a state of emergency for quite some time. Miraculously escaping with his family, Bruno made a statement on his website, saying they would be salvaging what they could, with the intent of bringing another fantasy garden to life.

Here is one of the many video tributes showing the beautiful sculptures the garden contained before the fires swept through (The Torfs' website has a slideshow as well):

Below are some images of what Bruno and his family found once they were allowed back into the area afterward.

From the website: The slideshow (below) is the bonus extra feature in the new edition of the award~winning 30 minute documentary of Bruno's Art and Sculpture Garden. (You can order the DVD HERE.):

And here is a video of Bruno's new garden, nearing it's basic completion (with new works being added all the time):

Though I have long loved the classics and fairy tales of European, Celtic and Russian influence in particular, there was always a part of me that yearned to integrate that mixed-heritage fantasy 'sense' into the landscape I love of Australia, especially the forests and rainforests.* One of my (now shelved) multimedia projects was an attempt to approach classical fantasy from a unique Australian perspective in a very organic way. It wasn't just a story or novel but included an artistic exploration of the images so people would literally 'see' what was in my imagination. I had planned to come back to Australia at some point to build a fantasy garden project with the dream that the concepts and characters in it would eventually make their way into film and/or animation.

I hadn't heard of Bruno's Art & Sculpture Garden till after I had been working on it for a while and couldn't believe the images I was seeing. It was as if he'd dreamed the same dream then brought it to life in his own way. It seemed uncanny. I nearly cried for joy to see such imaginings had become reality and gladly put aside the project in hopes I would travel to see it before doing any more. When I heard of the tragedy, the loss felt personal, though I had never met Mr. Torfs or his family in person.

Three years ago, the pieces that were salvaged and repaired, along with new works, were placed into a new garden and the Torfs' wonder forest was opened, once again, to the public.

A new "Phoenix Edition" of the original coffee table book of Bruno's art and sculptures was expanded and published after the tragedy. It now contains the story of the fires, the rebuilding as well as photos of the many wonderful works that were lost. You can order a copy (and support his work) HERE.

Bruno Torfs grew up in South America (you can see the influence in many of his sculptures), only moving to Australia as an adult but he clearly has a connection with the land and much of his work has the essence of the Australian Dreamtime stories as well. It's no surprise to hear he now calls Australia "home" and we are very glad he does.

Below are some of the restored and newer sculptures now greeting visitors, of which I sincerely hope to be one, one day.

*Perhaps it runs in my blood. My Nanna's aunt - May Gibbs - had the same desire and created the well-known and loved characters of Snugglepot & Cuddlepie.

Aussies 'n' Fairy Tales Week: Spike Deane, Mythic Glass Artist

New Stories From The Old Wood

UPDATED 1:18am on Friday, June 13th, 2014: Spike Deane's Into the Woods stop motion animation video added!

First up on the Awesome Aussies working in fairy tales list is the truly amazing Spike Deane. (All images shown throughout this post are of Spike's beautiful work.)

She also has a lovely way of introducing people to her art. Here's the introduction sheet from the AFTS (Australian Fairy Tale Society) Conference:

The AFTS (Australian Fairy Tale Society) presented an exhibition of her work in slide form during the Inaugural Conference on June 9th this week, and though Spike was overseas at the time and couldn't be there, she presented the AFTS with a very special and lovely key ahead of time, which was on display on the donor acknowledgement table:

AFTS key presentation

I have been meaning to highlight her work for some time and it is a disservice to you all that I haven't (my sincere apologies for that), because Spike's work is beautiful, mythic and uses a very special medium: glass. She also uses other mixed media, sometimes as part of her glass work as well, including (be still, my heart), stop motion animation! I am in serious AWE.

Check this out:

From the description:

Spike's main exhibits to date reflecting her fairy tale inspiration are:

• The Forbidden Chamber (based on Bluebeard and Fitcher's Bird)
• The Wolf I Knew Would Lead Me... (inspired by the transformational woods of folk and fairy tales)
• The Woodcutters Daughter (representing the many stories that begin with "Once upon a time there was a poor woodcutter..." - see her website for pics)
• New Stories From the Old Wood (representing transformation and metamorphosis in stories, using the age old fairy tale favorite symbol of the tree and the many-antlered deer)
• Fairytale Landscapes (small scenes in glass with a silhouetted fairy tale figures

And she's currently working on a wonderful and completely delightful Selkie project. I heartily suggest checking out her blog where she's been kind enough to share the process of design and casting - it's like magic, where you can see all the hard work and are still wowed.

Casting and experiments in selkie heads

Spike was kind enough to give me some insight into her inspiration and how researching fairy tales and folklore are part of her process. She sent me a wonderful letter that I will share most of, since I can see it reflected in her work so well:

My work draws on narratives found in folk and fairy tales to explore themes of individual transformation and metamorphosis. These tales evoke archetypes, myths, legends and fundamental truths from our lived experiences as social beings in an ever changing world. Each generation re-imagines the core stories of folk traditions and it is this process of reinvention and renewal that underpins my work.

Breath of the Wolf In My Ear

 

The retelling of folk, fairytale and myth in literary fiction is the mainstay of my inspiration and research. My house is stuffed with books, many of which are fantasy novels, and these new stories I believe stem from the archetypes and themes found in folk and fairytale. I love reading and the process of sifting and dreaming through someone else's (or lots of someones) words and ideas is an integral part of my artistic practice. Lucky me. 

(Ms. Deane's Artist Statement is continued below The Forbidden Chamber presentation...)

The Forbidden Chamber

*******************************************************

"The Forbidden Chamber" by Spike Deane

Human beings are story tellers.

My work draws on narratives found in folk and fairy tales to explore themes of individual transformation and metamorphosis. These tales evoke archetypes, myths, legends and fundamental truths from our lived experiences as social beings in an ever changing world. Each generation re-imagines the core stories of folk traditions and it is this process of reinvention and renewal that underpins my work. With this piece I examine tales like those of Bluebeard and Fitcher's bird where a terrible secret lies behind a forbidden door.

In folklore and fairy tales the key can denote liberation, knowledge, the unravelling of mysteries or a difficult task to accomplish. In these stories I see the key assisting us on a path of revelation, unlocking secrets that reveal truths that enable personal growth and transformation. 

*******************************************************

(Spike Deane Artist Statement cont...) 

Currently I am making towards a body of work based on the legends and stories of the Selkie. The melancholy stories express so many of the tensions that exist in close relationships while using the seal skin as the focal element of transformation. My Selkie works will fit into the broader theme of 'Depths & Shallows' with 2 other glass artists and the show opens at M16 Artspace in Canberra on the 31st of July. 

I would have to say for fairytale analysis I am most definitely in camp Zipes. I have many of his books, bristling with markers. His idea of the 'hopeful journey' really strikes a chord with my sensibilities.

Fairytale Landscapes

Into the Woods

Look at the shadows! 

Most recently I have completed 2 pieces based around the mythical archetypes of the stag in the woods. 'Midnight grove' a lighted work is on show at Kirra Galleries in Melbourne until the 30 June.

Talia Lamp

I owe a great debt to Heidi Anne Heiner of Surlalune whose fantastic website has been a great help to me over the years and also to Ink Gypsy who keeps me up to date with the current fairytale world. Thank you.

Fairytale Landscapes - Aschenputtel

You're so welcome Spike! I'm thrilled to be of help; it truly is an honor. And it's now my aim to see some of your pieces in person. And we cannot wait to see the Selkie! Thank you for sharing your vision and talent with us all.

Fairytale Landscapes - Red

Fairytale Landscapes - Talia

Isn't she just amazing? As wonderful as these little images are on the web, I can only imagine how much more impact they have in person.

The Wolf I Knew Would Lead Me...

For my regular readers, I'm adding the Depths & Shallows show to the new Fairy Tale News Calendar, which is at the top of the page in the tab menu, in case there's a chance any of you are able to go.

There are many more pictures of Spike's work on her website, as well as a wealth of beautiful "in progress" photos on her blog (it's fascinating to see the creation of these pieces!).

Spike Deane's website is HERE, her blog is HERE, and her Twitter is HERE.