Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Primrose Peach - Taxidermist


Name: Primrose Peach
Occupation: Taxidermist
Age: 24
Born: Warrington, England.
Currently live: Melbourne, Australia.

What made you interested in taxidermy? 
Before I started doing taxidermy I worked as a fashion stylist (which I still do on occasions). I was looking at incorporating taxidermy in one of the shoots I was working on and instead of lending the taxidermy, I gave myself the task of trying to make it myself. However, it didn't quite go as well as I'd planned but I became extremely fascinated by it and decided to pester a Melbourne taxidermist to train me. I must of called him around 5 times or more and after every phone call he'd give me a new task to complete, and tell me to maybe call back in a couple of months and he might be less busy. It wasn't really looking hopeful and that's when I decided to go to Texas to a taxidermy school. When I arrived back in Melbourne I thought I'd try calling back the taxidermist and that time he called me in for an interview and I started working with him.


Education/Training: 
I trained in Texas at a school and then Gary Pegg took me under his wing.

What kind of projects you've worked on? 
Pieces for television, movies, collectors and commissioned work and also my own art pieces


Employment and self employment - What is involved..?
Getting employment is really hard because most taxidermists are hobbyists or just work on their own with little help. I'd say its better to be self employed unless you're hired by a large company, and there isn't many big taxidermy companies unless you're in America.

What advice would you give to people interested in the field?  
Looking for information on how to do taxidermy can be really difficult if you don't know the right places to look. I'd recommend just doing as much research as possible and reading lots of books.


What is involved in being a taxidermist, what can one expect? 
Lots of blood and gore. I think most people don't realise that being a taxidermist you need to be able to skin and gut an animal. Unless you want to just work with tiny animals, in which they can then be freeze dried but they don't last very long that way. It's definately not for the squeamish.


Is it a mostly a male-centric field? 
There's definately more men than women working within the taxidermy field but I think because it's become so popular in the fashion mags, more women are wanting to be involved.


How have you found working in Taxidermy? 
I love it! Taxidermy heroes and/or artists? I guess Gary Pegg is my hero and he's taught me a lot. I learnt the basics of taxidermy at school but Gary taught me the important details. Even though he's won world champion taxidermist awards I don't think he gets the recognition he deserves, especially when doing commission pieces for artists that pass his work off as their own. That can be the frustrating aspect of working on taxidermy pieces for other artists. They get the credit, you get none in most cases.


What's in the future for you?
Wait... let me just consult my crystal ball...
Where/what would you like to be working on? I'd like to have more time to work on my own pieces, hopefully I'll have a lot of it done by the end of the year.

Is there anywhere people can view your work online?
I'm currently in the process of getting a website made for my own personal work but for now I just have a blog. Which has a collection of photographs that I took whilst at work. You can check it out at http://primrosepeach.tumblr.com/