When you first enter studio 207 in the Casket Arts Building, you feel like you are “walking through the wardrobe” into another world. You are surrounded by lions, monkeys, zebras, wolves, and birds, large and small, that fill the studio. Taxidermy animals, all dressed in their finest regalia. Tina Wilcox created this surreal world of animalia and brought her collection to life in her book, “The Conscious Kingdom.” In the book, she “humanizes” her collection of humanely procured taxidermy, giving each animal a fictional life story that exhibits “the brilliance and flaws of all manner of human beings.” A portion of the book’s proceeds benefits the Animal Humane Society, which provides direct care and services to more than 100,000 animals annually across Minnesota.
When she was 12 years old, Wilcox found a taxidermy raccoon that had been carelessly thrown into a dumpster. She experienced a soulful connection with the creature, so she took it home, cleaned it up and gave it a place of honor in her pastel pink bedroom. This childhood moment foreshadowed her deep connection with animals, and her steadfast belief that their souls are eternal and they deserve to be honored.
As years went on relatives and friends started giving her taxidermy to “rehome.” Wilcox says, “It was more like these animals found me than I found them.” She would often stumble upon “orphaned” taxidermy at a garage sale or flea market with a $5 price tag hastily taped to their head. “It broke my heart,” she said.
She is fascinated by the circle of life, as well as how different cultures honor their dead. “Ancient Egyptians entombed their animals and Native Americans celebrate and revere them as spirit animals. Western society doesn’t do that. In our culture, when an animal passes, they are just gone. Forever. It’s very sad.”
Wilcox collects only “humanely procured” taxidermy, which takes patience and work. To assemble this kind of collection you need to have accurate knowledge of how each animal died, and assurance their passing was humane. Wilcox embodies that ethos and obtains mounts from just four trusted dealers that sell only humanely procured taxidermy.
Wilcox has been involved with many animal welfare organizations, including serving on the board of the Animal Humane Society from 2013 to 2019.
Lisa Bonds, Chief Advancement Officer of the Animal Humane Society, said, “We (Tina, our CEO Janelle Dixon, and I) have been talking about Tina’s work and the book for years. We often talked about her growing collection of animals and her idea for a book that could be sold to create an evergreen stream of funding for AHS. She continues to be an important member of our ‘inner circle’ – a trusted advisor, friend, and key supporter. Tina’s perspective as an artist has consistently influenced and enhanced our work – from her generous guidance and conversations with us about AHS’ marketing, brand, and communications- to how “The Conscious Kingdom” concept dovetailed so well with our mission, vision and values. We’re grateful to Tina for her generous support of AHS and our vision for the future.”
Above is a 2 minute excerpt of the interview with
Tina Wilcox and Shelly Mosman conducted by Josh Blanc. Lisa Roy was the videographer.
The full video interview can be seen on the district YouTube Channel here.
Wilcox’s inspiration for her book came one evening after a particularly challenging meeting regarding fundraising. She was sitting at home in her library where some of her taxidermy animals reside. Suddenly, she locked eyes with the lion, and the idea of creating a book that “humanized” the animals occurred to her.
She knew the book needed to be extraordinarily different. She began chronicling stories of each animal’s life on Earth. She assigned them families, talents, professions and personalities. Their lives ran the gamut from successful and sensible, to insanely absurd, to just a tiny bit bawdy. As she wrote, she challenged readers to imagine animals living lives just like us. Her hope? Seeing these animals living “human” lives–albeit fictionalized– would create a new mindfulness-a “consciousness” of how we treat creatures with whom we share our planet. “The Conscious Kingdom” is written in Wilcox’s signature, anachronistic style, with sentences and words that jump back and forth between 18th-century colloquialisms to modern slang.
As she created more and more animals, costumes and set ideas, Tina started looking for a photographer. Most of the photographers she knew were in New York and Los Angeles. She had a specific aesthetic in mind. Then one of her employees told her about Shelly Mosman, a Minneapolis photographer in the Casket Arts Building, who she had never met.
Mosman said she was reluctant at first, not knowing what to think about photographing taxidermy. She had used live animals in her photography at times, but after meeting Tina, she understood the concept behind “The Conscious Kingdom” and said decided to give it a try.
[This was October 2019, and ironically it became their pandemic project].
Wilcox had the vision and Mosman helped her bring it to life. Mosman introduced Tina to Carter Averbeck, an artist and designer who is classically trained in fresco painting. His scenic work would give the photos a “painterly” quality when combined with Wilcox’s animal characters. And Mosman’s photography style and signature lighting would seal the deal. So, Wilcox hired them both.
Tina’s frames create an extra sensation to the images. New framing was too expensive, so Wilcox picked up old and antique frames to which she added flocking, textiles, or paint treatments.
She brought in a seamstress, Sue Segal, who helped construct the animal costumes. Tina also hired the costume designer for the band KISS to create a spiked leather vest for the black wolf, who is a Viking in the book. Tina pointed out that creating costumes for animals is not without its attendant difficulties because the bodies of animals are so different. Most animals don’t have shoulders, they have four legs and tails, and they are unusual shapes. Everything has to be custom fitted. Sue had to create a muslin pattern for most of the pieces and fit it to the animal- then create the costume from it. Tina sent send a muslin, photos, and sketches to the KISS designer to make the vest.
Here’s where the book is available for purchase. The cost is $175.00
*More on the future vision of Animal Humane Society, a Minnesota organization, not to be confused with a national organization of a similar name.
“AHS most definitely sees animals and humans connected the way Tina does in her book, The Conscious Kingdom. We are in the midst of realizing a powerful vision for the future of AHS through a capital campaign that fits so closely with what Tina wants to happen with her book – making the world a more humane place for all (animals and humans) and to make Minneapolis/St. Paul the MOST humane community in the country.
“Part of our vision includes a new animal care campus (one that Tina helped conceive and birth during her time on the board and the capital campaign committee) that will be an immersive experience in the animal/human bond and that will allow us to shift from a shelter-centric to a wholistic, community-centric approach for animals and their humans.
“For AHS, the changing face of fundraising has meant increases in support from all of our donors – no matter how they give (online, via social media, in response to direct mail or text or through any of our multi-channel efforts to raise funds to support our work) and no matter how much they give. We realize how fortunate we are that COVID hasn’t had a negative impact on our fundraising efforts. Our mission and work constantly evolves to meet the needs of animals and the people who love them and that means we need to increase the revenue we raise to meet those needs.
“Costs to care for animals vary depending on their medical and behavioral needs, but the cost of care for an average kitten that arrives at AHS is approximately $925 and the cost of care for an average puppy that arrives at AHS is approximately $1,330. The total cost of caring for and rehoming animals amounted to more than $9 million last year.” —Lisa Bonds, Chief Advancement Officer, Animal Humane Society
Credits: Article by Josh Blanc, Video by Lisa Roy, Editing by Margo Ashmore and Cynthia Sowden. Photos courtesy of Shelly Mosman and Tina Wilcox.