Extraordinary Pets
Every animal lover cherishes their pet for a set of behaviours and personality traits thats as unique as any person’s. My pets get the same ‘giggle and shrug’ from me when showing off their personalities as my quirky human friends. My best friend Susan happens to spend up to ten hours at a time on a Saturday intently frosting cupcakes to whimsical perfection, and my bulldog-staffie Twiggie dashes haphazardly about the garden yipping and pronking high in the air, chasing shadows. She has been known to leap into the apricot tree on more than one occasion, and bark in wild exhilaration, ‘where’d that dratted shadow go?’ from a good metre off the ground.
But then there are pets which go beyond the usual quirks and manifest extraordinary abilities. Pets which travel incredible distances to find their owners. Pets which know things ahead of time and warn their owners. And Pets, like Tillie, who are true artists.
Tillamook Cheddar: Artist and Mother
Tillie’s guardians do not say, on her website, how she was discovered, or when the exact moment was that they realised her scratching and biting of paper could be tranformed, with a little help from touch sensitive materials, into exhibitable art pieces. Perhaps its all in her biography “Portrait of the Dog as a Young Artist” by F. Bowman Hastie III, is published by Sasquatch Books (2006).
Her bio describes her very simply as a Jack Russel Terrier originating from Brooklyn, New York. Now ten years old and a veteran artist, she has created enough art for twenty solo exhibitions, and has featured in double as many group and benefit exhibitions in both the US and Europe. She is widely regarded as the world’s preeminent canine artist.
"When possessed by an artistic vision, Tillie is fearless." -AKC Gazette
The artist’s primary process is ‘a dynamic color transfer technique’. Tillie’s assistants assemble ‘a touch-sensitive recording device by affixing pigment-coated vellum to a sheet of lithograph paper backed by mat board’ (which is a fancy way of saying she scratches and bites at paper which makes something along the lines of a carbon copy).
‘The artist takes the prepared “canvas” in her mouth and brings it to her workspace. Working on the outside surface, she applies pressure with teeth and claws in a methodic ritual marked by dramatic shifts in tempo and intensity. The resultant sharp and sweeping intersecting lines complement the artist’s delicate paw prints and subtle tongue impressions, composing an expressionistic image that is revealed on the paper beneath when she is finished. She works with shocking intensity, sometimes to the point of destroying her creations.’ In July 2005 the artist gave birth to six healthy puppies. One of her sons, Doc Chinook Strongheart Cheddar, continues to live with her, but thus far, Doc has not followed his mother in her artistic forays.
We have emailed Tillamook’s guardians to ask for some video footage of Tillamook and also, how she travels from the US to the UK to be present at her exhibition openings.
Do you have an Extraordinary Pet story for us to showcase? Email us on extraordinarypets@animaltravel.co.za.More about the artist on www.tillamookcheddar.com
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