“Project: Specimen” is a group of creations that was produced out of seemingly useless fragments of mammoth tusk. Each of the artworks turned out to be quite a very unique experience as it had never been like as getting a piece of mammoth ivory and “removing all the extras.” Each project was living and evolving on its own, like it wasn’t just a process of carving but a way of constant discoveries of something new and different than the original thought. Several times I had to alter my original idea, but the results were amazing.
“Project Specimen N1”
The other name of this Mammoth ivory carving is “Life lessons” By itself, this artwork is very unusual and it comes from the artistic part of the material. Such material can’t be easily associated with word “ivory” or “tusk”, only a closer look can reveal that once, maybe 50,000 years ago, it was a part of the tusk of very mighty bull mammoth. That mammoth had lived far away from the modern–day Arctic circle, and because of that this fragment wasn’t so preserved in permafrost and absorbed some surrounding minerals and their colors. When I saw this piece, even when it was rough, I couldn’t hold my excitement. I wanted to preserve this piece in it’s original beauty and let others see it. Also, I wanted to tell a little bit of the story. I wanted to show the animal, how it could look back then and to bring a piece of Ice Age drama within our touch. I decided to carve an mighty adult mammoth pushing away the saber-tooth cat from the baby mammoth. This why the ivory carving is called :Life Lessons”. During the carving, I really went very deep turning some bas-relieve images into almost free-standing figurines. This sculpture is 10-1/2 inches (265mm) tall at the base. The mammoth ivory part is 4.5 inches (110mm) wide. This carving is SOLD but if you are interested, I can carve a similar carving for you, if I will find a very inspiring piece of material.
“Project Specimen N2”
This beautiful piece of mammoth ivory is fairly thin, about 1/2 inch (10-12mm) on the thickest. It is so-called bark ivory, the outer layer of the tusk and has it’s own unique character, this unique crackling pattern that started to originate maybe when the animal was still alive, sometimes 20,000 years ago. The image of the saber-tooth cat fitted this piece so well and this ivory carving turned out so emotional. The sculpture stands 8.5 inches (220mm) tall and 4 inches (100mm) wide. This carving is SOLD but if you are interested, I can create a similar artwork for you.
“Project Specimen N3”
Unlike other artworks made from mammoth tusk fragments, this one has no bas-relives. This piece simply wasn’t suitable for the carving. Instead, I’ve decided to put there some images of cave paintings. Our ancestors were lucky enough to witness mammoths alive and they definitely were impressed by those mighty creatures. The cave paintings, by all means, can’t be called primitive. You can feel the power and, yet, the grace of the animals. I can only honestly say that working with this piece was a very emotional experience. I didn’t only touched the long-gone animal but looked on it through the eyes of an ancestor. Art itself, is a never ending part of human existence and this piece of mammoth ivory become a bridge between modern age and stone age artists. This artwork is about 18.5 inches (570mm) long and stands 6 inches (150mm) tall. This piece is SOLD but if you are interested, I can create a similar artwork for you.
“Project Specimen N4”
This is a simple, but very elegant piece of art made, yet, from another piece of mammoth “bark” ivory. I call it sometimes: “Trumpeting Mammoth”. The artwork is tall but not thick at all, only 3/4 inch (18mm) at the thickest. Despite this, I tried to make the mammoth almost free-standing. The piece is turned out to be very emotional and has very interesting variety of colors. It is lightly brown outside with very beautiful coloration of green-blue. Such colors are very rare, but I was simply lucky to work on such beautiful piece of mammoth ivory. This mammoth ivory carving is SOLD but if you are interested, I can create a similar carving for you.
“Project Specimen N5”
This is one of several artworks where several tusk fragments were combined together. The long part is hollow inside, it is only bark that was no thicker than 3mm. The second piece was in great shape and proportion to carve a saber-tooth cat. The entire composition is over 12 inches (310 mm) and 4 inches (100 mm) wide. This carving is SOLD but if you are interested, I can carve a similar carving for you.
“Project Specimen N6”
This is another broken-off fragment of the tusk and, yet, another very interesting example of how such seemingly not very inspirational piece can be turned into something so beautiful. With this piece I decide to take my chances and carve a single image of the mammoth as deep as possible. This way it looks like the animal is stepping from some kind of deep cave, not even a stone cave but more like it steps to us from the depths of time. The artwork is suspending from two brass rods, this way all the attention is going to the carving. When on base, it proudly stands 10-3/4 inches tall (272 mm) with the diameter of the tusk being 3 inches (75 mm).
This carving is SOLD but if you are interested, I can carve a similar carving for you.
“Project Specimen N7”
Here is another project that is combination of two pieces. One is a fragment of the small tusk that probably belonged to a young mammoth, the second piece is just a small piece of “bark ivory”, it is only 2. by 2.5 inches (50×63 mm). The addition of the carving to the fragment of the tusk had made this composition more balanced and the baby looks so cute. The carving part has some distance between itself and tusk fragment, both pieces are connected by the thin brass rods. The entire artwork is not so small, it stands 11 inches (280 mm) tall.
THE CARVING IS AVALIABLE FOR SALE, PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR THE PRICE AND SHIPPING INFO.
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“Project Specimen N8”
A very elegant carving with mother and cub . It looks deep and some features of adult animal and baby are carved around but the material is quite thin. It is a flaked-off piece of once a very big tusk. Even that the piece is 4.25 inches (105 mm) wide and 4.5 inches (112 mm) tall, it’s thickness is only 3/8 inches (7 mm) at the thickest . Because of such thickness, carving this loving scene turned out to be a challenge. There should be a good feeling of the depth, each character should stand-out and be quite propor-tionate. And when it came to base, it should be different than other bases. I wanted the carving to be elevated and I wanted the base to compliment the carving. It has become an art piece on it’s own. Such design is quite new but it brings-up the carving well. This carving is SOLD but if you are interested, I can carve a similar carving for you.
“Project Specimen N9”
A quite tall and impressive project that is also a combination of two pieces. The taller piece is a tusk fragment that is over 12 inches (300 mm) long and approximately 2.5 inches (65 mm) wide. It is half-round in shape and gives us a good idea how the complete tusk could look like. It was, definitely, long and slender and belonged to a female mammoth, maybe caring mother like one on the carving.
I also have found a piece of the “bark ivory” that wasn’t big enough to take attention from the tusk part, it had just s right size; 5 by 2 inches (125 by 50mm) and comparable darker colors that were creating a good contrast. For the carving design I have chosen a very gently scene where mother and cub are hugging each out with theirs trunks. As before, I’ve got curious how deep I can go and how closer to free-standing design both animals can be. The result has turned out quite good where front of the animals totally stands out but their backs are blending into background.
Both pieces are connected together by the brass rods and placed on the beautiful walnut base. The entire high of the sculpture is 15.5 inches (394 mm) tall.
This carving is SOLD but if you are interested, I can carve a similar carving for you.
Project Specimen N10″
This tusk piece was part of something really, really big that could be a symbol of raw power that was totally unchallenged for many decades. This fragment was a part of the tusk that could make it’s owner opponent tremble and could send any animal running, even most ferocious ones. In it’s present state, the fragment is hollow inside , only outer layer had survived. It is 5 inches (125mm) in diameter and it is easy to imagine how big was the whole tusk. I can safely assume, it was 8-10 feet (2.5-3 meters) long and, maybe, much bigger in diameter where it was at the thickest. When I got this piece, I instantly felt an urge to find out all the beauty it may possess. It needed some artistic touch to help to tell it’s story. The tusk, undoubtedly, took place in many tournaments. This why I carved there a tale of two mighty mammoths challenging each other. This sculpture stands about 15 inches (375mm) tall. The mammoth ivory carving is hanging over the beautiful walnut base and entire piece is simply stunning. The piece was SOLD rather fast, but I hope to carve another one if there will be similar piece of mammoth tusk.
