Wildlife Art Expertly Rendered in Leather

By MasterArtisan

Silva Fox FCSCL

Detail of Cardinals

Silva Fox Artistry21150 W. Sylvan DriveMundelein, IL 60060

http:wdstudio.net/foxart s.foxart@gmail.com

(815) 900-8979

Southern Comfort 24” x 48”

There hasn’t been a time when I wasn’t drawing those things around me that delighted for some reason. It could be the movement in a subject or the color, texture or the tilt of a head that was reminiscent of pure joy.

Add season, fragrance and sound to evoke an event worthy of recording and I record those moments with sketches, photographs and memory. Photo’s are the most accurate visual records with sketches following closely but it is the memory that combines all those things that a photograph cannot capture; temperature, scent, sounds, circumstances, time, and mood to create a moment worthy of art. In 1976 I began a hobby that would become a life long endeavor in the pursuit of fine craft perfection, art recognition and teaching the use of leather as an artists medium. Toward these goals I have written numerous photographed and illustrated articles for the Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal, designed patterns and instructions for Tandy Leather Company and produced illustrations, patterns and instructions for projects on the Silva Fox Artistry website (http://wdstudio.net/foxart). My Dazzling Color,

DVD was recommended by Video Librarian and Cahners Library Journal and rated 3 Stars. Awards, titles and recognitions have been presented to me in the USA, Canada and Japan. I am a Master Leather Artisan, a Fellow in Canada, the 1997 Al Stohlman Award for excellence recipient and was awarded the Zalitis Pin from Canada and the Ken Griffin Award for excellence 2014. To date, my works have been displayed in the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, CA; The Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City; Japanese Leather Forum, Tokyo; State of Illinois Center, Chicago; the Discovery Museum, Lake County, IL and the Promega Corporation Art Show, Fitchburg, WI. Silva Fox artworks are in the collections of Tandy Leather Museum, Leather Factory, The Leather Crafters & Saddlers Journal, Western Illinois Hunting Unlimited, Jim Harrower, Stony River, Alaska and Orvis Company Stores.Robert Redford, actor, director and owner of Sundance, was presented a Silva Fox original streamer/fly fishing wallet at the premier of the movie, A River Runs Through It.

All artworks shown are copyrighted bySilva Fox Artistry

There are many flowery descriptions and thoughts on ART and what art is. Some say it’s in the medium-- oil paint on canvas, bronze, marble; those are the choices of museums and galleries today. Before I go to actual definitions and thoughts, I refer only to visual art here, not music or theater or “art of” things like language or cooking or wine or ___ fill in the blank. Briefly, in the Oxford dictionary ART is defined: 1 the expression of creative skill in a visual form such as painting or sculpture. 2 paintings, drawings and sculpture as a whole. Now that description seems simple and straight forward to me. I’ve been working with leather for many years (see my website), created, taught and published my own unique ways of manipulating the medium and introduced easier ways of working with color on leather. I’ve sculpted,

designed, shaped, stitched, manipulated, assembled, cut, pounded, boiled, stretched, you get the idea...I know a lot about working with leather. Leather is drawn on to transfer a design or pattern, sculpted to create relief and painted or

not (it’s quite lovely without color and with time develops a patina) to finish the work. Those words and acts are all used in the definition of “ART” but the finished sculpted paintings are not commonly seen in galleries-- well, there are a whole lot more people who can paint on canvas with oil and that is true. It is also part of what makes really good works of ART on leather so much more special. There is focused dedication in a leather artist to become a master of design, sculpting and painting because the time required to learn these techniques is long. The medium is unforgiving. One serious mistake made with the swivel knife can ruin a beautiful piece--like a diamond being cut with one wrong tap. The price of my leather art, the value, is in the 2 steps required--tooling and then painting and the time needed not just for a singular work but for the life time of developed skill. One of the most fascinating aspects of leather working is the ability to produce

extremely fine, realistic details in my subjects. From feathers and fur to grasses, leaves and tree bark details emerge depicting nature. Not only are the details convincing visually but they also feel correct to the touch. This tactile feature allows leather as a medium to cross into dimension like bas-relief sculpture. Ultimately, Art is in the eye of the viewer.Do you see leather or do you see the unique dimension that brings my subject to life? Do you lose yourself in the scene? Does this art make you feel something? Because that’s what

art does.

Canvas & Bronze

What is Art?

DetailChick-a-Dee

13” x 16”

A Book ofTimeFrom birth through school, special events are remebered in photo’s. A fine gift for grown children.

Dragonfly Vase 6” high

Laughing Zebras 24” x 48”