Mozart Dane
Posted on 03. Jul, 2009 by ronald in Artists
It is my pleasure to introduce everyone to a unique artist, Mozart Dane.
Mozart Dane is an artist with a mission. His passion is not only one of art but one of stopping puppy mills and the cruelty to animals. He uses his art to bring awareness to this cause and to help fund the rescue of these animals. You see, Mozart Dane is a “Great Dane canine” and one of the fortunate ones. Even though, he was born in such a place and then “auction off” to a family that a few days later turned him over to a shelter as a stray, was rescued. He is now a resident of Harlequin Haven Great Dane Rescue in Bethel, Ohio where he is healthy, happy, cared for and their “spokesdog”.
Mozart first started painting on paper and doing crafts in 2005. He now devotes his time painting on canvas, his real love. In June 2007 he was the featured artist at Mac Worthington Art Gallery in Columbus, Ohio. He has, also, participated in several art festivals.
The interview is conducted with Janet Carleton, spokesperson for Mozart Dane. His story is truly inspirational and one that we all need to reflect upon when we are considering obtaining a pet.
Artdiggs: Janet, since you are the spokesperson for Mozart Dane, how did you realize that Mozart could bring awareness to the cruelty and injustice of puppy mills by having him create art work?
Janet: With Mo’s story, and his eye catching work, we realized that we could gain audiences beyond the Rescue crowd. When auctioning his work on eBay, each piece had a story that tied in information on puppymills. Many people still are not aware of the puppymill/petshop connection –that puppymills supply petstores and purchasing those puppies fuels that cruel industry.
Janet: The Rescue had a fundraising idea to create paw art with different resident dogs, dipping paws in paint and pressing onto paper. Most of the dogs disliked the feeling of something on their paws, although some attractive work resulted. That work was sold on eBay and folks got excited at the possibilities although it was very messy and involved much clean up after. As the process evolved it became apparent that there was one dog who actually *liked* the process, and of course all the attention, not to mention the cheese cubes. That dog was Mo. Initially Mo created many paintings on paper, mostly just placing a paw or moving it around on the paper. From there he moved to “pawtographing” craft items and apparel. The next move was to canvas where he began refining his technique of pushing the paint around on the canvas–something that wasn’t possible when he was working on paper.
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Janet: For the last couple of years Mo has worked exclusively with acrylic paint on canvas. He works with a human studio assistant who gets out the squirt bottles of paint and lays out the canvas. Mo works while lying down on a futon. He indicates color choices with his nose and watches carefully as the assistant squeezes a pool of paint onto the canvas. If he feels there isn’t enough paint applied, he waits for more. Mo then massages and pushes the paint around the canvas with his front paws. He pauses and looks for more paint/different colors. A regular day in the studio for him is two small canvases. Larger works may take a couple of days. He gets excited when he sees the art supplies out, and, if he’s given time off, he pesters folks wanting to paint.
Janet: No, he hasn’t. Mo is a Sanctuary Dog, living out his days in a safe home environment at the Rescue, due to his fear of floors and occasional panic attacks. The fears are probably because of spending the first 9 months of his life in a puppy mill environment where dogs are treated like badly cared for livestock. In fact the very thing that makes him unadoptable may have predisposed him to enjoy the job of painting. Rather than get up and walk away like the other dogs, Mo was happy to lay there and get the love and cheese that came from his early attempts at making art. As for photos of the process, we don’t have many–Mo will not work if he thinks a camera is pointed his way. I think we’ve all known of dogs who had a camera flash in his or her face and hated cameras thereafter.
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Janet: “Wow! No, really?” “How cool! Let me go get my friend, wife, etc.–be right back!” People are very positive. They enjoy both his work and the chance to interact with him at his personal appearances. Mo has a very sweet affectionate personality. Mo was accepted into several juried art festivals this summer. After having been accepted, the Rescue informed the festivals of the species to which the artist belonged. About half declined to show his work, but half said bring him on, we love his work!
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Janet: Well, folks that see the work tend to agree that it’s good. Then when one looks closely at the paint it can be seen to be massaged with paws, including bonus dog hair! Plus no one at the Rescue is artistic in that way, so there isn’t anyone to do it for him.
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Janet: It’s possible but we don’t know. There are other dogs that make art, but Mo’s style seems to be unique.
Janet: Don’t put limits on anyone (person or dog) based on what YOU think they can do. We never dreamed where Mo would go with his work! Remember we began with just putting a paw print on paper! Later, when we were preparing for Mo’s first gallery show in 2007, we were told that the Mo needed to create larger pieces. We thought no way, but Mo rose to the challenge of moving from filling a one foot canvas to filling three and four foot canvases. And his style evolved even further to meet the new challenge.
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Janet: This year we only applied to art festivals that were juried–that was new for us. We’ll have to see where Mo’s work can take him and the Rescue. The more exposure his work gets, the more education we can do about the evils of puppy mills. Additionally, the Rescue runs on a shoestring and sales of Mo’s art really help.
Janet: I’m very proud to be a part of the much needed work of the Rescue and this amazing artist! Please follow Mo on Twitter, Facebook, or Flickr.
His Web site is http://hhdane.org/mozart
Artdiggs: To our readers… take a moment to reflect on how you can help the Animal Rescue organizations in your own neighborhoods and then act. The animals need the help from kind and caring humans.
