Suits of plate armor were developed back in the Middle Ages. They served as protection during battle, but they also became an art. Here in the 21st century, one metalwork artist is keeping this ancient art alive, but instead of armoring people, he's creating suits for… mice. Yep, you read that right.
Jeff de Boer has been fascinated with suits of armor since he first saw one as a kid, at a museum in Calgary. Over nearly four decades, he's made a name for himself in the fine art world as someone who has continued this incredible art at a minute scale – learning, perfecting, and teaching it to others.
From ancient knights to armored mice
de Boer's early interest in suits of armor was not just aesthetic – but also about what they did.
"Armor is like one of the first evolutionary defenses against the hostile world. I mean, whatever amoeba has slightly tougher skin can go into hotter water. If you have an exoskeleton, you can survive the bite of some other monster," de Boer said.
de Boer's dad was a sheet metal fabricator, and young de Boer spent his childhood playing around in the shop. He even built a few full-sized suits of armor. But they took a long time – more time than he wanted to spend on a single project.
de Boer ended up at art school studying jewelry making, and as he was working with the tiny tools involved in the craft, he had an idea. He could build a suit of armor in a much shorter time frame if he built it… for a mouse.
"I just remember handing that mouse in, and the teachers were silent. And they said 'Jeff, I don't think you have to worry about making jewelry anymore.'"
His professor's faith in the viability of this artistic pursuit proved correct. While still in school, de Boer took his mouse armor to local galleries and booked his first commercial exhibition. Which led to another, and then another, and then more sales and commissions. Though he still makes the occasional piece of jewelry or sculpture, primarily, he's established a career in making mouse armor (with some cat suits as well).
The big 'why?'
"You get those messages on social media," says de Boer. "It's just like the big why. Why? Well, you know — why make anything?"
That's his main answer – that mouse armor is no less practical than, say, a pendant. But when you press him further, he says he's drawn to the themes these works allow him to explore. For example, the theme of the underdog, or the protection we all need to survive, or the relationship between those with power, and those without.
As a small-scale artist, de Boer's often felt like the little guy, and he kind of identifies with the mouse. He thinks a lot of people feel that way as they navigate the world.
"The idea that the mouse could find an edge, that it could put on a suit of armor and go out there. And maybe make a difference – I think that is what we are all dreaming about," he muses. "What would be all of our personal armor these days? And what would be our quest?"
Scaling down also gives him more opportunities to play around. The mouse armor – which we should note, de Boer does not put on actual mice – draws upon a wide array of design elements across different cultures. They're inspired by armor traditions from Scandinavia to India to Japan.
"The nice thing with mouse scale is that you get to do a whole lot of neat things. You get to explore all of the different cultures, all the different forums, and just modify it and compress it," de Boer says.
Mouse armor for all
He also teaches the occasional class in mouse armor construction, where students from a range of backgrounds learn everything from creating molds to punching and shaping metal to the science of forging and soldering.
At a recent master class at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle, students included video game designer Thiago Vidotto, who came to learn the real-world construction techniques that could make his virtual armored characters more believable.
"To make something real when it's digital, it needs to have imperfections, 'cause nothing's perfect," explained Vidotto. "So you have to learn where you can add the distress, where it could be a problem."
Student Laurie Raubacher signed up because, as a new artist, she wanted to improve her metalwork technique. And also because it's mouse armor.
"I really appreciate the whimsical nature," said Raubacher. "Like, it's just there to be enjoyed."
De Boer hopes that reviving this ancient art to create these tiny metal-clad mice will bring enjoyment and delight – and possibly inspire people to suit up and slay their own dragons.
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