Calgary artist's mouse armour featured in National Geographic

Jeff de Boer's mouse armour is ready for its close-up.

The Calgary artist, whose work blurs the line between art, artefact, jewelry, science fiction and toy, is the subject of a glowing feature story on the National Geographic website.

The feature, by Kristen Romey, introduces National Geographic to the world of de Boer's idiosyncratic, unmistakable and unforgettable mouse and cat armour that he's been building for 36 years, along the way developing a roster of international clients and a devoted social media following.

The article even references Calgary's Glenbow Museum, where de Boer had his 'aha!' moment as a five-year-old when his mother took him to the armour collection.

“I think that at a very early age, children recognise armour as something interesting, and for me it was really haunting," de Boer told Romey. “How was this made? Who wore it? Why did they wear it? What were the experiences that that armour had? Those thoughts and ideas have been with me my entire life."

Calgary artist Jeff de Boer's mouse armour is featured in the National Geographic (Photo: Twitter@JeffdeBoer9)

That led to de Boer playing around with constructing human-sized armour of his own in his father's metal fabrication shop while he was in high school but then, as a jewelry-making student at ACAD, de Boer decided to shrink the scale.

"And then it dawned on me: I could make a suit of armour for a mouse," he told Romey. "That was the transitional moment—as Disney said, "It all started with a mouse'."

Did he ever imagine that four decades later, his mouse armour would be featured in National Geographic?

"My art is part artefact, so for them it's fit of history, archeology, and culture," he said, in an interview with CTV News on Christmas Eve. "You're always photographing your work, and some times, you think, 'Now that would look good on the cover of the National Geographic.' Well what do you know?"

Mouse armour by Jeff de Boer (Photo courtesy Jeff de Boer)

It turns out that National Geographic discovered de Boer's mouse armour through social media.

Romey saw it on De Boers's Twitter feed, and reached out.

"I thought, she sounds like an interesting person," he said, "but I didn't realize she was an editor at National Geographic, and then she asked, 'Would you like us to do an article on your work?'"

That all took place a little over two years ago. Romey did a comprehensive interview, but then COVID-19 disrupted the whole thing, forcing De Boer to wait patiently to see whether or not it had all been a dream.

Now, the article is out in the web version. The organization is in the process of having a film crew come to make a short documentary of de Boer at work in his studio in Ramsey and the article may also make it into a hard copy of the magazine.

POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA

He's never lacked for clients, but says the response to the article has been a little mind-blowing.

"Right now, I'm literally fielding hundreds of calls," he says. "It's been a bit of a wild week."

De Boer's success is a testimony  to the power of digital media to be a game-changer for artists.

To illustrate, he tells a story.

"From 1994 to 1996, I did an exhibition. 160 works toured across Western Canada. There was a big show at the Canadian Museum of Craft with a catalogue. Photos of everything. They printed 2500 copies. It cost $90, 000," he says.

"I get that (audience) with one click of a mouse today.

"That's the difference (between digital and analogue culture)."

De Boer once followed the traditional artist route, selling work through different galleries, until he discovered the internet allowed his work to reach audiences without a middleman (who charged a nice commission.)

"I used to sell my work through galleries, but then I saw that I could be in competition with my own galleries," he says.

When gallery owners heard that he planned to sell his work independently, through social media, they said it would be the end of his career.

Instead, social media was a launching pad for an artist who has always been transparent about the tricks of his particular trade – which is the secret sauce to developing a social media brand.

"On social media, people who commission my work can follow as I build their work," he says. "You can share every little detail about how you do it.

"Some artists are reluctant to do that, but I think part of this job is that we're part of a continuum of sharing knowledge.

"People love it (to be able to watch)," he says. "It's a little bit like playing the piano. You have to learn some new stuff, like how to talk to the camera as you work, but it's lovely that I've been able to develop that."

'A SMALL EXHIBITION'

He hasn't had a formal exhibition for years, but De Boer has one scenario in mind.

"When new Glenbow opens, I'd like to do a small exhibition," he says. "I really want the world to physically see my work.

"This (National Geographic story) should be a good trigger.

"I'd like it to be on the museum floor, not the art floor," he says. "It's more liberating. People have always had difficulty characterizing my work. Some people say its artefacts, jewelry, toys, and science fiction. Some think its conceptual art. I'd like people to be able to decide for themselves."

Maybe the new Glenbow will be looking for some local content for its impressive armour collection?

"I first saw armour at the Glenbow when I was five years old," he says. "Coming back to the Glenbow would be like a salmon returning to the stream where they were born."

Thanks to - of all the unlikely things - mouse armour, a Calgary artist has become an international somebody.

"For 36 years, I thought I was building mouse armour," de Boer says. "It turns out that mouse armour was building me."