Years ago, I saw a show about a woman who made her home a sort of shrine to Precious Moments figurines. She had custom cabinets built for them and everything. I remember being horrified that someone would devote such incredible resources to Precious-freaking-Moments.
Many years later, enter my hero: Canadian artist Keith Busher aka the Precious Mutator. As his artist name suggests, Keith takes old Precious Moments figurines and morphs them into hideous mutations. Yes!
Though he initially shied away from toying with Precious Moments because he didn’t want to upset anyone (and, practically speaking, because people aren’t in the habit of discarding those particular figurines very often), Busher says he hit the jackpot when he found out a local antique shop had an entire box of Precious Moments it was looking to offload. “The Precious Moments pieces tend to get the biggest audiences as they are so recognizable,” he says. “Everyone knows somebody who had this piece or that one.”
Busher uses a self-hardening clay and mostly recycled materials to transform each figurine. And he takes his time. “I’ve learned that I can make pieces quickly, but I won’t be happy when it’s done,” he says. “I often add things that don’t get seen, several layers of paint to get that right feeling of depth.” He talks more about his process on his newly created YouTube channel.
Want one of his creations? Head on over to his Etsy shop.
screenshot via The Art of Keith Busher
