Griffon Ramsey | |
---|---|
Born | Eugene, Oregon, U.S. | April 23, 1980
Occupation | Artist |
Movement | Chainsaw art |
Spouse | |
Children | 1 |
YouTube information | |
Channel | |
Years active | 2011–present |
Subscribers | 67.1 thousand [1] (July 22, 2024) |
Total views | 4.2 million [1] (July 22, 2024) |
Last updated: July 22, 2024 | |
Website | http://griffonramsey.com |
Griffon E. Ramsey (formerly O'Connell; [2] born April 23, 1980) is an American chainsaw carving artist known for her pop-culture wood sculptures which have appeared at the Australian Chainsaw Carving Championships and the Butler Chainsaw Carving Invitational. [3] [4] [5] Chip Chats magazine described her as a "world-famous" artist with an, "edgy and bold style" [6] while VICE and Uproxx called her a "rock star of the art world" and noted her status as a female in a largely male-dominated field. [7] [8]
Several of her YouTube videos have attracted attention online, including her sculpting an Eastern red cedar into Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy , which accumulated over 115,000 views in three days. [9] As of October 2023 [update] , her channel has over 4 million video views and 68,000 subscribers. [10]
Griffon Ramsey grew up in Oregon and was inspired by the carvings she saw as a child, including those of her grandfather. [11] She graduated summa cum laude in 2008 from Texas State University with a BFA in Theatre and began chain-saw sculpting in 2011. [12] Her first chainsaw was a gift from her husband, Geoff Ramsey. [13] She was mentored by Disneyland parks wood designer R.L. Blair. [7] Ramsey has stated that Griffon is not her birth name, having legally changed it while considering transitioning. She has since refused to acknowledge or disclose what her birth name is as she no longer feels a connection to that name and prefers Griffon.
Prior to wood sculpting, Ramsey designed and painted playground markings at elementary schools in the Austin Independent School District in order to promote active learning. [14] The project was done in collaboration with Burl Norville and the University of Texas School of Public Health to, "utilize playground stencils to encourage physical activity." [15]
Ramsey worked for several years at Rooster Teeth Productions, during which time she created the video series Pajamachievements for Achievement Hunter, wrote and co-created Rooster Teeth Comics with artist Luke McKay, oversaw production design work and acted on series such as Immersion and RT Shorts, and was a frequent guest on the Rooster Teeth Podcast . [16] [17] [18] [19] She announced her departure from the company in October 2011. [20]
In 2013, Ramsey was the Production Designer on the indie film Grow Up, Tony Phillips . In 2014, Ramsey, alongside her then-husband, Geoff Ramsey, and friend Gavin Free, starred in the Rooster Teeth series Happy Hour. [21] In 2016, Ramsey starred in the Achievement Hunter Dungeons & Dragons web series Heroes and Halfwits . In 2017, Ramsey would play The Griffon in the Rooster Teeth web series The Eleven Little Roosters .
In January 2017, it was announced that she was teaming up with her husband for a new monthly podcast, titled Relationship Goals, about modern relationships and love, starting on Valentine’s Day (February 14). [22] In November 2017, Ramsey confirmed on Twitter that she and Geoff Ramsey were in the process of a divorce. [23]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | Red vs. Blue | Dexter Grif | Voice, one episode |
2010–2011 | Immersion | Herself | |
2010–2011 | Rooster Teeth Shorts | Herself | |
2014–2016 | Happy Hour | Herself | |
2016–present | Heroes and Halfwits | Orma | |
2017 | The Eleven Little Roosters | The Griffon | |
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2010–2011 | Rooster Teeth Podcast | |
2016 | Off Topic | |
2016 | Always Open | |
2017 | Relationship Goals |
Griffon Ramsey uses a variety of chainsaws to create a "rustic" look and various angle grinders, sanders, and Dremels for details and likes a combination of burning, staining, and painting to emphasize nuances. [8]
Ramsey takes suggestions for carvings from fans via her Twitter feed. [9] She edits videos which she posts to her YouTube channel, highlighting the process behind each individual carving and explaining the motivations behind each piece. [12]
Ramsey draws inspiration from, "street artists, folk artists, wood carvers, tinkerers, and in general, the self-taught, her work comes from a compulsive need to rearrange her environment and manifest the reality she would like to see." [24] Of her work, Gio Sasso commented, "Nobody thinks of a chainsaw as an elegant tool for fine detailed work but in the hands of Griffon it seems to be... Griffon is a fantastic artist in her own right." [25] When asked about what she finds interesting about chainsaw carving she responded, "beyond just what I can do with it— is that it’s also this performance art... it feels like there’s two different things happening at the same time. It’s the creation of the artifact or the byproduct of the experience." [7]
Her original carving of an archeologist finding a genie, titled Professor Morris Finds a Lamp, received praise from Butler Chainsaw Carving Invitational organizer Damian Skal and was the most complicated sculpture she had completed. [4] [26]
In October 2011, her carving of the Crimson Omen logo from the Gears of War franchise attracted attention from multiple gaming sites and was called, "the most apropos Gears of War tribute ever" by Kotaku . [27] [28]
In October 2014, her video of sculpting an Eastern red cedar into Groot, based on the tree-like character from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy , accumulated over 115,000 views in three days and was posted to many geek culture sites, including Gizmodo, io9 and Geekologie. [9] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] In November 2014, she drew attention for carving Elsa from Disney's Frozen after being inspired by her daughter's love of the character. [34] [35] [36] In December 2014, Ramsey was invited by Stihl to carve a special piece celebrating the company's 40th Anniversary. [37]
In January 2015 Ramsey participated in the Australian Chainsaw Carving Championships, carving a story book from The Neverending Story , for which she won the People's Choice Award. [3] [38] In February 2015, she attracted attention within the gaming community for carving Majora's Mask, a life-sized replica of the facepiece from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask . [39] [40] [41] In September 2015 Ramsey participated in the Scottish Open Chainsaw Carving Championships. [42]
Marble has been the preferred material for stone monumental sculpture since ancient times, with several advantages over its more common geological "parent" limestone, in particular the ability to absorb light a small distance into the surface before refracting it in subsurface scattering. This gives an attractive soft appearance that is especially good for representing human skin, which can also be polished.
A chainsaw is a portable handheld power saw that cuts with a set of teeth attached to a rotating chain driven along a guide bar.
Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object. The phrase may also refer to the finished product, from individual sculptures to hand-worked mouldings composing part of a tracery.
Ice sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. Sculptures from ice can be abstract or realistic and can be functional or purely decorative. Ice sculptures are generally associated with special or extravagant events because of their limited lifetime.
Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC was an American internet media and production company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Jason Saldaña, Gus Sorola, and Joel Heyman, Rooster Teeth was a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming & Interactive Entertainment which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Michael Justin "Burnie" Burns is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian, host, and director previously based in Austin, Texas. He was a co-founder, former chief executive officer, and former chief creative officer of Rooster Teeth. He is noted for his contributions in machinima, a form of film-making that uses video game technology in its production, and also works with animation and live action. Burns is also known for his work in the hosting and podcasting field.
Geoffrey Lazer Ramsey is an American voice actor, film producer and internet personality. He co-founded the production company Rooster Teeth and is known for voicing Dexter Grif in the web series Red vs. Blue. He also co-founded Achievement Hunter, a now defunct gaming division of Rooster Teeth.
Butter sculptures are three-dimensional works of art created with butter, a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. The works often depict animals, people, buildings and other objects. They are best known as attractions at state fairs in the United States as lifesize cows and people, but can also be found on banquet tables and even small decorative butter pats. Butter carving was an ancient craft in Tibet, Babylon, Roman Britain and elsewhere. The earliest documented butter sculptures date from Europe in 1536, where they were used on banquet tables. The earliest pieces in the modern sense as public art date from ca. 1870s America, created by Caroline Shawk Brooks, a farm woman from Helena, Arkansas. The heyday of butter sculpturing was about 1890–1930, but butter sculptures are still a popular attraction at agricultural fairs, banquet tables and as decorative butter patties.
The art of chainsaw carving is a fast-growing form of art that combines the modern technology of the chainsaw with the ancient art of woodcarving.
A stone sculpture is an object made of stone which has been shaped, usually by carving, or assembled to form a visually interesting three-dimensional shape. Stone is more durable than most alternative materials, making it especially important in architectural sculpture on the outside of buildings.
Amanda Crowe was an Eastern Band Cherokee woodcarver and educator from Cherokee, North Carolina in the United States. A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, her work has been widely exhibited and is held by a number of museums. Crowe dedicated much of her career to teaching and training the next generation of Eastern Cherokee artists.
Matthew Crabb is an English chainsaw carving artist.
Kathleen Carlo-Kendall born in Tanana, Alaska, is a Koyukon Athabaskan professional carver from Alaska.
Linda Christensen is believed to be the only butter carver in the United States who works with live models. She is known for carving the likeness of Princess Kay of the Milky Way along with the 11 Princess Kay finalists out of 90-pound blocks of butter at the annual Minnesota State Fair. Each year, her work draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Dairy Building, where the Midwest Dairy Association sponsors the butter carving in front of fair goers. The newly crowned Princess Kay and 11 finalists each spend about six hours with Christensen in the rotating 40-degree butter booth, as Christensen carves their likenesses out of butter. Princess Kay sits in the booth on the first day of the fair while the 11 finalists get their likenesses carved over the remaining days of the state fair.
Achievement Hunter was an American video gaming division of Rooster Teeth Productions. Founded by Geoff Ramsey and Jack Pattillo on July 6, 2008, the website was originally based on the achievement mechanic in video games but grew to become a core component of Rooster Teeth, hosting a wide variety of videos related to video games. Achievement Hunter dissolved after publishing its final video on October 1, 2023, with all members having moved elsewhere within Rooster Teeth, which itself closed in May 2024.
The Rooster Teeth Podcast, formerly known as the Drunk Tank, is a podcast produced by Rooster Teeth that aired weekly from December 9, 2008 to April 22, 2024 and featured various members of Rooster Teeth's staff discussing different topics each week. Throughout its run, main hosts included Rooster Teeth founders Gus Sorola, Burnie Burns, Geoff Ramsey and Joel Heyman as well as Gavin Free, Jack Pattillo and Barbara Dunkelman while Armando Torres, Griff Milton and Andrew Rosas acted as its final hosts. It is sometimes advertised as simply The RT Podcast. It was named Best Gaming Podcast by the Podcast Awards in 2012 and 2013.
The Eleven Little Roosters is an American spy comedy web series created by Josh Flanagan and co-directed and co-written by Blaine Gibson and Flanagan. It stars Zach Anner, Burnie Burns, Barbara Dunkelman, Gavin Free, Ashley Jenkins, Geoff Ramsey and Gus Sorola. It is the successor to the 2014 series Ten Little Roosters, acting as an spy thriller that pits international assassins against each other. It premiered on Rooster Teeth's website on January 16, 2017.
Dora Thacher Clarke, later Dora Middleton, (1895–1989) was a British sculptor and wood carver who also wrote about, and promoted African art.
This YouTube video shows artist Griffon Ramsey giving a piece of wood the business and transforming it into the Crimson Omen, which is probably what trees see before they die.
Artist Griffon Ramsey decided to craft a tribute to Gears of War 3 with a tool most fitting: A chainsaw.
Artist Griffon Ramsey carefully and skillfully carved a wooden sculpture of the lovable Groot from "Guardians of the Galaxy" out of Eastern Red Cedar.
Alice Buttress, an artist from the event's home of Carrbridge, Nanci Hemming from Wales and American Griffon Ramsey have entered Saturday's event.