I had so much fun and learned a lot from this lecture at the Morbid Anatomy. It was called Whimsical Taxidermy in the 19th Century. What attracted me to this lecture was Melissa Milgrom; she wrote Adventures in Taxidermy, which I loved and got me into Taxidermy. She introduced John Whitenight (what a cool name!) the author of his book: Under Glass: A Victorian Obsession. He talked about his years of collecting glass domes and beautiful Victorian taxidermy. Here are some new things I learned about: 1. The Crystal Palace 2. Taxidermy Fire Screens 3. Morris museum (automata) in New Jersey! I wish this place excited, it's the original Cabinet of Curiosities! Unfortunately it was destroyed in a fire. Artists made these fire screens for taxidermy purposes and decoration. Homeowners did put them in front of the fireplace, when the fire was not lit of course. I can't wait to go here! It's near my husband's parents house in New Jersey. I like all the you tube videos on their website. I wish I owned a musical automata.
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My friend Wilder posted through his Facebook page, this workshop he did at the AMNH that is called The Art of the Diorama, in which you learn about the dioramas at the AMNH, and then you work on your own little version. It was a 6 week class, every Thursday from 7-9:30, in the Upper West Side. I went every week after work in the cold February weather commuting with the rush hour traffic, taking 3 trains total. Though I love to learn and make things, after a long day at work, in the 20 degree weather, this is not an ideal situation for me. This schedule got old fast. Week 1- Origins of the diorama lecture: Brief history of the diorama exhibits and AMNH building. We went to the North American bird hall to see one of the first dioramas. Afterwards in the classroom we "built up the diorama shell", as in gluing the compressed cardboard columns together into the shell. I like Tom the teacher, he is pretty laid back, funny and nice. Week 2- Collection and Taxidermy lecture: all about Carl Akeley, my favorite taxidermist! Walking around the African hall was so cool at night time, when people were not there to ruin your experience. We also sketched out and took photos of a diorama, including the background, foreground, and taxidermy animal. Classroom: building our figure by bending wire, adding aluminum foil which adds shape, and putting chevant clay on top, so we could sculpt muscles etc. (which I did not do!) Later on I smooth out the clay using an electric heater. I wanted to build a Gemsbok, but ended up looking like a dog/horse! I am not a sculptor, so I decided to make a unicorn and narwhal. Week 3- Background Painting lecture: Walking around the North American mammal hall, listening to Tom talk about various painters and their techniques. Apparently James Perry Wilson liked to paint in the nude. Classroom: Painting the background on paper. I can't paint, so I decided to use colored pencils. The paper will curve around the shell. I decided on an Arctic scene. The unicorn and narwhal will be on an iceberg floating around. Week 4 Foreground lecture: walking around the Asian mammal hall, a very dark, and not so popular place. Though Tom talked about all the damages to this hall, I still enjoyed it. Classroom: building the foreground using wire, styrofoam to add stability, plaster and paper mache. Week 5: Foliage lecture: Went upstairs to the 5th floor where the magic happens to learn about leaf making! I saw this elephant seal they were making! It was massive! Classroom: Create grass, trees and plants. Since mine is an iceberg, I added some snow and started painting my narwhal and unicorn. Week 6, Last week! The future of exhibits. Boy, was I late to this class! I don't know what happened, but I was 20 minutes late (due to eating pizza I guess?) and I am never late to anything. Anyway, I walked around the Hall of Biodiversity as schedule, to discuss the future of exhibits, but the class was not there. So I quickly walked over to the classroom, and it was packed! So while everyone was finishing their final touches to the dioramas, I got Tom to drill in my unicorn and narwhal. An in house photographer was in class taking photos of the long awaited dioramas. I took one myself, it is below! I am so glad this class is over, it was long and ran late into the night. But I still enjoyed Tom as a teacher (he is pretty great) and walking around the AMNH.
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My short blog topics include: photography, music, science, crafts, vacation photos, movies, events in NYC, and of course stop motion animation.
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