Author’s Notes « Muybridge's Horse

I’ve written here a few times about how much I value the Natural History Museum on the University of Kansas campus. The story goes that I found out my neighbor also had a jackalope tattoo, and in talking he told me I had to go to Lawrence, KS, to see some of the only “real jackalopes.” I was going on a road trip that summer, so I stopped in Lawrence to see them. That particular floor of the museum was closed, but we finagled our way up there and saw him, that little guy from Wichita with “horns” sticking out from his face. When we visited Kansas later to choose a city to move to, the museum was re-opened and I got to see the rest of the displays. I remember being so happy that I was in tears. I felt a connection to this place and wanted to be near it, so for that and other reasons, we moved to Lawrence.

The museum is home to an incredible panoramic display of mammals, created by Lewis Lindsay Dyche, under some instruction by the well-known taxidermist, William Temple Hornaday. The panorama appeared at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. I’ve really never seen anything else like it.

Nat and I signed up for a tour of the mammals collection at KU last weekend, but probably since it was such a beautiful day, we were the only ones who showed up! So we had a private tour of the collection (the second-largest collection of mammals in the country) led by curator, Bob Timm. We got to see the most awesome things! And, of course, I asked to see other “jackalope” specimens from the collection (in case you were wondering, the growths are tumors caused by the Shope’s Papilloma virus, which only affects rabbits).

You can read a lot of interesting facts about the museum here, and if you live in eastern Kansas, the museum often has really cool events and tours that you can find out about on their website. During the Campus Art Walk next week and through the winter, “Macro/Micro: Collections Up Close,” an exhibition of images of specimens from the KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum collections by photographer Brian Goodman will be on display at the museum.

Posted September 26th, 2013

Animals Inside Out

Currently at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, Animals Inside Out is an production by Gunther von Hagen, creator of the popular Body Worlds exhibitions, showcasing the muscles, blood vessels, and insides of animal corpses. The animal specimens are preserved through the process of plastination, which replaces the body’s fluids with plastics to achieve an incredibly detailed effect. I’ve seen Body Worlds and I’d love to see Animals Inside Out (if only I could make it to Chicago before Labor Day), but what I think is so interesting to consider with exhibitions like these are anatomical wax figures like Clemente Susini’s that I saw in Florence earlier this summer. The amount of detail is shockingly comparable in “plastinated” specimens versus models made entirely of wax. So cool!

From a statement by Gunther von Hagen on the Animals Inside Out website: As a child, I was enthralled by the small animals I encountered in the woods. The first specimens I dissected were beetles, frogs, and other small animal corpses that my friend, Dietrich and I found during our jaunts to the woods. These deaths which were so random and yet so normal must have colored my view of death and shaped my thoughts on mortality, preparing me psychologically for my career as an anatomist…

In an accelerated technological age, when our environments are fashioned from steel and concrete, being in close proximity to animals–both domestic and wild–return us to authenticity. Outside of the rainforests and flora, they and we are the last remaining pieces of nature. They are our co-habitants on this spinning blue globe. This exhibition is both a celebration and an homage to animals both familiar and rare.

Source: Geekologie

Posted August 12th, 2013

La Specola

While I was in Italy the second half of last month, I made a point of going to Museo di Storia Naturale, or “La Specola” in Florence. It’s known as “La Specola” because of the presence in the building of a small tower used as an astronomical observatory.

La Specola is considered the first European scientific museum opened to the public, inaugurated in 1775. The collection contains over three million specimens. The hippopotamus is the oldest specimen preserved in La Specola, appearing in the first inventory of the collections of 1763. “The live animal was donated by the Viceroy of Egypt to the Grand Duke of Tuscany in the 1700s and was probably kept in a pool in Boboli Gardens; the mark of the rope with which it was tied up can still be seen on the skin of the neck.”

Perhaps the coolest part of La Specola is the wax model collection, the largest collection of anatomical wax works in the world, made mostly by Clemente Susini between 1770 and 1850. A few of the rooms were closed for renovation, but what was open to the public was incredible (I still wish I’d been able to see the animal specimens, though!).

All photos are taken by me and the information above comes from the museum guide I bought at the gift shop. I would love to go back to this place one day!

Source: Flickr

Posted June 10th, 2013

Progress

Four years ago, I decided to start a blog. I was a student at the Maryland Institute College of Art then, and I spent a lot of my time looking at artists, mostly in photography. I found having names and notes in a sketchbook nonsensical, and my Firefox bookmarks started to really fill up, so I started posting pictures by artists I liked or had just discovered daily. I knew I was interested in animals in art, but it wasn’t for a couple of years that I realized, OK, this blog has a more concentrated theme than “contemporary photography.” In November of last year, I made the decision that I wanted to take that little blogspot site further, and with the collaboration and talent of a one Daniel Evan Garza, a comprehensive, consistent, sustainable archive of that old blog exists here at Muybridge’s Horse. And it’s only gonna get bigger.

I love, care about, and am interested in animals, photography, and art. Mostly, I like looking at the work of artists who discuss the ways in which humans and animals both fit in to contemporary society, and this means that a good percentage of the images posted here portray death. It is not my intention to offend or disrespect anyone; however, viewer discretion is advised.

I encourage you to search with impressive detail by term, by tag/s, or in category on the Search page; browse the Post Archive all the way back to March of ’09 (by category if snooping Personal will entertain you); and look around on the Artist Index page to see images by (currently) 191 artists whose work is on the human-animal/nature theme. (For the time being, to see contemporary artists I posted before I established a theme, browse “Non-theme Artist” in the Post Archive.) I also encourage you to email me with questions, comments, feedback, and links to artists about whom you think I should post at muybridgeshorse@gmail.com. (Also, visit the About page to find out where the site’s name comes from.)

Subscribe or check back often; I’ll be updating on artists, current events, lectures and exhibitions I’ve been to, and my own images and experiences as a taxidermy-collecting, roadkill-seeking, photography-consumed art-maker in America’s Heartland.

Posted February 1st, 2013

SPE Regional Conference, Fort Collins

Posted November 6th, 2012

SPE Friends

Wednesday afternoon, March 21, my best friend, Daniel Evan Garza, Denver designer, screen printer, and web developer, and I made our way to San Francisco. We stayed with our very gracious friend, Beth Feret, whose patient answering of my many, many questions regarding UCD’s Photography program while I was still at MICA was one of the main reasons I transferred there. Beth graduated after my first semester at UCD, so I didn’t get to see much of her work until this trip. It’s awesome! She found out while we were in San Francisco that she was accepted to her grad school of choice, University of Glasgow. Go Beth!

Posted March 31st, 2012

SPE Speakers

THURSDAY

Judy Herrmann, “Breaking into the Biz”
www.hsstudio.com
2goodthings.com
This talk didn’t really apply to me at the obvious level, but what I took away from it was to be serious about what you do, whatever it is. It was a good start to the conference. Super rewarding to see it excite the non-photographer friend I brought, all the way from Denver, who paid for a non-member ticket and airfare because he is awesome.

Peter Krogh, “Preservation, Access, and Workflow: Media Management and the Creative Process”
www.peterkrogh.com
www.dpbestflow.org
shutha.com
Already SO. HELPFUL. Really appreciated this talk and am excited to look more closely at these resources.

Keynote Speaker: “Sally Mann, If Memory Serves”
sallymann.com
♥ I don’t care if this woman just reads to me for hours on end, being in the same room with her is inspiring.
http://timothyarchibald.blogspot.com/2012/03/tonite-sally-mann-speaks-at-spe.html
http://timothyarchibald.blogspot.com/2012/03/immediate-family-sally-mann-at-spe-sf.html
;)

FRIDAY

Chad states, “Cruising”
chadstates.com
Awesome, awesome artist talk!

Heather Stratton, “Domestication: A Recovery Act”
heatherstratton.com
Artist talk by MICA grad student!

Brooks Dierdorff, “Cultural Predators: Photography and Its Relationship to Hunting Culture”
www.brooksdierdorff.com
Artist talk. “Trophy” reminds me of Yasser Aggour and Josh Winegar. Really like that work.

In the afternoon, I had portfolio reviews with Ruth Adams, Associate Professor of Photography at University of Kentucky
www.ruthadamsphotography.com

and Ric Petry, Director of Graduate Studies at Columbus College of Art and Design
www.ricpetry.com

And I found out that the Southwest Regional Conference will be in Fort Collins this year, next year’s national conference will be in Chicago.

The curator portfolio walk-through was Friday evening. I thought it was a great success!!

SATURDAY

Bill Adams, “One Man Show”
billadamsphotography.com
Best talk of the conference! So entertaining. My bias as his former student is irrelevant.

Featured Speaker: Sharon Olds, “Intimacy, Voyeurism, and the Public/Private Divide: Poems and Photographs
www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sharon-olds
LOVED this talk. Perfect way to end the conference.

Saturday evening was the self-guided gallery walking tour, but we only made it to the SPE Member Show, curated by Todd Hido, at Rayko Photo Center, on account of it was pouring rain and our bodies needed a rest. Eating pizza and falling asleep to Meet the Parents on the world’s most comfortable sofa sleeper was an easy compromise.

I tried to see a speaker every time slot—these are just the ones that stood out to me most or said/made things I want to remember.

Next: (more importantly,) people I got to see and hang out with at SPE :D

Posted March 30th, 2012

SPE National

Leaving for San Francisco today.

Posted March 21st, 2012

SPE Regional Conference, Santa Fe, Day 2

Posted November 24th, 2011

SPE Regional Conference, Santa Fe, Day 1

There was a graduate student discussion panel with Stephanie Bruna, Daniel Coburn, Rachel Cox, Lauren Greenwald, Colby Sempek, and Jamie Kovach from UNM, which was really, really good to see/hear.

Also went to talks by Bridget Murphy Milligan, Eugenia Parry, and Patrick Nagatani.

Posted November 23rd, 2011