Friday, May 1, 2015

No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of this Exhibit

Our mountain lion: Queen of all she surveys



Camouflage- helping desert animals survive, even in museums

 One of the things people love in museum exhibits are animals- and in a museum that focuses on celebrating the desert and local Native American voices, animals are especially important.   There are currently two animal statues in our exhibit, both so lifelike that they might be mistaken for real animals.   Early in design process, we determined that all representation of animals in the exhibit would be sculptural. In many respects, this follows the current trends in the museum field; it also played into the strengths of our design team.
          


  Bridget Keimel is a Senior Modelmaker at Weldon Exhibits. When making statues she starts with lots of reference photographs for the animal she will be creating. What does it look like? How do muscles bunch, tails drape, and eyes shine? 
            For the case of both our desert animals, she began with the same premade foam base sculpted bodies that taxidermists use when mounting animals. The foam manikins can be altered to fit a desired pose.           
         
Fishing line for whiskers- art from the unusual?

   Our animals were made in Weldon Exhibits’ workshop in conjunction with the rocks that would be their domain. An animal that will stand where it can be touched, like our Borrego, has rods in its feet anchoring it to the rock base. The mountain lion, on the other hand, was built separately to fit a rocky perch that was designed in the workshop. The lion was put into place when she reached the museum.  The lion’s tail was a separate piece attached later, allowing for last minute adjustments to the rocks as well as the tail for the maximum realistic effect.


Some assembly required
            Some parts of our animals are made with common materials. Glass eyes give the Borrego his soulful gaze, and the mountain lion’s whiskers are made from fishing line.  Cement, epoxy putty, and stucco are used to make layers of muscle and fur, with stronger materials used if the animal will be touched frequently.  




Photo op! Only time you'll get a Borrego to pose with you



Our Borrego was designed with the idea that he would probably be touched a lot; he will endure a lot of wear and tear. 

In fact, he has become the center of a new social media campaign- Sheep Selfies (#shelfie).  Designed as a photo opportunity, we invite people to send us their photographs of themselves and their families with the sheep for us to post on Facebook and Twitter. Who knows- can his own Twitter account be far behind?
What's it called when a sheep takes a selfie? A #shelfie of course!



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