Wednesday, September 25, 2013

"Death Defied: The Anatomy Lessons of Frederik Ruysch," Book Review by Charles Wolfe and Benjamin Goldberg

My friend Charles Wolfe of Ghent University / University of Sydney has just sent along a review he co-wrote with Benjamin Goldberg of one of the most prized (and costly!) books in the Morbid Anatomy Library: Death Defied: The Anatomy Lessons of Frederik Ruysch, a biography by Luuc Kooijmans.

He has kindly allowed me to publish an excerpt here:
Outside of historians of medicine, or of Dutch science, not many of us are particularly familiar with the Dutch anatomist, apothecary, “municipal obstetrician,” museum curator, and compleat naturalist Frederik Ruysch (1638– 1731), unless we are also frequent visitors to blogs with names such as Morbid Anatomy—for Ruysch’s anatomical preparations really were sui generis, one of a kind, somewhere in between scientifically remarkable, extremely useful in the progress of anatomical knowledge, and magnificently quirky and disturbing. His “prepared” embryos and small children were frequently described as being asleep rather than dead. Balzac, in his 1831 novel La peau de chagrin (which has been variously translated as The Magic Skin or TheWild Ass Skin), has the main character enter a curiosity shop and see what he thinks is a sleeping child; it turns out to be a lost “item” from Ruysch’s anatomical collection.

Kooijmans also tells the story of the Emperor Peter the Great (who bought Ruysch’s collection, which presently is in St. Petersburg, having experienced some ups and downs in the standards of preservation over the years) kneeling to kiss a “sleeping child” embalmed by Ruysch. We can get this uncanny Ruyschian effect for ourselves—albeit mediated by oil paint—if we look at the wonderful, Rembrandt-inspired painting of Ruysch and friends entitled The Anatomy Lesson of Frederik Ruysch (above) by Adriaan Backer (1670; in the Amsterdam Historical Museum), which Kooijmans has reproduced. As contrasted with any other “anatomy lesson” painting, the corpse here looks much more like a sleeping person than a dead body. This is also the theme in a remarkable piece of literature that Kooijmans barely discusses, Giacomo Leopardi’s “Dialogue between Frederick Ruysch and His Mummies,” in his 1824 Operette morali, which is a meditation on death and the uncanny “life-likeness” of the preserved bodies (which Leopardi calls mummies).

The point that Ruysch belonged to multiple different scientific, cultural, aesthetic, and otherwise quirky trajectories (including currently fashionable discussion of visuality in the history of science) is also apparent if we contrast the high praise Ruysch received posthumously from such otherwise nationalistic  historians of medicine as Portal and Daremberg, his éloge by Fontenelle, or, most strikingly to us, the fact that after Newton’s death the Académie des Sciences in Paris decided to honor Ruysch by appointing him to Newton’s place (p. 422) with facts such as these: a 1690 inventory of his collection included “the skeleton of a human embryo of 4 months, holding in its left hand a bundle of lymph vessels, which I removed from a body more than 25 yrs ago, inflated and preserved in such a way that the valves are still clearly visible. What a lot of trouble beautiful things can be!” (59), or, much more disturbingly, the specimen, or tableau non vivant as the author puts it, of a hand holding a vulva, from Leiden University’s collection (reproduced on 284; some of these images are probably too macabre for most readers).

Sometimes, the disturbing is just strange, perhaps because we have only the story, rather than “the thing itself” (e.g., one item in his collection was described as “a small 4-footed animal that had been regurgitated by a 78-year old woman …enclosed in a pouch rather than membranes” [282]; the family wanted no money and there were credible witnesses to the event). However, the extent to which monstrosity can infect history (via the imagination) is surprising: Kooijmans notes that of the nearly one thousand specimens prepared by Ruysch, which were later bought by Peter the Great and shipped to St. Petersburg, only 11 actually display abnormalities. More conventionally beautiful are his daughter Rachel’s still-life paintings...
You can read this review in its entirety by clicking here; You can also come pay a visit the book at The Morbid Anatomy Library during open hours from 2-6 every Saturday, or buy a copy of your own by clicking here.

Image: The Anatomy Lesson of Frederik Ruysch (above) by Adriaan Backer (1670; in the Amsterdam Historical Museum); click on image to see larger, more detailed version.

Monday, September 23, 2013

"Strange Medicine"! Jeweled Skeletons! Sugar Skulls! Dracula, Degeneration and Syphilitic Births at the Fin de Siècle! Taxidermy Galore! Upcoming Morbid Anatomy Events in New York, LA and Mexico

We are Morbid Anatomy are very excited about a number of upcoming events, workshops, symposia and spectacles coming up in  New York, Los Angeles, and Mexico.

Full info follows on all events; Hope to see you at one or more!
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Desperate Times-The Age of Heroic Medicine
Illustrated lecture and book signing with Nathan Belovsky, author of Strange Medicine: A Shocking History of Real Medical Practices Through the Ages 
Date: Thursday, September 26
Time: 8:00
Admission: $5
Location: Observatory, Brooklyn (543 Union Street (at Nevins), Brooklyn, NY 11215)

We complain, but modern-day medicine has been good to us. Not so the medicine of the nineteenth century, and for a good two thousand years before that. From the time of the ancient Greeks until relatively recently, even the best, most respected doctors did more harm than good, and hurt more patients than they helped.

In this illustrated lecture, Nathan Belofsky, author of Strange Medicine: A Shocking History of Real Medical Practices Through the Ages, will discuss medicine’s reckless “Heroic Age”, roughly 1780 to 1850. Desperate doctors of this era, armed with dangerous new tools and techniques, would do anything for a cure.

With acid and hot irons doctors blistered and burned their patients, even as respected European physicians raced to stamp out “spermatorrhea" (wet dreams). Medical journals had doctors stick dried peas into freshly opened wounds-to promote pus and infection-and shove leeches into bodily cavities, though they sometimes got “lost” inside. Cutting-edge doctors used electricity to cure impotence and bad eyesight, while Benjamin Rush, Treasurer of the Mint and signer of the Declaration of Independence, hung his patients from the ceiling and “twirled” them for hours on end, to get blood flowing to their brains.

Copies of Strange Medicine will be available for sale, and wine will be served.
Nathan Belofsky is a writer and attorney living in Manhattan. Strange Medicine, his second book, has been lauded by Publishers Weekly and Booklist, and will soon be available in foreign translation. Visit the website at strangemedicine.com.
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Day Long "Wonder Cabinet and Medical History Festival," New York Academy of Medicine
Date: Saturday, October 5, 2013
Time: 11.00 AM - 7.00 PM (Open-bar after Party from 7-9PM)
*** OFFSITE AT The New York Academy of Medicine (1216 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street, New York, NY 10029)
Admission: Free and no registration necessary except for classes and party; click here to register for those
Co-curated by Morbid Anatomy and Lawrence Weschler
This all day, open-to-the-public "Wonder Cabinet and Medical History Festival" will include lectures, workshops, behind-the-scenes tours, demonstrations and, at the end of the day, an after-party featuring medical films from the National Library of Medicine, the music of DJ Friese Undine, and an open bar.

The event will feature over a dozen speakers--among them neurologist and author Oliver Sacks, cultural critic Mark Dery, Portraits of the Mind author Carl Schoonover, the National Library of Medicine's Michael Sappol, media historian Amy Herzog, historian Daniel Margocsy, medical illustrator Marie Dauenheimer and Cranioklepty author Colin Dickey--expounding on topics including (but not limited to!) 18th century wax anatomical models; Books bound in human skin; Charles Wilson Peale and the first American museum; "Cranioklepty" or the stealing of famous skulls; Reflections on death and the art of the tableau; Pre-modern neuroscience; and "artist of death" Frederik Ruysch.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to make their own Dance of Death linoleum cuts, draw from real anatomical specimens and/or animal skeletons, try their hand at the arcane art of carbon dust medical illustration, witness a demonstration of medical wax moulage, and learn about the musculoskeletal system via an "anatomy performance" using a live model.

They will also have the opportunity to explore the fantastic inner spaces of this incredible (see above) and under-seen New York landmark.

Image: Coller Rare Book Reading Room, New York Academy of Medicine.
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Heavenly Bodies – Jeweled Sacred Skeletons of the 16th Century
Illustrated lecture and book party with Dr. Paul Koudounaris, with music and artisinal cocktails by Friese Undine
Date: Friday, October 11
Time: 8:00
Admission: $8
**Copies of Heavenly Bodies will be available for sale and signing
Location: Observatory, Brooklyn (543 Union Street (at Nevins), Brooklyn, NY 11215)

Tonight, Dr. Paul Koudounaris--author of Empire of Death, the definitive book on ossuaries--will present a heavily illustrated talk based on his new book Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs, the story of skeletons discovered in the Roman Catacombs in the late sixteenth century.
These largely anonymous skeletons were presented as the remains of Early Christian martyrs, and treated as sacred. They were sent to Catholic churches and religious houses in German-speaking Europe to replace the holy relics that had been destroyed in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. Here, the skeletons would be carefully reassembled and richly adorned with jewels and precious costumes by teams of nuns. Intended as flamboyant devotional items, they are now considered some of the finest works of art ever created in the medium of human bone. As time passed, faith in these sumptuously decorated skeletons--once an important part of the spiritual life of many people--wavered, until finally they were cast out during the Enlightenment as remnants of a superstitious and embarrassing Catholic past.

Largely forgotten in the annals of religious history, Dr. Koudounaris gained unprecedented access to religious institutions where the surviving decorated skeletons are held. His photographs are the first that were ever taken of many of them, and the images which will accompany his lecture are bizarre, moving, and beautiful.

Dr. Paul Koudounaris
holds a PhD in Art History (UCLA) and has taught classes at numerous universities and published in magazines throughout the world. He is the author of The Empire of Death, the first illustrated history of charnel houses and religious sanctuaries decorated with human bone. Named one of the ten best books of 2011 (London Evening Standard), it has garnered international attention for its combination of unique historical research and stunning photography.

Photo: Photo by Dr. Paul Koudounaris, tonight's speaker, from his new book "Heavenly Bodies."
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Sugar Skull Decorating Workshop and Lecture: Dia de los Muertos in Context
Workshop and lecture with Dru Munsell
Date: Sunday, October 13th
Time: 12.30 - 5
Admission: $50
Produced by Morbid Anatomy
******Offsite at The Fabricoscope (41 Willow Place, #2, 11201 Brooklyn) (MAP) Subway: Court St, Borough Hall, Jay St. Metro Tech
*** Must buy a ticket here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/468984

Mexico's rich relationship with death extends far beyond its renowned Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a holiday related to Catholic All Souls' Day in which the spirits of the dead are enticed back to the land of the living with traditional food and drink, elaborate altars, and sugar skulls (see image). Indeed, from Mexico's indigenous Mayans, to the artwork of José Posada and the cult phenomenon of Santa Muerte, to today's über-violent drug wars, death has taken a prominent role in the formation of the country's culture, leading scholar Claudio Lomnitz to single out Death herself as the symbol of Mexico's national identity.
Today's event will celebrate and plumb the history of Dia de los Muertos with a lecture followed by a sugar skull making workshop. The lecture seeks to contextualize this enigmatic holiday, framing what is often thought of as the Mexican version of Halloween within the greater context of a culture that has blended indigenous practices, Spanish Catholic beliefs and responses to revolutions and violence, leading to an embracing of death as a necessary part of life rather than a specter to be avoided and feared.
In the workshop, attendees will be provided with a blank, undecorated sugar skull, fully assembled, dried, and ready to decorate. Royal icing in bright colors as well as other traditional decorative materials such as sequins and colored foils will be provided. Each attendee is encouraged to bring any personal decorating items they wish to use if they are making a skull for a specific departed individual, though smaller items are recommended. Traditional themes and patterns will be discussed, as well as decoration application techniques. At the end of the workshop, each person will have their own large sugar skull to take home. Because of the drying time involved with the royal icing, it is advised that skulls be left to dry and set. Extra blank skulls will be available for purchase for those interested, as well as directions for making the royal icing recipe that is recommended for skull decoration.
Dru Munsell is a biological anthropology degree candidate at Columbia University specializing in forensics, pathological human anatomy, and cultural fetish and taboo. She examines these topics in her thesis on the intersection of science and spectacle as literally embodied by both the "born different" and "working acts" of sideshow and circus performance. Dru currently works as an intern for the Morbid Anatomy Library as well as a scientific consultant, archivist, transcriber, and Jane-of-all-Trades for James Taylor's Shocked & Amazed: On and Off the Midway. After completing her studies, she plans to either work with the governmental agency, DMORT, doing body identification at scenes of mass death with a particular interest in the mass graves of post-colonial revolutions and genocides in Latin America, or running away and joining the circus.
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Death Salon, Los Angeles, California
A weekend symposium devoted to to discussions of mortality and its cultural implications with special programming by Morbid Anatomy and The Order of the Good Death
Dates: October 18 - 20
Full info and registration her
S C H E D U L E
Friday, October 18, 2013
8:00 PM
The Order of the Good Death

Death Salon Cabaret
Bootleg Theater
2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles

Death Salon Cabaret with talks, music, and short films hosted by Lord Whimsy with speakers including Paul Koudounaris, Author of The Empire of Death; Bess Lovejoy, author of Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses; Lindsey Fitzharris, Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Research Fellow; and Sarah Troop, host of The Cabinet of Curiosities Podcast. There will also be  musical performances by Jill Tracy and Adam Arcuragi. More details can be found here.
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Saturday, October 19, 2013
Morbid Anatomy
Day
11 AM-6 PM
A one day, open-to-the-public Morbid Anatomy pop-up event which will explore the interstices of art and medicine, death and culture with screenings, a mini-symposium, a lecture on fin de siècle Parisian death themed cabarets with recreations of their classic drinks, and a panel on saints and mortification of the flesh.
11-1: Morbid Anatomy Anthology book panel of mini lectures, Midnight Archive screenings and panel discussion moderated by Lord Whimsy featuring:
1-2: Lunch
2-5:  Obliterated Bodies, Dissected Souls: Panel Moderated by Colin Dickey
Mortification of the Feminine Flesh: Elizabeth Harper
From the fatal anorexia of St. Catherine of Sienna to St. Rose of Lima's hidden crown of nails, self-inflicted pain has become part of a well-worn path to holiness for many Catholic women. However, these shocking acts become comprehensible and even logical when seen as a response to the transformation of the Church from the egalitarian early Christian church to the strict patriarchy of the Catholic Church as we know it. This change, coupled with Catholicism's unique views on death and martyrdom have lead many holy women to believe that to perfect a woman's soul, her body must be destroyed.
The Annihilated Saint: The Signifying Body of Bartholomew: Colin Dickey
Colin Dickey discusses images of torture in the cult of Christian saints, particularly Saint Bartholomew, who was flayed alive and who is regularly depicted holding his own skin. Inverting the traditional relationship of torturer and powerless victim, Christian imagery turned the act of torture into empowerment, where specific methods of torture became iconically associated with specific saints. As the cult of the saints waned, these images of torture began to filter into European consciousness in bizarre and fascinating ways, as Bartholomew's singular torture found its way into the lexicon of Renaissance anatomy textbooks, creating a new relationship between the sublime body and the dissected corpse.
Bringing Out the Dead: The "Anatomy Art" of Gunther von Hagens: Allison de Fren
Filmmaker/media scholar Allison de Fren discusses the corporeal displays of controversial German anatomist Gunther von Hagens. Using examples from both his traveling exhibition of human cadavers, Bodyworlds, and his UK television series Anatomy for Beginners, she will show how von Hagens recycles the visual motifs of Renaissance anatomy theatre and art to resuscitate the practice of public dissection for contemporary audiences
 5-6: ”Cabarets of Death” : Lecture followed by fin de siècle Parisian death-themed cabarets cocktails from original recipes with Mel Gordon
Highly illustrated lecture with reprints of the Cabaret du Néant’s menu and a recreation of their classic drinks from original recipes.
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Anthropomorphic Insect Shadowbox Workshop with Former AMNH Senior Insect Preparator Daisy TaintonWith Daisy Tainton, Senior Insect Preparator at the American Museum of Natural History
Date: Saturday, October 12
Time: 1 – 4 PM
Admission: $75
***Must buy ticket at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/463168
This class is part of The Morbid Anatomy Art Academy
***Offsite at The Fabricoscope (41 Willow Place, #2, 11201 Brooklyn) (MAP)
Subway: Court St, Borough Hall, Jay St. Metro Tech.

Today, join former AMNH Senior Insect Preparator Daisy Tainton for Observatory's popular Anthropomorphic Insect Shadowbox Workshop. In this class, students will work with Rhinoceros beetles: nature's tiny giants. Each student will learn to make--and leave with their own!--shadowbox dioramas featuring carefully positioned beetles doing nearly anything you can imagine. Beetles and shadowboxes are provided, and an assortment of miniature furniture, foods, and other props will be available to decorate your habitat. Students need bring nothing, though are encouraged to bring along dollhouse props if they have a particular vision for their final piece; 1:12 scale work best.

BEETLES WILL BE PROVIDED. Each student receives one beetle approximately 2-3 inches tall when posed vertically.

Daisy Tainton was formerly Senior Insect Preparator at the American Museum of Natural History, and has been working with insects professionally for several years. Eventually her fascination with insects and  love of Japanese miniature food items naturally came together, resulting in cute and ridiculous museum-inspired yet utterly unrealistic dioramas. Beetles at the dentist? Beetles eating pie and knitting sweaters? Even beetles on the toilet? Why not?

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Reliquary Wax Doll Workshop with Artist and Ceroplast Sigrid Sarda
Date: Saturday, October 26th 
Time: 11:3 – 6:30 PM
Price: $350
Must RSVP via sigrid.sarda(at)gmail.com to sign up.
This class is part of The Morbid Anatomy Art Academy
Location: Observatory, Brooklyn (543 Union Street (at Nevins), Brooklyn, NY 11215)
Wax artist Sigrid Sarda has returned for a special 2 day class teaching the art of doll making. This class will revolve entirely on the creation of a wax doll in the image of the student’s chosen saint with the relic of their choice.
The wax doll represented as a human figure has always fascinated man. In early times these dolls were connected to witchcraft, magic, exorcisms for priests, and effigies. For this class they represent talismans and reliquaries for the student’s own personal interpretation of the saint’s meaning. The doll then becomes an object of prayer and veneration.
Each student will receive a handmade wax doll by Sigrid, either male or female and in turn will learn to set eyes, root hair, color the skin tone and add special physical quirks the saint may have, an example being stigmata or a particular wound. The student will then realize their own decorated costumes for the saints using patterns in the art of Victorian paper clothes making for dolls.
This class will consist of:
  • short talk on the history of the wax doll and everyone’s chosen saint and what it
  • means to them.
  • inserting glass eyes
  • rooting hair
  • Lunch break
  • rooting hair, beginning of skin coloring and adding any special physical quirks.
followed by
  • finish up skin coloring and quirks
  • insert / add relic
  • lunch break
  • make and decorate clothing for doll
  • dress doll
Materials are included though the student is expected to bring their own relic. The relic can be a lock of hair, a fingernail, bone, anything that has meaning to the student. The trims, spangles and paper for the costumes are either antique or vintage as are the glass eyes.
The dolls will be approx 6"-8".
Sigrid Sarda is self taught in the art of ceroplastics. She has been featured on such programs as The Midnight Archive, TV's Oddities, and has exhibited in London and NYC. She has an upcoming residency at The Gordon Museum in London, recreating the Black Dahlia for NoirCon 2014 and will be giving a demonstration in the art of medical wax moulage for The New York Academy of Medicine this fall.

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Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class-Halloween Special with Divya Anantharaman
Date: Sunday, October 27
Time: 12:00pm - 6pm
Admission: $110
*TICKETS MUST BE PRE-ORDERED AT http://halloweenmousetaxidermy.brownpapertickets.com/
***Offsite at The Fabricoscope (41 Willow Place, #2, 11201 Brooklyn) (MAP)
Subway: Court St, Borough Hall, Jay St. Metro Tech.

Anthropomorphic taxidermy--a practice in which taxidermied animals are posed as if engaged in human activities--was an artform made famous by Victorian taxidermist and museologist Walter Potter. In this class, as profiled by the New York Times, students will learn to create--from start to finish--anthropomorphic mice inspired by the charming and imaginative work of Mr. Potter. Your final project might take the form of a bespectacled, whiskey swilling, top hat tipping mouse; or perhaps a rodent mermaid queen of the burlesque world? With some props and some artful styling, your mouse can become whatever or whomever you want; this is the joy of anthropomorphic taxidermy.

*In this special HALLOWEEN edition, the usual selection of miniatures and props provided for student use will be supplemented by some extra spooky bonus items. Students are also welcome to don costumes and other festive attire (but it is in no way required). To further celebrate one of my favorite holidays, we will end the class with a dark cocktail and delicious treat :) Again, Halloween spirit is not required, but sure is fun!*

This class will teach students everything involved in producing a fully finished mount, including initial preparation, hygiene and sanitary measures, fleshing, tail stripping, and dry preservation. Once properly preserved, the mice will be posed and outfitted as the student desires, with a selection of props and accessories provided. Students are also encouraged to bring their own accessories and bases. All other supplies will be provided for use in class.

Each student will leave class with a fully finished piece, and the knowledge to create their own pieces in the future.

Divya Anantharaman is a Brooklyn based artist whose taxidermy practice was sparked by a lifelong fascination with natural mythology and everyday oddities. After a journey filled with trial and error, numerous books, and an inspiring class (Sue Jeiven's popular Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class at Observatory!), she has found her calling in creating sickly sweet and sparkly critters. Beginning with mice and sparrows, her menagerie grew to include domestic cats, woodchucks, and deer. Recently profiled on Vice Fringes, the New York Observer, and other publications, she will also be appearing in the upcoming season of Oddities-and is definitely up to no good shenanigans. You can find out more at www.d-i-v-y-a.com
Also, some technical notes:
  • We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.
  • Everyone will be provided with gloves.
  • All animals are disease free.
  • Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone
  • All animals were already dead, nothing was killed for this class.
  • Please do not bring any dead animals with you to the class.
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SOLD OUT!!! Death in Mexico: A Special Field Trip to Mexico for Day of the Dead, Obscure Macabre Museums, and other Sites Important to the History of Death in Mexico October 31 - November 4
A 4-day trip to Mexico focusing on sites influential to the Mexican history of death, organized by Mexican writer and scholar Salvador Olguín and Morbid Anatomy
Dates: October 31  -  November 4 2013 (**Must reserve by July 20)
Includes: Two Day of the Dead Festivals; Special tours of The Museo de las Momias (Mummy Museum), The Museo Nacional de la Muerte (National Museum of Death), and The José Guadalupe Posada Museum, and a visit to historical Hidalgo market in Guanajuato, the Zacatecas Cathedral, the Temple of the Jesuit Order and other beautiful places.
Cost: $600.00 USD (Includes all hotels, luxury ground transportation, museum admissions, and breakfasts; airfares not included)
PLEASE NOTE: non-refundable down payment of $250.00 required by July 20 to reserve) Email info@borderlineprojects.com info [at] borderlineprojects.com with questions.
This Halloween season, why not join Morbid Anatomy and Mexican scholar Salvador Olguín for a very special 4-day, 4-night trip to Mexico for our favorite holiday, Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead?
With Mexican writer and history of death in Mexico scholar Salvador Olguín as our guide, this tour will introduce attendees to some of the of lesser-known macabre destinations in Mexico holding unique gems associated with the culture of death. Our journey will take us to two off-the-beaten-track Day of the Dead celebrations, special tours of obscure museums, markets selling Day of the Dead and Santa Muerte artifacts, churches, cemeteries, and, throughout, great regional cuisine (and drink!) and luxury transportation.
Departing from Monterrey, the trip will take us to the beautiful, historical colonial cities of Guanajuato, Zacatecas and Aguascalientes to experience an area traditionally described as wild and untamed within Mexico. This region of Mexico is uniquely important to the history of death in Mexico in that it was the home of both José Guadalupe Posada and Joaquín de Bolaños, author of the first official Mexican biography of Death La Portentosa Vida de la Muerte published in 1792.
Attractions include:
October 31
We recommend arriving in Monterrey on the evening of Halloween, October 31. We will have a Halloween celebration, Mexican style, and we will depart to our first destination early in the morning of November 1st.
November 1st  - Monterrey/Guanajuato
We will convene in Monterrey, Mexico at 7:30 in the morning, and leave for the city of Guanajuato by bus. Mexico’s Museo de las Momias (Mummy Museum) makes the small Colonial city of Guanajuato the star of this tour. The Mummy Museum has been displaying the naturally mummified bodies of people buried in the local cemetery for almost 150 years. A combination of dry weather, a mineral-rich soil, and a potent concentration of minerals in the water makes every person who has lived and died in Guanajuato a potential mummy, according to local lore. The museum itself is a wonderful combination of the macabre and the kitsch. You can visit the actual cemetery and see real mummies, but you can also visit the ‘modern’ Halloweenesque section of the museum, and eat charamuscas, a sugary candy shaped like a mummy.
November 2nd – Zacatecas
Zacatecas, another small Colonial city in Northern Mexico, was the home of Joaquín de Bolaños, author of the first official Mexican biography of Death. La Portentosa Vida de la Muerte was first published in 1792, and was quickly condemned by the literary elites and some prominent officers of the Inquisition. The book managed to survive, and nowadays the City of Zacatecas honors Bolaños, its prodigal son, with a festival named after him around Day of the Dead.
November 3rd – Aguascalientes
Aguascalientes was the birthplace of José Guadalupe Posada. Posada’s Calaveras have become icons of the festivities around Día de Muertos. In this city, we will visit the José Guadalupe Posada Museum, which houses original illustrations by Posada and other engravers of the time. The tour includes an exclusive visit of the Museo Nacional de la Muerte (National Museum of Death.)
We will be back in Monterrey by November 4 after 5:00 p.m. Please consider this for your traveling arrangements. For more information, contact  info [at] borderlineprojects.com
Cost: $600.00 USD - airfares not included, non-refundable down payment of $250.00 required by July 20 to reserve . Email info [at] borderlineprojects.com for questions.
The $600 fee covers land transportation in a luxury bus, traveler insurance, lodging (double rooms at hotels), taxes, breakfasts, guided tours, tickets to all museums, special visits to some of the sites, and special treats.
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Death in America and the Green Cemetery Movement
An Illustrated lecture by funeral director Amy Cunningham
Date: Thursday, November 7
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $8
Location: Observatory, Brooklyn (543 Union Street (at Nevins), Brooklyn, NY 11215)

Each year in the U.S., the death care industry buries enough formaldehyde to fill eight Olympic sized swimming pools, enough metal in caskets form to rebuild the Golden Gate Bridge, and enough concrete in burial vaults to construct a two-lane highway running halfway across the country. While our cemeteries are rich with national and local histories, natural habitats and remembrances of the dead, they’re also a blazing locus of waste and pollution.

In tonight's illustrated lecture, funeral director Amy Cunningham will share the history of American death practices from Victorian family-centric rituals to contemporary ideas of the "green cemetery," a grassroots movement dedicated to the development of ecologically responsible and meaningful end-of-life rituals.

Amy Cunningham is a New York licensed funeral director and celebrant who specializes in helping families plan sustainable end-of-life rituals. A former magazine journalist, she maintains a blog called TheInspiredFuneral.com.

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Ermine Taxidermy Class with Divya AnantharamanDate: Sunday, November 10
Time: 12:00pm - 6pm
Admission: $185
*TICKETS MUST BE PRE-ORDERED AT http://ermine-taxidermy.brownpapertickets.com/
***Offsite at The Fabricoscope (41 Willow Place, #2, 11201 Brooklyn) (MAP)
Subway: Court St, Borough Hall, Jay St. Metro Tech.

In this hands-on class, we will study the wiley ermine! Also known as a white weasel (they are actually brown in the summer, and turn white in the winter), this small creature used to be harvested by the hundreds for the plush robes of royalty-but not so much anymore. It has become less profitable since they are small animals (and do not yield lots of fur like the more popular fox or coyote)-so much that the ones used in class were collected from a game farm and tannery downsizing business and discarding old stock of unwanted frozen animals. Students will create a fully-finished mount in a naturalistic or anthropomorphic position. Students will learn everything involved in producing a finished mount - from initial preparation, hygiene and sanitary measures, to proper technique and dry preservation.

The class will teach how to create a wrapped body form using the ermine's own body as reference. Students will have the choice of cleaning and reconstructing the skull, or carving one using the natural one as reference. The use of anatomical study, reference photos, and detailed observation will also be reviewed as important tools in recreating the natural poses and expressions that magically reanimate a specimen. A selection of props will be provided, however, students are welcome to bring their own bases and accessories if something specific is desired. All other supplies will be provided for use in class.

Each student will leave class with a fully finished piece, and the knowledge to create their own pieces in the future.

Divya Anantharaman is a Brooklyn based artist whose taxidermy practice was sparked by a lifelong fascination with natural mythology and everyday oddities. After a journey filled with trial and error, numerous books, and an inspiring class (Sue Jeiven's popular Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class at Observatory!), she has found her calling in creating sickly sweet and sparkly critters. Beginning with mice and sparrows, her menagerie grew to include domestic cats, woodchucks, and deer. Recently profiled on Vice Fringes, the New York Observer, and other publications, she will also be appearing in the upcoming season of Oddities-and is definitely up to no good shenanigans. You can find out more at www.d-i-v-y-a.com
Also, some technical notes:
  • We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.
  • Everyone will be provided with gloves.
  • All animals are disease free.
  • Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone
  • All animals were already dead, nothing was killed for this class.
  • Please do not bring any dead animals with you to the class.
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Mother Machine: an ‘Uncanny Valley’ in the Eighteenth Century Illustrated lecture with Dr. Brandy Schillace
Date: Thursday, November 21
Admission: $8
Time: 8:00 PM
Location: Observatory, Brooklyn (543 Union Street (at Nevins), Brooklyn, NY 11215)


Known by a variety of names—“this most curious machine,” “this mock woman,” and the “celebrated Apparatus” —Dr. William Smellie’s mechanized obstetrical phantom was both science and spectacle in the eighteenth century. Strangely, however, though crucial to the training of at least 900 man-midwives in ten years, the machine disappears from both the actual and rhetorical "scene" of 18th-century obstetrical science.

This illustrated talk will explore the mitigating factors contributing to the machine's disappearance. Why was such a valuable teaching tool auctioned to the public after Smellie’s death? Why did famed obstetrician William Hunter agree to sell his own copy of the machine to Dr. Foster of the Dublin Rotunda? And why—after so much popular debate—does the machine disappear from public notice by the latter part of the century? Dr. Schillace will also document her own rather circuitous journey of discovery, that is, the necessary labor of unearthing (if not birthing) a medical artifact’s unusual history.

Dr. Brandy Schillace
is an interdisciplinary, medical-humanist scholar. She writes about cultural production, history of science, and intersections of medicine and literature. She is the managing editor of Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, an international journal of cross-cultural health research and a guest curator and blogger for the Dittrick Medical History Museum. Dr. Schillace was the keynote speaker for the annual meeting of the Archivists and Librarians in the History of Health Sciences 2013, and is the recent recipient of the Chawton House Library Fellowship (for study of 18th century women writers) and the Wood Institute travel grant from the Philadelphia College of Physicians. She has also an edited book collection under contingent contract with Cambria Press: Birthing the Monster of Tomorrow: Unnatural Reproductions. For a selection of recently published work, please visit http://fictionreboot-dailydose.com/publications-and-press.

Image: A late eighteenth-century “birthing phantom.” Unlike Smellie’s machine, these were not intended to be exactly like the living body, but rather a basic replica allowing midwives to understand the position of the child in the birth canal. By permission of the Dittrick Medical History Center and Museum
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“Children of the Night”: Dracula, Degeneration and Syphilitic Births at the Fin de Siècle
Illustrated lecture with Dr. Brandy Schillace and custom cocktails and DJed music by Friese Undine
Date: Friday, November 22
Admission: $10
Time: 8:00 PM
Location: Observatory, Brooklyn (543 Union Street (at Nevins), Brooklyn, NY 11215)

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is often read as a narrative of reverse colonization, revealing fears of degeneration at the fin de siècle. Anxieties over the decline of empire and—as both symptom and consequence—the degeneration of masculinity in Victorian Britain resulted in a number of dystopic narratives, each revealing an uneasy relationship between evolution and devolution, sexuality, sexual identity and mental health. However, the signal terror of Stoker’s vampires lies not only in their overt sexuality and promiscuity—but also in their fecundity. As Van Helsing warns, the vampire is not a single foe but a potential army. Both “father” and unnatural mother, Count Dracula is capable of reproducing the undead—and yet his victims do not, it seems reproduce themselves.

In this presentation Dr. Schillace will explore accounts of syphilitic infection as a means of understanding the complexities of infection among the “innocents,” Lucy Westenra and the children she victimizes. Culminating in a re-examination of the only human birth in Stoker’s novel—Mina Harker’s son Quincy—this project seeks to provide new insight into 19th century anxieties about degeneration’s naissance.

Dr. Brandy Schillace is an interdisciplinary, medical-humanist scholar. She writes about cultural production, history of science, and intersections of medicine and literature. She is the managing editor of Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, an international journal of cross-cultural health research and a guest curator and blogger for the Dittrick Medical History Museum. Dr. Schillace was the keynote speaker for the annual meeting of the Archivists and Librarians in the History of Health Sciences 2013, and is the recent recipient of the Chawton House Library Fellowship (for study of 18th century women writers) and the Wood Institute travel grant from the Philadelphia College of Physicians. She also an edited book collection under contingent contract with Cambria Press: Birthing the Monster of Tomorrow: Unnatural Reproductions. For a selection of recently published work, please visit http://fictionreboot-dailydose.com/publications-and-press.
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Small Rabbit Taxidermy Class "Trophy Plaque" or Full Size Mount with Divya AnantharamanDate: Sunday, November 24
Time: 12:00pm - 6pm
Admission: $250
*TICKETS MUST BE PRE-ORDERED AT http://smallrabbittaxidermy.brownpapertickets.com/
***Offsite at The Fabricoscope (41 Willow Place, #2, 11201 Brooklyn) (MAP)
Subway: Court St, Borough Hall, Jay St. Metro Tech.

In this intimate, hands-on class (limited to only six students), we will study the happy and hoppy rabbit! Students will create a fully-finished rabbit mount in a naturalistic or anthropomorphic position. There is also the option to create a "trophy style" shoulder mount (where the head and shoulder is mounted on a wooden plaque). When purchasing ticket, please specify which you would like to do.

Students will learn everything involved in producing a finished mount - from initial preparation, hygiene and sanitary measures, to proper technique and dry preservation. The class will teach how to create a wrapped body form using the rabbit's own body as reference, and how to reconstruct a rabbit head using the skull as reference. Students will also be introduced to the techniques of ear turning and ear carding. The use of anatomical study, reference photos, and detailed observation will also be reviewed as important tools in recreating the natural poses and expressions that magically reanimate a specimen. A selection of props will be provided, however, students are welcome to bring their own bases and accessories if something specific is desired. All other supplies will be provided for use in class.

Each student will leave class with a fully finished piece, and the knowledge to create their own pieces in the future.

Divya Anantharaman is a Brooklyn based artist whose taxidermy practice was sparked by a lifelong fascination with natural mythology and everyday oddities. After a journey filled with trial and error, numerous books, and an inspiring class (Sue Jeiven's popular Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class at Observatory!), she has found her calling in creating sickly sweet and sparkly critters. Beginning with mice and sparrows, her menagerie grew to include domestic cats, woodchucks, and deer. Recently profiled on Vice Fringes, the New York Observer, and other publications, she will also be appearing in the upcoming season of Oddities-and is definitely up to no good shenanigans. You can find out more at www.d-i-v-y-a.com

Also, some technical notes:
  • We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.
  • Everyone will be provided with gloves.
  • All animals are disease free.
  • Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone
  • All animals were already dead, nothing was killed for this class.
  • Please do not bring any dead animals with you to the class.
Full list and more information on all events can be found here. More on the Morbid Anatomy Art Academy can be found here.

Image: Enrique Simonet, "¿Y tenía corazón?" (1895), found on Wikipedia; click on image to see larger, more detailed version.

Walter Potter's Anthropomorphic Taxidermy on BBC Radio 4's Today Program with Pat Morris and Polly Morgan


If you are interested in a wonderful (if brief!) discussion on BBC Radio 4's Today Program about anthropomorphic taxidermy with sculptor Polly Morgan and Walter Potter's Curious World of Taxidermy co-author Pat Morris, click here and then scroll in about 2:50. Above is a photo of the two in the studios, drawn from the BBC's Twiter Feed, wherein Pat holds Walter Potter's first taxidermied canary, and Polly, a copy of the book.

You can purchase your own copy of the book--which is cloth bound, 128 pages, and contains over 100 full color images, many never before published--by clicking here (for UK orders) or here (for US); International buyers please email morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com.

To visit our new Walter Potter website, featuring a blog with guest posts by a variety of Potter enthusiasts, click here. If you would like to contribute a post, please email walterpottertaxidermy [at] gmail.com.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Anatomy meets Pornography, Fetal Skeleton Tableaux and Criminology and The Surrealists : Morbid Anatomy Guest Posts for the New York Academy of Medicine Blog


Interested in knowing more about an early anatomical text's direct relationship to pornography (top two images)? Or the fetal skeleton tableaux of "artist of death" Frederik Ruysch (second image down)? Or perhaps you'd be interested in knowing more about the relationship between a pioneering criminology text and surrealist art (bottom two images)?

If any or all of these things are of interest, click here to check out some new, heavily-illustrated Morbid Anatomy guest posts on the wonderful New York Academy of Medicine's "Books, Health and History" Blog.

Also, don't forget to save the date for the October 5th Festival of Medical History and the Arts at NYAM, co-curated by Morbid Anatomy and Lawrence Weschler, author of Mr. Wilson and his Cabinet of Wonders. You can find more on that here, and more on a few anatomical workshops offered as part of that event by clicking here.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

LECTURE: "The History of Hair Work Jewelry" with Karen Bachmann, opening of "The Art of Hair Work: Love and Memory in the 19th Century," The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum, NYC

This Friday, September 20th, hope to see you at the opening of The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum's new exhibition "The Art of Hair Work: Love and Memory in the 19th Century." The occasion will be marked with a special illustrated lecture on the history of hair work jewelry by many time Morbid Anatomy instructor and lecturer Karen Bachmann, an art historian and master jeweler whose area of expertise is Victorian hair work jewelry.

The lecture will begin at 6 and will take place at The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum, which is located at 421 East 61st Street between First and York Avenue in New York City. Full details on both the lecture and exhibition follow; hope to see you there! Also, stay tuned for news of a special Morbid Anatomy tour of the exhibition to take place very soon--probably on October 14th!
LECTURE
"The History of Hair Work Jewelry"
Illustrated lecture with Karen Bachmann, Art Historian and Master Jeweler
September 20, 6pm
$18 Adults; $15 Museum Members and Students

Art Historian and Master Jeweler Karen Bachmann will present 19th-century mourning rituals, focusing on hair work jewelry, a popular form of commemorative art that reached its zenith during the Victorian Era. Afterward, join Ms. Bachmann for a reception and discussion of the Museum's exhibit.

EXHIBITION
The Art of Hair Work: Love and Memory in the 19th Century
August 28, 2013 – November 17, 2013
The Art of Hair Work:  Love and Memory in the 19th Century, Part II, opens August 28, 2013, at The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden and will remain on view until November 17, 2013. Used as tokens of love, friendship, and remembrance, the objects in this exhibition show changing social customs and popular fashions in the 19th century. Hair work set into jewelry had been produced in Europe for several centuries, but it was not until the second half of the eighteenth century that hair jewelry began to be produced in significant quantities in America. Hair was a natural material for mourning ornaments; however, hair jewelry was also often used for commemorative or celebratory purposes.  Part II of the exhibition focuses on the mid-to-late 19th century and the development of hair jewelry in both size and the elaborate nature and variety of designs.  Professional hair jewelry manufacturers could now be found along Broadway, and directions for making hair work at home were printed in popular ladies’ magazines and instructional manuals. Objects on display include rings, charms, pendants, bracelets and two hair wreaths, one of the more elaborate forms of this art.  
An opening reception with a lecture by Art Historian and Master Jeweler Karen Bachmann will be held on September 20th at 6pm at The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden. Ms. Bachmann will present 19th-century mourning rituals, focusing on hair work jewelry which reached its zenith during the Victorian Era.
The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum building was constructed in 1799 as a carriage house and converted into a “day hotel” in 1826. Today the museum transports visitors back to that Mount Vernon Hotel, a 19th-century country resort for New Yorkers escaping the crowded city below 14th Street. The Museum’s mission is to preserve and interpret travel, leisure, work and play in diverse antebellum New York. 
Visitor Information: The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Garden is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11am to 4pm. The exhibit is open concurrent with Museum hours and is included with admission. The Museum is located at 421 East 61st Street between First and York Avenues. It is easily accessible from 59th Street/Lexington Avenue on the 4, 5, 6 or N, R, Q. For further information call the Museum at 212-838-6878 or visit www.mvhm.org.
More here. Hope very much to see you there! Image supplied by the museum.

My Trip to Alexis Turner's "London Taxidermy" Shop: Guest Post for new Walter Potter Blog


A few days ago, I paid a lovely visit to Alexis Turner, author of the new and beautiful Thames and Hudson book Taxidermy who also, it turns out, runs the showroom/shop "London Taxidermy." You can find see more photos from my visit as part of my recent guest post for the new Walter Potter Blog by clicking here. If you are interested in contributing to the blog, email us at walterpottertaxidermy [at] gmail.com.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Dance of Death! Real Anatomical Specimens! Comparative Anatomy! Carbon Dust Medical Art! Morbid Anatomy Workshops at The New York Academy of Medicine, October 5

As readers of this blog will already know, Morbid Anatomy is co-curating--along with Lawrence Weschler, author of Mr. Wilson and his Cabinet of Wonders--an upcoming Festival of Medical History and the Arts at the New York Academy of Medicine which will take place at the very lovely Academy of Medicine on Saturday, October 5th.

As part of the festivities, Morbid Anatomy will be presenting four our all-time most popular anatomically-themed Morbid Anatomy Art Academy classes. We will begin the day with Lado Pochkhua's "Dance of Death" class (top image), in which students will create their very own fully finished linocut based on the forty-two wood cuts published by Hans Holbein under the title “Dance of Death” in 1538. In a class taking place in another room at the same time, students will have the opportunity to dissect and draw Didelphis virginiana–the North American opossum, a “living fossil” whose anatomy has remained virtually unchanged over the past 70 million years--in a dissection and drawing workshop led by physical anthropologist Samuel Strong Dunlap, PhD (third image). 

Following, NYU’s Chris Muller will give a reprise of his "Comparative Anatomy: Animals and the Fundamentals of Drawing" class (second image) in which, with the use of several skeletons and other resources, students will learn to recognize and depict the basic shared forms between humans and other animals. Finally, Board Certified Medical Illustrator Marie Dauenheimer will teach students the technique of carbon dust using real anatomical specimens; this technique, now largely forgotten, was an essential component of medical illustration until the digital age, allowing the artist to create luminous, textural, three-dimensional drawings by layering carbon dust on prepared paper (bottom image).

Complete details and registration links follow for all classes. You can find out more about the Festival of Medical History and the Arts at the New York Academy of Medicine by clicking here. Hope to see you at one or more!
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Dance of Death by Hans Holbein
A Linocut Workshop with Classically Trained Artist Lado Pochkhua
Time: 11am-3pm (4 hours)
Class size limited to 10
Cost: $50; Register here.

The “dance of death” or “danse macabre” was a “medieval allegorical concept of the all-conquering and equalizing power of death, expressed in the drama, poetry, music, and visual arts of western Europe, mainly in the late Middle Ages. It is a literary or pictorial representation of a procession or dance of both living and dead figures, the living arranged in order of their rank, from pope and emperor to child, clerk, and hermit, and the dead leading them to the grave.” (Encyclopedia Britannica). One of the best known expressions of this genre are a series of forty-two wood cuts by Hans Holbein published in 1538 under the title “Dance of Death.”

In this class, students will learn the techniques of woodcuts and linocuts by creating a copy of one of Hans Holbein’s prints from the Dance of Death series. The class will follow the entire process from beginning to end: drafting a copy of the image, either a fragment or whole; transfer of the image to a linoleum block; cutting the image; printing the image on paper. Students will leave class with their own finished Dance of Death linocut and the skills to produce their own pieces in the future.
  • creating a copy of either a fragment or full image from the series on paper. The copy can either be freehand and stylized, or students can use a grid to copy more exactly.
  • transfer the drawing to linoleum.
  • correction of image, and beginning to cut the image.
  • finalizing the cut image.
  • Printing the image. Students will be able to use several colors and backgrounds to create the final image.
Lado Pochkhua was born in Sukhumi, Georgia in 1970. He received his MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Tbilisi State Art Academy in Georgia in 2001. He currently divides his time between New York and Tbilisi, Georgia.

REQUIRED MATERIALS
  • A block of linoleum: Blick Battleship Gray Linoleum, mounted or unmounted (details here)
OR
  • Speedball Speedy-carve blocks, pink only (details here) Size: 9×12 or 8×10.
AND
  • Linocutter set: Blick Lino Cutter Set (details here)Water soluble printing inks
  • Printing paper
  • Tracing paper
  • Pencils
  • Black markers (fine point)
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Dissection and Drawing Workshop with Real Anatomical Specimens with physical anthropologist Samuel Strong Dunlap, PhD 
Time: 11:00am - 2:00pm (3 hours)
Class size limited to 12
Cost: $65; Register here.

Modern scientific dissection and illustrations commenced in the Renaissance. Basic anatomical dissection, illustration and knowledge are still fundamental in many fields such as evolutionary biology, surgery, quality medical schools, and forensic science.

In today’s workshop, we will dissect and draw a Didelphis virginiana–the North American opossum–a “living fossil” whose anatomy has remained virtually unchanged over the past 70 million years; this creature is considered to be a good model for a basal–i.e. early or original–mammal. Many comparative skeletal materials will be available for examination and illustration, and additional specimens may also be available. Gloves, scalpels and probes will be provided. Marie Dauenheimer, medical illustrator (and instructor of this afternoon’s carbon dust workshop), will assist with this workshop.

Dr. Samuel Strong Dunlap is a physical anthropologist teaching and conducting research in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. He specializes in human and primate musculoskeletal anatomy with the goal of clarifying evolutionary and development issues. Since completion of his PhD at Michigan State University he has worked and done research in forensic anthropology, human and primate anatomy and human evolution. He has worked on human burial sites, forensic cases, with museum collections at Case Western Reserve University, the Smithsonian and Howard University Anatomy department. Archeology field experience included: an 18th century French fort in Indiana, a Mousterian site in Tuscany and a 100 square mile religious area in the Siskiyou Mountains of northern California.

Materials to bring with you to class:
  • Good quality drawing paper
  • Graphite pencils, HB, 2B
  • Colored pencils, emphasis on blue and brown shades
  • Erasers
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Comparative Anatomy: Animals and the Fundamentals of Drawing with Chris Muller, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts
Time: 3:30pm-6:30pm (3 hours)
Class size limited to 12
Cost: $50; Register here.

Using animal and human anatomy as a jumping off point, this course will look at the ground-level, first principles of drawing as representation. Focusing mainly on mammal anatomy, we’ll look at the basic shared forms between humans and other animals, how these forms dictate movement, and how to express those forms.

With the aid of several skeletons we’ll look at basic structures, sprinkling our exploration with odd facts and observations. Messy investigatory drawings will ensue.

Chris Muller is an artist and exhibit designer based in Brooklyn. He has designed exhibits for the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum for African Art, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, and many others. He has designed sets for Laurie Anderson, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, the Atlantic Theater Company, and others. He teaches drawing and digital painting at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Materials to bring with you to class:
  • Sketchbook or sketchpad, 11 X 14 or larger
  • B and HB pencils
  • Colored pencils, in the reds and blues and browns
  • Hand pencil sharpener
  • Erasers
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Carbon Dust Drawing Workshop, Featuring Real Anatomical Specimens
Drawing class with Board Certified Medical Illustrator Marie Dauenheimer, MA, CMI
Time: 4:00pm-7:00pm (3 hours)
Class size limited to 12
Cost: $65; Register here.

Carbon dust is a technique perfected by medical artist Max Brodel, at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in the late 19th century. This technique–which, until the digital age, was an essential component of medical illustration education–allows the artist to create luminous, textural, three-dimensional drawings by layering carbon dust on prepared paper.

Today’s one day intensive workshop will teach students the use of this all but forgotten medium, and guide each student in the creation of a finished work based on real anatomical specimens supplied by the instructor. The workshop will also include a historical lecture placing carbon dust drawings in the context of the history of anatomical and medical art. The instructor will provide all materials necessary for this workshop, and will also share finished carbon dust drawings.

Marie Dauenheimer is a Board Certified Medical Illustrator working in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area. She specializes in creating medical illustrations and animations for educational materials, including posters, brochures, books, websites and interactive media. Since 1997 Marie has organized and led numerous “Art and Anatomy Tours” throughout Europe for the Vesalius Trust. Past tours have explored anatomical museums, rare book collections and dissection theatres in Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Scotland and England. In addition to illustrating Marie teaches drawing, life drawing and human and animal anatomy at the Art Institute of Washington. Part of Marie’s anatomy class involves study and drawing from cadavers in the Gross Anatomy Lab at Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC. More on all and ticketing info can be found here.