Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Alive at Night??

Have you seen the movie Night At The Museum? We love to watch it over and over again!

Sometimes we pretend that these dioramas at the museum on the campus in Ann Arbor, Mi. can come to life and walk around and talk when the doors are locked at night and the real humans have gone away!! There are lots of these scenes in individual glass front cases. You can peer into the activities of people figures just inches high. I think it would be fun to create these little figures and structures and landscapes for a museum. Kind of like a combination of fairy house and doll house skills but very, very precise!!


It is so fun to believe that could happen and just what would happen when they wander around and meet all the other exhibits and dinosaurs and stuffed mounted animals.


We have loved to spend lots of time looking at how sticks and bark are used in these little scenes and we have tried to be more creative in our Fairy Houses in our yard because of it too.

There are many cases filled with displays of mammals and birds and fish and reptiles.
We noticed for the first time on this last trip that the stuffed Jack Rabbit has a nip missing out of his ear...there is a stuffed woodchuck displayed on that side of him and we decided the Woodchuck came to life one night earlier than the Jack Rabbit and took a bite!! OK so that wouldn't really happen but it was fun to make it up!!

Natural

If you are squeamish
about bugs and things
you may want to skip this post!!
Another curious thing at the museum in Ann Arbor
that we always look at is this
really cool, really very old, framed picture
all made from things that are
found in nature.
From far away, some of the pieces look like
beads or other more common art supplies.

Upon a closer look, you discover that every
ingredient is something else entirely. This "picture" really fools your eye.
There are beetles and other bugs and butterflies,
moths and even ...are you ready?...bats!!
In researching insects, and art made with them,I came across a person that creates insect art and she said I could give you the links to her info. You will think her stuff is as awesome as I do, I'm sure of it.
Her name is Katie Jennings
When you visit tell her that
Amy at Abundant Curiosities
sent you!!!

Dinosaurs

[my N.]
This is exactly why my kids refer to the
on the campus of U of M
in Ann Arbor as
"the dinosaur museum"!!