Category: Art

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Ruskin 200 Art Competition

By Michelle Alcock, Front of House Deputy Manager

To celebrate the Museum of Natural History and the creativity it inspires, we have launched the Ruskin 200 Art Competition. It opened on Friday 8 February 2019 coinciding with the bicentenary of the birth of John Ruskin; an artist, social thinker, philanthropist and art critic of the 19th century. During the Victorian era, Ruskin’s views advocating for drawing from direct observation, both in his studies of Gothic architecture, and in his use of a detailed descriptive approach to depict nature in art, heavily influenced the design of the Museum.

WA2013.67 John Everett Millais, ‘John Ruskin’
Image © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.

His encouragement led to artists, architects, craftsmen and scientists working together to design the Museum. As a result, they created the neo-Gothic building that stands today as a work of art and a vision of nature in its own right. The Museum’s architecture, decorative details, and collections have served as a source of inspiration for many since it opened in 1860.

Details in the Museum’s architecture, such as this carved capital, were inspired by nature and today provide further inspiration for visiting artists

This year marks the perfect opportunity to showcase the artwork of our visitors. Personally, working on the Front of House team here, I see what an inspiration the building is to our visitors. Every day we spot people of all ages setting up stools, with pencil and sketchbook at the ready, drawing in the Museum. There is so much potential inspiration; beetles carved in stone, vibrant birds’ feathers, glittering gemstones and the intricate decorative ironwork of the building, to name a few.

It is always exciting to see so many of our visitors engaging with the Museum in a creative way, but we rarely see the finished product. I’ve always wanted to know what artwork is created from this point of inspiration. Is it the starting point of a vibrant painting, an intricate pastel drawing or a graphic mixed media collage? The list of possibilities is endless.

A visitor captures the Allosaurus skull on one of our Sensing Evolution tables

Whatever your choice of creative expression, we want to see your interpretation of the Museum and what inspired you, whether it’s the architecture or the collections on display. If you are an amateur or professional artist, and over the age of sixteen, we would like you to submit your artwork to the Ruskin 200 Art Competition.

The competition is open for four months. Do send us images of your final artwork before the closing date of 19 May 2019. Selected artworks from each of the four entry categories will go on display in the Museum during the busy summer holidays.

A visitor taking part in creative activities during our special drawing weekend

Throughout 2019, we’re also running a programme of drawing activities to celebrate Ruskin’s bicentenary. It began with the Ruskin Drawing Weekend on 9 and 10 February, which included lots of different activities to begin the creative process. Look out for our Ready, Steady, Draw! workshops for younger artists coming in May too.

The full competition guidelines, along with further information on the Ruskin-related events we’re running this year, can be found on our website.

Top banner image: WA1931.47 John Ruskin, Design for a Window in the University Museum, Oxford. Image copyright Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

 

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Writing from experience

The Museum’s building and collections provide inspiration for scientists and artists alike, often acting as a springboard for the creation of new work. Following a year here as one of three poets-in-residence, Kelley Swain returned to lead a session with Oxford Scholastica students, showing how museum objects can inspire creative writing.

by Kelley Swain

The experience of looking at the taxidermy Little Owl (Athene noctua) provided inspiration for Tallulah’s poem

Delving into the archives and behind-the-scenes stores, meeting researchers and conservators, and finding inspiration in the architecture, history, and collections were all part of my residency at the Museum during 2016. I’ve always written poetry inspired by the history of science and its fascinating objects, and I have come to appreciate museum objects not only as inspiration for my own poetry, but as teaching tools, or “object lessons” to inspire others.

It was lovely to be asked to lead a new series of these “object lessons” for a group of summer school students at Oxford Scholastica. Some of them had never encountered taxidermy, let alone a room full of articulated, stuffed, and preserved specimens. Awe abounded – both its wonder and, for some, its horror. It was a great opportunity to teach the students not only poetry, and why writing poetry inspired by museum objects can be moving, thoughtful, and important, but also to teach them about conservation and preservation.

Here we share the work of 13 year old Tallulah Xenopoulos, who created this poem following an encounter with a taxidermy owl during the workshop:

Stupid dead owl.
The wooden door opens slowly, and, although there’s a green stone with bumpy edges and
shiny sides, a jar filled with silky insects and a board with beautifully painted butterflies.
Both your eyes land on the owl.
His feathers brush down his back and he stares down at his lightly spotted blanket where his
delicate legs connect and hatch onto the bumpy branch.
His eyes
And his beak
And legs
And nails
He stares at you almost like he knows what you’re thinking – which is dumb because he’s
dead – but he scares you and fascinates you at the same time.
A piece of dust has fallen beneath his eye and I bet he’d love to just brush it away, cause
he’s like that.
But also.
He’s an owl.
A stupid.
Dead owl.
With nothing but stuffed insides and scrawny legs.
And a heart. A dead heart which they slipped out and replaced with stuff.
-”do you think they stuffed him alive?”
The boy next to you whispers. You don’t reply. But the thought of death. And of his feathers
falling the second he felt the blood rushing through him go cold and dusty, travels across
your mind.
“Do you think he knew he was about to be?” you answer
Because the poor clueless animal looks as if he knew nothing.
knows nothing.

Kelley Swain’s own poetry from the Museum residency is featured in Guests of Time, a beautiful hardback volume edited by Prof John Holmes which features new work by John Barnie and Steven Matthews, alongside 19th-century poetry from writers linked with the early days of the Museum. Together, the poems in this anthology are a tribute to the Pre-Raphaelite origins of the Museum and a rejuvenation of its artistic legacy.

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Imagining lost worlds

Earlier this year University of Plymouth illustration student Rachel Simpson teamed up with our research fellow Jack Matthews to ‘bring the oldest multi-cellular organisms back to life’. Rachel tells us about the process of working with some of the most ancient fossil material and reveals the results of her illustrations and modelling.

Illustration by Rachel Simpson, created in collaboration with the Museum

In August 2018 I was lucky enough to travel to Newfoundland, Canada with Dr Jack Matthews to learn about and illustrate some of the extraordinary fossils found there. A highlight of the trip was going down onto the fossil surface – known as the MUN surface – to look at examples of organisms such as Beothukis, Charnia and Primocandelabrum, all of which date from the Ediacaran period, over 550 million years ago.

The MUN surface is the location of the fossils that I had worked on for my university project. I had spent the previous months sketching, drawing and bringing these organisms back to life from silicon casts, so it was amazing to be able to see the real specimens in situ and to sketch from the fossil surface.

Sketching directly from the fossils also provided a new challenge as I was unable to control factors such as the lighting, which is crucial to seeing the fossils clearly. Nonetheless, I learnt a lot about drawing on location.

Sketching at the fossil surface

While visiting Port Union I was able to use some of the old printing presses held by the Sir William F. Coaker Heritage Foundation to create work inspired by the fossils I had seen in the surrounding area. I love using printmaking in my own illustrative practice so it was a great experience to get to use these old presses (image at top of article).

We also had the chance to give a radio interview and talk to the Port Union community about the work that Jack and I had done, showing how science and art can work together.

On my last day in Port Union I was invited by a local potter to make some ceramic representations of the fossils I had been drawing there. I created models of Fractofusus and Aspidella, and discovered that re-imagining something in three dimensions is a very different process to recreating it as a drawing.

Rachel created ceramic representations of some of the Ediacaran organisms

For the final three days of the trip we relocated from Port Union to Trepassey to visit the Mistaken Point UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here, I saw the highly preserved Fractofusus specimens and made some more sketches. Using a small hand lens I was able to draw all the details that are invisible to the naked eye.

Using a hand lens allowed Rachel to pick out details in the Fractofusus fossil

Drawing on location in Canada provided a better idea of the organisms in relation to other surrounding organisms, something that is more obscure when working from museum specimens. This definitely informed my practice and meant that artwork created after the trip was more representative of the science.

When I returned to England, I created some new prints inspired by my time in Newfoundland, the fossils that I saw, and the printing process I was able to use in Port Union.

A set of prints made by Rachel based on her work in Newfoundland

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Bee beautiful

Our conservator Bethany Palumbo tells us how she restored a beautiful 19th-century papier-mâché model of a honeybee hive, created by master model-maker and anatomist Louis Thomas Jérôme Auzoux

Louis Thomas Jérôme Auzoux

Although the Museum’s collections are mostly of organic specimens, we also hold a fascinating collection of scientific models made to represent the natural world, made from all types of materials, from wax and cardboard to plaster and paint.

We are lucky enough to own a model made by esteemed French anatomist Louis Auzoux (1797-1880), who in the late 19th century developed a method of building strong yet light papier-mâché models that could be taken apart and rebuilt, allowing internal elements such as tissues and organs to be studied in detail.

Model of a honeybee hive in box with six bees, by Louis Auzoux

While Auzoux made many models demonstrating human anatomy, he later expanded his business to include magnified models of plants and insects. The model we have is of a honeybee hive, containing six beautiful bees.

The hive, painted with a protein-based paint and varnished with gelatine, is large enough to allow the viewer to see the fine details of the hive, including individual chambers containing tiny larvae.

As you can see in the image at the top of the article, the bees themselves are also intricately painted, with rabbit hair used to simulate their natural fuzz, and delicate wings constructed from metal wire.

While there was much to admire about this model, it was in received in poor condition. Previous restoration attempts had introduced many materials that were now failing. There were fills, constructed of paper, applied to areas in an attempt to hide cracks in the original model. These were covered in oil paint, which was dripping over the original paintwork and had become brittle and discoloured.

Oil paint layers were peeling from the model

The whole hive was coated in a layer of cellulose nitrate film, a popular coating in the mid-20th century which was used as protection and to create a gloss finish. This coating doesn’t age well, resulting in peeling. It had also been applied to the bees themselves, clumping together the bee ‘fuzz’ and disguising the paintwork underneath.

The priority for treatment was to return the model to its original form while stabilising it for the future.

I undertook treatment in several stages over the course of six months. First, the cellulose nitrate film was removed from all areas using acetone, which could be applied with a cotton bud and fortunately didn’t affect the paint layer beneath.

Fill material used to cover previous damage had become discoloured

The next stage was to remove the discoloured oil paint from the hive. This was done manually using metal and wooden tools lubricated with white spirit, which were used to gently scrape the surface under magnification. This revealed old fills on the hive, made from a combination of plastic tape, paper and old adhesives which also needed to be removed. They were easily softened with water and gently peeled away.

Once all unstable introduced materials were removed, work began to stabilise the original model. The bees were suffering from paint cracking and peeling, as seen in the magnified photograph below.

Peeling paint at 6x magnification

We decided to consolidate this using gelatine as it would be in keeping with the original construction and could easily be reversed if necessary. Gelatine was mixed in water and warmed to make it a thin consistency, and then applied with a paintbrush. Once the paint flakes had softened they could be gently pressed down. Gelatine was also used with acid-free tissue to stabilise the cracks and areas of surface loss on the hive.

With the hive and bees now clean and stable, the quality of this piece and its incredible paintwork can really be admired. We hope to put it on display soon for all our visitors to enjoy!

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Bacteria: captured and cultured

For our new exhibition, Bacterial World, we embarked an exciting science/art experiment to make visible the colonies of bacteria present on a wide range of our everyday items and belongings. Once cultured and photographed, eight of these colonies were captured by artist Elin Thomas as a set of crochet artworks that are on display in the exhibition. Our exhibitions officer Kelly Richards tells us more…

For every human cell in your body, a bacterial cell is also present. These bacteria are part of our microbiome, a vast array of microorganisms that use our body as a home and our food as a source of nutrients. In return, the bacteria help us to digest food, maintain our immune systems and keep dangerous bacteria at bay. In fact without these bacteria we would be very sick indeed.

It’s hard to see our microbiome because individual bacteria can easily be as small as 0.2 microns; you could fit over a thousand of these smallest bacteria on one side of a red blood cell. But if we can select and artificially grow the bacteria, their colonies become living, breathing cities visible to the naked eye.

Agar plates contain a semi-solid jelly impregnated with nutrients to fuel bacterial growth. Bacterial cells grow by dividing, and the time taken for each cell to divide and produce two copies of itself is known as the generation time. This can be hugely variable between species, ranging from 20 minutes to over 12 hours, and also depends on growth conditions such as temperature. On this agar plate, we can see distinct bacterial colonies of several different species (all the individual differently shaped and coloured “blobs”), which have come from single (or a very small number of) bacterial cells through this division process over 12-16 hours. How many different types of colony can you see? - Nicole Stoesser
Agar plates contain a semi-solid jelly impregnated with nutrients to fuel bacterial growth. Bacterial cells grow by dividing, and the time taken for each cell to divide and produce two copies of itself is known as the generation time. This can be hugely variable between species, ranging from 20 minutes to over 12 hours, and also depends on growth conditions such as temperature. On this agar plate, we can see distinct bacterial colonies of several different species (all the individual differently shaped and coloured “blobs”), which have come from single (or a very small number of) bacterial cells through this division process over 12-16 hours. How many different types of colony can you see? – Nicole Stoesser
When sampling everyday objects for microbial growth it is inevitable that a mixture of fungi and bacteria, as well as other microorganisms, could grow. That was the case for the majority of the objects printed, with particularly good examples being hair grips and toys. We expected that different objects would be home to different types of bacterial species. Staphylococci (spherical shaped bacteria), for example, are commonly found on skin so we would expect to see them from prints of rings, necklaces and watches. Interestingly, some items resulted in the growth of very little to no bacteria. As bacteria are found pretty much everywhere, the absence of any growth likely indicates the difficulty in growing certain types of bacteria within the laboratory. - Rachael Wilkinson
When sampling everyday objects for microbial growth it is inevitable that a mixture of fungi and bacteria, as well as other microorganisms, could grow. That was the case for the majority of the objects printed, with particularly good examples being hair grips and toys. We expected that different objects would be home to different types of bacterial species. Staphylococci (spherical shaped bacteria), for example, are commonly found on skin so we would expect to see them from prints of rings, necklaces and watches. Interestingly, some items resulted in the growth of very little to no bacteria. As bacteria are found pretty much everywhere, the absence of any growth likely indicates the difficulty in growing certain types of bacteria within the laboratory. – Rachael Wilkinson
It is also possible to include dyes, antibiotics and other substances that speed up or slow down the growth of certain types of bacteria to help us select and identify particular bacterial species. This photo, for example, shows a chromogenic agar plate, which contains special dyes that change colour in the presence of substances produced by the bacteria as part of their survival and growth. Pink colonies in this case, for example, contain enzymes that break down lactose, a type of sugar. - Nicole Stoesser
It is also possible to include dyes, antibiotics and other substances that speed up or slow down the growth of certain types of bacteria to help us select and identify particular bacterial species. This photo, for example, shows a chromogenic agar plate, which contains special dyes that change colour in the presence of substances produced by the bacteria as part of their survival and growth. Pink colonies in this case, for example, contain enzymes that break down lactose, a type of sugar. – Nicole Stoesser

Click the images above to find out more about culturing bacterial colonies

Colonies, both natural and artificial, can contain billions of bacteria as well as the materials that they secrete such as slime, which helps them to move across surfaces, and antibiotics, which kill off other bacterial colonies that could compete for food and space. In their attempts to dominate the space and food available, as well as get enough oxygen to live, colonies can create beautiful, complex structures.

We had a go at visualising the bacteria that live invisibly alongside us by asking visitors to take part in a simple experiment. With the help of microbiologist Rachael Wilkinson, we took items such as coins, keys and jewellery and touched them lightly against agar plates – dishes containing a nutrient-rich jelly that aids bacterial growth. The agar plates were then given to Nicole Stoesser, a clinical microbiologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital, who grew them in the safe environment of the laboratory.

Plastic USB Stick (68) Crochet, by Elin Thomas
Plastic USB Stick (68) Crochet, by Elin Thomas
Unicorn toy (32) and metal key ring (24) Crochet, by Elin Thomas
Unicorn toy (32) and metal key ring (24) Crochet, by Elin Thomas
Worn sock (25) Crochet, by Elin Thomas
Worn sock (25) Crochet, by Elin Thomas
Gold wedding ring (12)
Gold wedding ring (12)
Wood pencil, two sides (64) Crochet, by Elin Thomas
Wood pencil, two sides (64) Crochet, by Elin Thomas
Silver necklace (45) Crochet, by Elin Thomas
Silver necklace (45) Crochet, by Elin Thomas
Key (71) Crochet, by Elin Thomas
Key (71) Crochet, by Elin Thomas
Gold wedding ring (3) Crochet, by Elin Thomas
Gold wedding ring (3) Crochet, by Elin Thomas

Many different types of colonies grew from the objects we printed. In the collage above, eight of these colonies have been represented as crocheted Petri dishes by artist Elin Thomas. These artworks are on display in the Bacterial World exhibition until 28 May 2019.

In the gallery below is a photograph of every participant’s plate, whether anything grew in it or not. Click on an image to see a larger version. If you took part in the experiment you will be able to identify your own plate from its number.

The results go to show that we really are living in a bacterial world!

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From pin to paper

Katherine Child, image technician in the Museum’s Life collections, doesn’t just use photography to capture the beauty of specimens. She is also an artist and has been trying out innovative techniques for her paintings. You may remember her amazing moth illustrations created with deposits of verdigris on pinned insects and she’s now using that technique to explore Museum staff’s favourite insect specimens.

Verdigris is a green corrosion often found on old pins within entomology collections (as well as elsewhere, on things like statues and copper pipes). Last year, after learning that the substance was once used as a pigment, I decided to try and make my own paint.

A clearwing moth before conservation, showing verdigris spreading where metal reacts with insect fats, or lipids.

Verdigris forms when copper or a copper alloy reacts with water, oxygen, carbon dioxide or sulphur. While a beautiful shade of green, the substance is damaging in natural history collections, where it can actually develop inside specimens and if left, split them irreversibly. So as part of the conservation of the Hope Entomological Collections, verdigris is removed.

I started to collect up the substance as it was cleaned from specimens and after about three years (you only get a little bit per pin) I was ready to make my paint! After my first moth project, the only question was, what to paint next…?

Attelabid_small
Byctiscus populi or ‘The Attelabid that changed my life’, chosen by Zoë (collections manager) who said ‘I saw a pink version of this species in the Natural History Museum in London and that’s when I decided I wanted to study entomology’.

With an estimated 6 million insects and arachnids in the entomology collections, it’s very easy to feel overwhelmed. You can pull open any one of thousands of draws and find astonishing specimens. While I have favourites, my first inclinations as to what to paint still felt a little arbitrary. After mulling over various possibilities, I decided to get help!

Chosen by DPhil student Leonidas, Agalmatium bilobum is a little bug which lays its eggs on tree bark, then covers them with mud to protect them.

I asked my co-workers what their favourite insects were, then opened the question out to regular volunteers and visitors of the Life collections. I loved finding out why people chose the things they did. Answers varied from ‘It was the first spider I ever looked at under a microscope aged 12’ to ‘Because they’re cool’ to ‘Because they have an ingenious way of manipulating spiders!’

Nuctenea_small
One of arachnologist Russell’s favourite spiders: Nuctenea umbratica. Though common in the UK, umbratica is Latin for “living in the shadows”, and it often hides away during the day. The slight transparency of the paint lends itself to a spider’s glittering eyes.

 

Painting this live African Mantis Sphodromantis lineola (chosen by conservator Jackie) was made slightly more challenging by the fact that the subject thought Katherine’s pencil might be tasty.

Most of the subjects I painted were based on specimens from the Museum’s collections or specimens individuals had brought in from their own collections, but one favourite was a live African Mantis, housed in the department to help with education and outreach. When I began to draw her she was intrigued by the movement of my pencil and came to the front of the tank, to follow every mark I made with her intimidating gaze.

A detail from the final painting

Attelabid that...
Katherine’s fabulous finished painting, which will be framed and displayed in the Life collections department.

Though time consuming, the painting was loads of fun to research and do. It’s fantastic to be surrounded not only by extremely knowledgeable people, but also by people with a genuine passion for what they do and a love for the insects (and spiders) they study.