Hairy Museum of Natural History

Halloween week seems like a good time to show off this Deinonychus skull I drew up a few months back. My coworker David Baccadutre was looking for a stylized skull (similar to the Titanophoneus in the HMNH logo) for a graphic to put on the side of his Mini Cooper, and after thinking about it for a bit, he decided a speedy little dromaeosaur would fit the bill. I did a couple sketches of the skull in 3/4 view, worked up the final drawing in Adobe Illustrator, and passed the artwork along to him.

He worked up the final graphic, “Dino’d by Matt Celeskey,” and had it printed up as a magnetic decal. A picture of the graphic in situ is shown below:

And here’s David with his spiffy new ride:

—Matt Celeskey.

File under: Cretaceous, Dinosaurs, Friends of the HMNH.

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This past weekend, my wife Roxanne and I took a drive up to Denver to attend a party celebrating the release of a new book called Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway: an Epoch Tale of a Scientist and Artist on the Ultimate 5,000-mile Paleo Road Trip. The scientist is Dr. Kirk Johnson, paleobotanist, vice president and chief curator of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The artist is Ray Troll, whose fish- and paleontology-themed artwork has graced over a million t-shirts(!), half-a-dozen books, a handful of traveling exhibits and who steps in the HMNH from time to time as our very own Curator of Ich-theology. Ray and Kirk have spent several years in search of “the best of the fossil west”, and this new book is the culmination of their many journeys.

In Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway, Kirk and Ray recount their rollicking road-trips through the Rocky Mountain region, and their writing and artwork tell the tale of the fossils, food, and friends they meet along the way. Paging through the book is like being chauffeured by a pair of paleontological prestidigitators across America’s prime fossil country.

Portrait of the artist…

…and the scientist.

Kirk’s writing conjures up multiple layers of history from the landscapes they pass through: the ancient environments where sediments accumulated and hardened into rock, the processes that brought these rocks to the surface and shaped the current scenery, and, most of all, the ongoing stories of discoveries made by scientists, collectors, and fossil fanatics throughout this geologic wonderland. Ray’s artwork brings each of these histories to life and mixes them together in a sort of deep-time gumbo: dinosaurs rise from the dead and amble alongside pickup trucks and gas stations, prehistoric mammals pose for portraits or dental casts, wide-eyed ichthyosaurs and half-coiled ammonites dreamily float alongside monster movies and cheeseburgers.

Running throughout the book are details from a massive roadmap that highlights hundreds of fossil finds from across the West. Ray spent months drawing this map on a giant sheet of paper in his Ketchikan studio, and I was happy to see that Fulcrum Books, who published Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway, is planning to release the map as a 4 x 5-foot poster, suitable for framing and hanging on your wall, or folding up to keep in the glove compartment for your next paleo-themed excursion.

Roxanne and I had hoped to make our own little trip up to Denver in time for a lecture and signing on Friday, but a botched oil change and a particularly pungent skunk fight beneath our bedroom late Thursday night conspired to keep us from leaving Albuquerque as early as we had intended. Circumstances notwithstanding, we pulled into Denver around 9:00 that evening, enjoyed a fantastic dinner at the 1515 Restaurant, and awoke fresh the next day for a visit to the DMNS followed by Kirk and Ray’s party.

The party was great fun, with a small crowd of paleophiles sharing drinks and conversation in one of the back rooms of an excellent little bar called the Forest Room 5. The folks from Fulcrum Books brought several copies of the new opus, and Ray and Kirk obligingly signed a hefty stack for us to bring back to our friends and coworkers in Albuquerque. We met some great people there, and thanks to Ray’s tireless promotion of the Hairy Museum, we may soon see some new curatorial input around these parts. Stay tuned!

—Matt Celeskey.

File under: Friends of the HMNH, Paleo-Pop.

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Congratulations are in order for artist, long-time friend of the HMNH, and our Curator of Ich-theology Ray Troll. Its been 20 years since he drew up a salmon-crossed Jolly Roger bearing the motto “Spawn Til You Die,” and emblazoned it across the chest of a stylin’ black t-shirt. Over the next two decades, that shirt has been sighted on rock-stars and athletes, and popping up in the occasional movie and music video. It has become one of his most recognizable and widespread images.

To mark the anniversary, Ray has re-released the original black-and-white design with a commemorative neck-chop. Check it out via his online store at trollart.com.

—Matt Celeskey.

File under: Bony Fish, Friends of the HMNH, Ich-Theology.

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I spent the past week at the day job assisting with the setup of a new traveling exhibit—Raucous! Everything Raven—that opened this weekend at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. The show, put together by Alaskan artist Evon Zerbetz, examines the science and stories surrounding these crafty corvids.

Evon Zerbetz putting the feathery finishing touches
on Raucous! Everything Raven at the NMMNHS.

The exhibit is centered around dozens of Zerbetz’s colored linocut prints, depicting ravens in all their playful glory—collecting ‘bling,’ taunting dogs, performing on clotheslines, or just perched on a branch and kawing to their heart’s content. Other highlights include a life-sized raven’s nest, raven-based games, and a Raven Radio broadcasting bird-based music and news from ‘roving-raven reporters.’

Over the past seven days, Evon and a team of NMMNHS staff and volunteers have transformed the museum’s changing exhibit space into a raven-ous wonderland. We painted the multicolored walls with large graphics based on Evon’s linocuts, and set up the space for the many family events going on this weekend. In addition, we added a little side display highlighting the members of the family Corvidae (ravens, crows, magpies, and jays) known from New Mexico.

Check out the museum’s website for more information on the exhibit and activities, and Evon’s website for more information about her and her work. Raucous! Everything Raven is on display through April 22nd in the first floor changing exhibits gallery at the NMMNHS.

—Matt Celeskey.

File under: Birds, Friends of the HMNH, The Day Job.

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After a brief hiatus, the art and musings of Carl Buell are back on the web! Pop on over to Olduvai George and check out the image accompanying his return—it’s the blogosphere equivalent of Pleistocene Rewilding.

—Matt Celeskey.

File under: Friends of the HMNH, Mammals, Neogene.

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