Museum of Natural History

[avram]

The office was closed yesterday for Good Friday (nice for the employees, not so nice for us freelancers), giving me a chance to visit the American Museum of Natural History on a weekday and sketch birds and bats. (It’s research.)

First I stopped off at Kinokuniya Books to replenish my stocks of 0.5-mm non-photo blue mechanical pencil leads. They had three packs, and since a pack lasts me three or four months, I bought all three, which should do for the year. Now I have the sole supply of these leads in the NYC area! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! I also picked up yet another brush pen, this one having a small, fine point, like my old Splash pen, but with faster-drying ink.

Then off to the museum. Lots of subway stations have been redecorated in the past decade or so, many with mosaics, and the 81st Street station is my favorite. (My second favorite is the one with all the hat mosaics, which I could’ve sworn was the 28th Street station on the Broadway line. The mosaics they actually seem to have there are pretty cool, but not what I remember. Oh, hey, and I haven’t seen this at the 14th St station on Eighth Avenue. And check out Whitehall Street.) I like getting out at the north end and walking down the length of the platform to the south end, which has an entrance directly into the museum.

The museum trip was a mistake; not nearly as successful as my last visit (almost two years ago!). Not only do my sketches mostly suck — I could probably have been more productive just downloading reference photos off the net — but after very little time there I just lost all my energy and wandered around zombie-like. I sat for a while in the primate section, marveling at the parents who think a museum is a good place for a child still in a stroller. This kid seemed to be pretty freaked out by the primates, and no wonder. That white-handed gibbon is one creepy-looking sumbitch:



Eventually I gave up, left the museum, caffeinated myself to the gills, and headed off to Games Club.

Comments

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

The hat mosaics are at 23rd Street on the Broadway line (or, as I like to refer to it to annoy New Yorkers, "The Yellow Line"). This is the station directly below the Flatiron Building, and I wonder if the hats are supposed to be wind-blown in the legendary high winds of Madison Square.

I do find myself frequently wondering exactly what the hell the 28th Street mosaics are, and I was hoping your link might tell me, but, alas, no such luck.

The little creatures in the 14th Street A station featured in the Greenwich Village Treasure Hunt a couple of years back--they were the only thing my team didn't find from that set of clues. I really think you should plan on going this year--two hours of intense walking and New York trivia, you'd love it.

[avram]

The page for the 23rd St station doesn’t have photos of the hats. Hmph.

If they were wind-blown they’d be at all different angles. I think they’re just supposed to be at various head-heights, so it can seem like the people waiting on the platform are wearing them.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the hats are more recent than the last update of that set of pages.

I don't know if you've been in the station recently; underneath each individual hat is a key to who owned the hat (Fanny Brice, Henry James, whomever). I suspect they're placed at an appropriate height for the owner. But they still look wind-swept to me.

[acrobatty.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I LOVE Otteness's work. I'm glad he's getting more NYC commissions.

I'm fairly sure he did the Cleveland Main Branch public library display and the Porter Square T station, too.

As for the kidlets, sometimes you want to expose them to things a little early so they'll be comfortable for them by the time they're old enough to really appreciate it. Ferinstance, we're playing lots of favorite music around our munchkin now, even tho her view of the universe is mostly limited to things-I-can-eat/things-to-cuddle-me/everything-else

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I greatly enjoy the mosaics in the 42nd Street tunnel connecting the F and 7 lines (can't seem to find a picture, unfortunately). Used to love the eyes at World Trade Center, but since I no longer work in the area, and the station ain't what it used to be, they're not on the list anymore. I am, though, looking forward to seeing what, if anything, the MTA does in the way of artwork in the station they're renovating at home (74th Street/Roosevelt Ave., EFGRV/7).

[dhole.livejournal.com]

I think my favorite subway mosaic, excluding the old-timey stuff, is the one with the creepy, creepy eyes. I'm not certain where it is, but I am certain it's creepy. Creepier than a dozen gibbons, even.

And I remember trips to the museum of Natural History when stroller age. Well, not exactly the trip, but I remember looking foward to the trip with extreme intensity.