Every year Curious Gallery presents a wide variety of panels, workshops and other programming on topics related to nature, culture and art. Here are just some of the presentations for our 2017 event! (Schedule to be released in mid December.) Please note some hands-on workshops may have an additional materials fees noted in the description; this is not included in your weekend/day pass cost as it goes directly to the presenter. You will be able to sign up for hands-on workshops at the registration desk the day each one is happening; the signup sheets for Saturday hands-on workshops will go out Saturday morning, the ones for Sunday events, Sunday morning. This ONLY applies to hands-on workshops, not the rest of the presentations. You can purchase tokens at the registration desk to pay for your amterials fees; these may be bought with cash or card.
Please note our workshops and other programming are ONLY open to paying attendees of Curious Gallery. You may purchase day or weekend passes here in our shop prior to the event, or at the registration desk on January 7 and 8, 2017.
Here is our preliminary schedule (Saturday is the two columns on the left, Sunday is the two columns on the right); please note that it MAY be subject to minor changes:
Hands-on Workshop: Mouse Taxidermy Class
Darien Skullgrrl
Want to try your hand at taxidermy? Come join experienced taxidermist Darien Skullgrrl as she shows you how to prepare and mount a mouse, while teaching you valuable skills that you can carry over into other taxidermy projects in the future! Materials fee: $65, limited to ten participants
Skulls, Bones and Carving Boards: The Creation of the Tarot of Bones
Lupa
The Tarot of Bones is the latest offering from artist and author Lupa, stemming from her twenty-year creative career. Learn how she turned a pile of bones, thrift store finds, and two IndieGoGo campaigns into a complete tarot deck and book set focusing on both traditional tarot symbolism and the meanings one can find when immersed in the natural world.
Tarantula Preservation Workshop
Cheri Cloninger
Do you want to preserve your tarantula’s beautiful molt, yet find it brittle and easily destroyed? Here we will learn how to better preserve molts using an injection technique for stronger, longer lasting specimens. Feel free to bring your own molt and learn along!
Hands-on Workshop: Owl Pellet Dissection
Amanda Fisher
Come pull apart a real owl pellet collected from the wilderness near Portland to see what sorts of critters the owls have been eating for dinner. Learn helpful techniques for removing, cleaning, and identifying the bones you find. $5 materials fee, limited to 35 participants
Hands-on Workshop: Sheep Eyeball Dissection
Julie Claire
Come dissect a sheep’s eyeball with Julie! Learn about the different parts of an eye that’s very similar to the ones in your head from someone who took a biology class once– and prepare a wet specimen of the interesting bits you might like to keep! Materials fee: $5, limited to twelve participants
Dead Wrong: “Mummy Parties” and Other Shocking Curiosities from Ancient Egypt
Tamara L. Siuda
When does curiosity cross the line? From Napoleon’s famous invasion of Egypt to the modern day, fascination with the pharaonic heritage, and particularly with the mummified remains of its people, has been a feature of Western interest in ancient Egypt. Before antiquities laws and the idea of cultural patrimony, anyone could (and did) purchase human remains from Egypt and bring them back home. Some lucky few ended up in museums; far more ended up in less respectful circumstances such as the “mummy unwrapping party” craze in Victorian England, or the use of ground up mummy parts for things like oil paint pigments or locomotive fuel. Join Tamara L. Siuda for a look at the very strange afterlives of the pharaohs and their subjects, and what this history says about modern attitudes toward the deceased, toward culture and ethnicity, and toward scientific research.
Hands-on Workshop: Felt Your Own Tentacles!
Vandy Hall
Combine needle & wet felting techniques to create the perfect oddity accessory. Tentacles can be used anywhere you might use flowers: in vases, on hats, escaping from cupboards. Materials and tools as included, fee $15, limited to 15 participants.
Illuminated Sculpture Demonstration
Vandy Hall
Discover how I create my unique illuminated sculptures. Demonstration will cover the blown glass, basic wiring, and then focus in on creating an armature and sculpting over it using a two part epoxy resin putty.
Hands-on Workshop: Twisted Taxidermy
Darien Skullgrrl
Twisted Taxidermy! Make and take a taxidermy-based spirit creature using traditional and alternative methods. Mouse or rat, tools, eyes and more provided. One session limited to fifteen participants per session. Materials fee: $65/person.
Watermarks – History and Demo
Jenn Woodward
Have you ever held up a piece of paper to a light and seen a hidden image? Then you’ve seen a watermark. Learn all about the history of these unique symbols and images and see a live demo of watermarks being made with handmade paper.
The WunderKreature and Other Natural Oddities from History
Corviid
Explore the concept of mythological creatures as a lens for the cultural paradigms that created them, and delve into the Mirabilidae, a modern mythos created by the presenter to serve as a contemporary example of the process and purpose of creating mythological creatures.
Hands-on Workshop: Antique Printmaking Workshop
Leah Kiczula
Want to learn a traditional form of printmaking? Come make Curious Gallery themed linoblock prints that can be combined in different patterns/colors to create a poster to be pulled on my tabletop relief press. Each person would pull their own print, get a first hand experience using an antique paper press, and walk away with a personalized poster. Materials fee: $5/person.
Hands-on Workshop: Collage Workshop
Marilyn Kent
Old textbooks, obscure organisms, collage… appealing? Join Marilyn Kent and a treasure trove of book covers, old textbook illustrations and a stash of gluable found objects as we create Embellished Book Covers. All materials provided. Materials fee $10/person. Limited to fifteen participants.
Performance: Cello Storytelling
Betsy Tinney
Using a cello and a looper, I weave rich, complex and varied tapestries of sound to paint pictures and tell tales. Please enjoy this hour-long concert as part of our festivities!
Still Death
Lupa
Still Death, Portland’s own skull drawing session, got its start here at Curious Gallery a few years ago, and we’re bringing it back again this year! You’ll have the opportunity to draw a variety of animal skulls–bring your own art materials, or use the colored pencils and paper we provide. Two sessions this year, one on each day!
Introduction to Mushroom Biology
Paul Whitney PhD Ecologist
Did you know fungi have over forty ways to reproduce? This presentation on the life cycle of common mushrooms will review topics that you may remember from high school biology such as DNA, chromosomes, meiosis and fruiting bodies–but with a mycological twist!
Bone Cleaning Basics
Carla Brauer
Our popular workshop on how to clean and prepare animal bones for display and crafts is back and better than ever! Join Carla Brauer for this mixed lecture / Q&A / powerpoint presentation talk on the major methods of bone cleaning, suitable for all skill levels.
The Power of Line & Symbol: The Art of Sigil Magick
Laura Tempest Zakroff
Countless cultures have harnessed the power of the drawn line to make their mark on the world. We’ll look at the elements that make up all symbols, their possible meanings, & how to respectfully incorporate them into your own practice.
A Pictorial History of Oregon: Glass Lantern Slides from the Oregon Historical Society
Doug Kenck-Crispin and Matthew Cowan
Comprised of approximately 100 glass lantern slides, this show was originally put together as a public educational program by the Colonial Dames of America in approximately 1935. With the assistance of Doug Kenck-Crispin (Kick Ass Oregon History) on the microphone, Matthew Cowan will project the images using a Victor Stereopticon projector (circa 1915) and use the original notes to narrate the slides.
Portland Insectarium: A New Museum Model
Molly Radany
What if a museum could come to you? Introducing the Insectarium, a mobile, mini insect zoo and natural history museum that brings the exciting, engaging, and artistic science of insects and arachnids to all of Portland!
The Truth About Spiders
Jessica Szabo
Curious about spiders? Come hear about the biology and ecology of spiders, identification of spiders in the Portland area, and learn the truth behind common myths and urban legends involving our 8-legged friends.