The museum houses a number of these beautifully-executed dioramas of life as it was once lived on this continent.
We have been celebrating the model-making in this museum, and these displays certainly live up to what we have been admiring.
Imagine the skills necessary for surviving the winter in this climate with the tools available to these people!
Somehow, seeing these 3-d renditions of people living in this harsh weather is much more vivid and real for me than reading about it or seeing 2-d images......
This is one of my favorite dioramas. The group of women, working together to preserve food for the winter (taking care of kids the while!).
Look at the crossed ankles! Imagine cutting out every one of those corn husks.
Same as above, but shows the painted background.....
The decorated clothing (and the fringe!). The shadows. The interaction between the dogs. The travois on the dog. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a diorama is surely worth a thousand pictures...............
Imagine raising your baby here, so high above the land below..... (Admire the background.........)
Imagine surviving the long Alaskan winter in a windowless building, with your whole clan in there with you.........
It is my belief that no one is challenging the accuracy of the depictions.
But it seems to be the case that poorly-educated children have made unfortunate observations about the displays, which have been very hurtful to First Nations people (especially children).
It is certainly the case that there are no similar displays of life in other parts of the world in this museum.
These dioramas will be removed in January.
The claim is that "everything here is extinct, but native peoples are not extinct." Well -- hmmm. Most of the birds, mammals, plants, amphibians are not extinct..... And.... The ways of life are extinct...............
The claim is that no other people are depicted........ Not true, but it is true that no others are depicted in the same in-depth and broad way.
I am left to wonder if, instead of removing these dioramas, they were joined by a multitude of other dioramas, showing the way people lived (miles from the nearest neighbor) in the 17th century American Big Woods or on the 18th century wide prairie, in gritty 19th century cities, in medieval (and pre-historic) Europe, in China from various times, in different parts of Africa, India, Australia.................. If we showed the way people lived, in lots more places, in addition to pre-Columbian north America, would that remove the sting? If we showed what life was like for those Egyptian and Danish weavers? Their homes, their communities?
For me, these displays make it so clear that human activity amongst all of these peoples is so very much like human activity for all peoples. We all need to make sure we have enough food, enough clothing, enough shelter. We all need to keep our children safe, and to educate them so they can grow up and thrive. We all mourn those lost to us (a diorama I didn't show). We all work in groups to accomplish all of this.
For me, the dioramas show how much we all are alike, as well as showcasing the skills developed in many places for dealing with the climate and environment in which people found themselves.
I wish there was a way to not have hurt feelings without depriving all of us of the beauty and skills and education these dioramas offer.........
Sigh.
Ok. Moving along.
Gotta have minerals.
One last excellent example of model-making.
Wow, eh? This was less than 18" tall, I think.
It strikes me as odd for a predator to have this obstruction to forward vision. I am left wondering if warfare amongst its brethren was enough danger to its sight that it was worth it to sacrifice being able to see where it was going............ Or what! Inquiring minds want to know!
There was no butterfly garden here when I was a kid, but the pumas flanking the door were here.
I didn't see any butterflies, but lots of stingy things joined me in enjoying the flowers.
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