"Rest in Pieces" Book Party with Bess Lovejoy; Masonic Slapstick with Mike Zohn of "Oddities;" Taxidermy, Hair Art and Anthropomorphic Insects; Dance of Death Linocuts; London-Based Series of Events and Spectacles… Morbid Anatomy Presents This Week and Beyond!

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What appears to be pages from a DeMoulin Brothers Catalog; found here.

Morbid Anatomy is very pleased to announce a number of workshops, lectures and parties taking place over the next few months in Brooklyn and London. This Friday April 26th, we will be co-hosting a lecture/book release party for friend Bess Lovejoy's in celebration of the publication of her new book Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Cadavers. The following Tuesday (April 30th) will be our "Masonic Slapstick" event  investigating the work of the DeMoulin Brothers, leading makers of Masonic and other lodge "initiation prank devices" with an illustrated lecture by the curator of the DeMoulin Museum and a special one-night-only exhibition of initiation devices curated by Mike Zohn, co-star of TV's "Oddities".

In the following weeks, we will also be offering classes in taxidermy, Victorian mourning hair art, anthropomorphic insect shadow boxes, and Dance of Death linocuts. If none of this intrigues, perhaps you might or an illustrated lecture with professor Eric G Wilson about the history and science of "morbid curiosity" (June 6); or perhaps a special London-based 2-month series of events, workshops, special backstage tours, screenings and spectacles surveying the interstices of art and medicine, death and culture (June 2 - July 25).

Full details for all follow. Hope to see you at one or more of these terrific events!
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A Fate Worse Than Death: The Perils of Being a Famous Corpse with Bess Lovejoy, Author of Rest in Pieces
With Bess Lovejoy, author of Rest in Pieces
Date: Friday, April 26th
Time: 8pm
Admission: $10
Most of us know what our afterlives are going to be like: eternity in the ground, or resting in an urn on some relative’s mantelpiece. If we’re lucky, our children might occasionally bring us flowers or a potted plant, and that’s about as interesting as things are going to get.
Not so the famous deceased. For millennia, they’ve been bought and sold, worshipped and reviled, studied, collected, stolen, and dissected. They’ve been the star attractions at museums and churches, and used to found cemeteries, cities, even empires. Pieces of them have languished in libraries and universities, in coolers inside closets, and in suitcases underneath beds. For them, eternity has been anything but easy.
The more notable or notorious the body, the more likely it is that someone’s tried to disturb it. Consider the near-snatching of Abraham Lincoln, or the attempt on Elvis’s tomb. Then there’s Descartes, who is missing his head, and Galileo, who is spending eternity without his middle finger. Napoleon’s missing something a bit lower, as is the Russian mystic Rasputin, at least if the rumors are true. Meanwhile, Jesse James has had three graves, and may not have been in any of them, while it took a court case and an exhumation to prove that Lee Harvey Oswald was in his.
In this illustrated lecture, Bess Lovejoy will draw on her new book, Rest in Pieces, to discuss the many threats faced by famous corpses--from furta sacra ("holy theft" of saintly relics), to skull-stealing phrenologists, "Resurrection Men" digging up cadavers for medical schools, modern organ harvesters, the depredations of crazed fans, and much more.
Rest in Pieces will also be available for sale, and wine will be served in celebration of its release.

Bess Lovejoy is a writer, researcher, and editor based in Seattle. She writes about dead people, forgotten history, and sometimes art, literature, and science. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Believer, The Boston Globe, The Stranger, and other publications. She worked on the Schott’s Almanac series for five years. Visit her at BessLovejoy.com.

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Masonic Slapstick - The DeMoulin Brothers and their Odd Initiate Prank Devices
An Illustrated lecture by John Goldsmith, Curator of the DeMoulin Museum accompanied by a one-night-only exhibition of initiation devices curated by Mike Zohn, co-star of TV's "Oddities"
Date: Tuesday, April 30th
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $8
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

Between 1890 and 1930, hundreds of thousands of men belonged to the Masons, the Elks, the Kiwanis, or another of the over one hundred lodges which provided American men with a social outlet, a sense of importance, and sometimes even health and life insurance. One way these many lodges competed for members was with the use of inventive, theatrical and unlikely gadgets used in lodge initiations.

In 1892, Ed DeMoulin, a small town photographer who had more than a passing interest in the gadgets of the day, founded the DeMoulin company which went on to become one of the leading manufacturers of these lodge initiation devices. The DeMoulin brothers (Ed, U.S. and Erastus) held patents on many of the best known of these including "The Lifting & Spraying Machine," "The Lung Tester," and "The Low Down Buck Goat." The DeMoulin’s motto was “Fun in the Lodge Room” and there’s little doubt that these water shootin’, electric shockin’, blank firin’, collapsin’ devices could do the trick.

Who were the DeMoulin brothers? And how did they become the zany geniuses behind these lodge initiation pranks? Tonight John Goldsmith, curator of the DeMoulin Museum, will share their story and demonstrate some of the devices. He’ll also provide a virtual tour of the DeMoulin Museum. There will also be
a one-night-only mini exhibit of initiation devices curated by Mike Zohn, co-star of TV's "Oddities."

John Goldsmith is curator of the was the DeMoulin Museum. He was also a consultant on Catalog 439: Burlesque Paraphernalia published by Fantagraphics in 2010 and The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions published by Perigee in 2011. The DeMoulin Museum has been featured on KSDK’s “Show Me St. Louis” and WSEC’s “Illinois Stories”.
Mike Zohn--co-star of TV's "Oddities" and co-owner of Obscura Antiques--is a long term DeMoulin enthusiast and collector.

Image: "The DADDY Uv-Um ALL," parade goat by The DeMoulin Brothers.


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Anthropomorphic Insect Shadowbox Workshop with Former AMNH Senior Insect Preparator Daisy TaintonWith Daisy Tainton, Senior Insect Preparator at the American Museum of Natural History
Date: Saturday, May 11th
Time: 1 – 4 PM
Admission: $75
***Tickets MUST be pre-ordered by clicking here
You can also pre-pay in person at the Observatory during open hours.
This class is part of The Morbid Anatomy Art Academy

Today, join former AMNH Senior Insect Preparator Daisy Tainton for Observatory’s popular Anthropomorphic Insect Shadowbox Workshop. In this class, students will work with Rhinoceros beetles: nature’s tiny giants. Each student will learn to make–and leave with their own!–shadowbox dioramas featuring carefully positioned beetles doing nearly anything you can imagine. Beetles and shadowboxes are provided, and an assortment of miniature furniture, foods, and other props will be available to decorate your habitat. Students need bring nothing, though are encouraged to bring along dollhouse props if they have a particular vision for their final piece; 1:12 scale work best.

BEETLES WILL BE PROVIDED. Each student receives one beetle approximately 2-3 inches tall when posed vertically.

Daisy Tainton was formerly Senior Insect Preparator at the American Museum of Natural History, and has been working with insects professionally for several years. Eventually her fascination with insects and  love of Japanese miniature food items naturally came together, resulting in cute and ridiculous museum-inspired yet utterly unrealistic dioramas. Beetles at the dentist? Beetles eating pie and knitting sweaters? Even beetles on the toilet? Why not?


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Naturalistic Squirrel Taxidermy Class with Divya Anantharaman***** This is a 2 part class
Dates: Sunday, May 12 AND Sunday, May 19
Time: 12-3 PM
Admission: $250
Advance Tickets Required; Click here to purchase
Email divya.does.taxidermy at gmail dot com with questions or to be put on wait list
Class limit: 5
This class is part of the Morbid Anatomy Art Academy

In this intimate, hands-on class (limited to only five students), we will study the nutty ways of the squirrel! Students will create a fully-finished classic squirrel mount in a natural sitting position. Students will learn everything involved in producing a finished mount - from initial preparation, hygiene and sanitary measures, to proper technique and dry preservation. The class will teach how to use and modify a pre-made form to suit the nuances of each unique animal. The use of anatomical study, reference photos, and detailed observation will also be reviewed as important tools in recreating the natural poses and expressions that magically reanimate a specimen. A selection of natural props will be provided, however, students are welcome to bring their own bases and accessories if something specific is desired. All other supplies will be provided for use in class.
This class is now split in two sessions. Each student will leave class with a fully-finished piece, and the knowledge to create their own pieces in the future.

Also, some technical notes:

  • We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.
  • Everyone will be provided with gloves.
  • All animals are disease free.
  • Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone
  • All animals were already dead, nothing was killed for this class.
  • Please do not bring any dead animals with you to the class.

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Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class with Divya Anantharaman
Date: Saturday, May 18
Time: 1-5 PM
Admission: $110
***Please note: This class will be held offsite at Acme Studio : 63 N. 3rd Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Advance Tickets Required; Click here to purchase
Email divya.does.taxidermy at gmail dot com with questions or to be put on wait list
Class limit: 10
This class is part of the Morbid Anatomy Art Academy

Anthropomorphic taxidermy--in which taxidermied animals are posed into human attitudes and poses--was an artform made famous by Victorian taxidermist and museologist Wal
ter Potter. In this class, students will learn to create--from start to finish--anthropomorphic mice inspired by the charming and imaginative work of Mr. Potter and his ilk. With the creative use of props and some artful styling, you will find that your mouse can take nearly whatever form you desire, from a bespectacled, whiskey swilling, top hat tipping mouse to a rodent mermaid queen of the burlesque world.

In this class, Divya Anantharaman--who learned her craft under the tutelage of famed Observatory instructor Sue Jeiven--will teach students everything involved in the production of a fully finished mount, including initial preparation, hygiene and sanitary measures, fleshing, tail stripping, and dry preservation. Once properly preserved, the mice will be posed and outfitted as the student desires. Although a broad selection of props and accessories will be provided by the instructor, students are also strongly encouraged to bring their own accessories and bases; all other materials will supplied. Each student will leave class with a fully finished piece, and the knowledge to create their own pieces in the future.

Also, some technical notes:

  • We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.
  • Everyone will be provided with gloves.
  • All animals are disease free.
  • Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone
  • All animals were already dead, nothing was killed for this class.
  • Please do not bring any dead animals with you to the class.

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Dance of Death by Hans Holbein: A Linocut Workshop with Classically Trained Artist Lado Pochkua 
Dates: Tuesdays May 20, May 27 and June 4
Time: 7 - 10 PM
Admission: $60
***MUST RSVP to morbidanatomylibrary [at] gmail.com
This class is part of The Morbid Anatomy Art Academy

The "dance of death" or "danse macabre" was a "medieval allegorical concept of the all-conquering and equalizing power of death, expressed in the drama, poetry, music, and visual arts of western Europe, mainly in the late Middle Ages. It is a literary or pictorial representation of a procession or dance of both living and dead figures, the living arranged in order of their rank, from pope and emperor to child, clerk, and hermit, and the dead leading them to the grave." (Encyclopedia Britannica). One of the best known expressions of this genre are a series of forty-two wood cuts by Hans Holbien published in 1538 under the title "Dance of Death."

In this class, students will learn the techniques of woodcuts and linocuts by creating a copy of one of Hans Holbein’s prints from the Dance of Death series. The class will follow the entire process from beginning to end: drafting a copy of the image, either a fragment or whole; transfer of the image to a linoleum block; cutting the image; printing the image on paper. Students will leave class with their own finished Dance of Death linocut and the skills to produce their own pieces in the future.

  • Lesson 1: creating a copy of either a fragment or full image from the series on paper. The copy can either be freehand and stylized, or students can use a grid to copy more exactly.
  • Lesson 2: transfer the drawing to linoleum.
  • Lesson 3: correction of image, and beginning to cut the image.
  • Lesson 4: finalizing the cut image.
  • Lesson 5: Printing the image. Students will be able to use several colors and backgrounds to create the final image.

REQUIRED MATERIALS

  • A block of linoleum: Blick Battleship Gray Linoleum, mounted or unmounted (details here)

OR

  • Speedball Speedy-carve blocks, pink only (details here) Size: 9x12 or 8x10.

AND

  • Linocutter set: Blick Lino Cutter Set (details here)Water soluble printing inks
  • Printing paper
  • Tracing paper
  • Pencils
  • Black markers (fine point)

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Lado Pochkhua was born in Sukhumi, Georgia in 1970. He received his MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Tbilisi State Art Academy in Georgia in 2001. He currently divides his time between New York and Tbilisi, Georgia.

Image: Image: “Melior est mors quam vita” to the aged woman who crawls gravewards with her bone rosary while Death makes music in the van." From Hans Holbein's "Dance of Death."
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Date: Sunday, June 2
Time: 12-4 PM
Admission: $75
***Must pre-order tickets here: http://victorianmourningjewelry.bpt.me
This class is part of The Morbid Anatomy Art Academy
Hair jewelry was an enormously popular form of commemorative art that began in the late 17th century and reached its zenith during the Victorian Era. Hair, either of someone living or deceased, was encased in metal lockets or woven to enshrine the human relic of a loved one. This class will explore a modern take on the genre.
The technique of "palette working" or arranging hair in artful swoops and curls will be explored and a variety of ribbons, beads, wire and imagery of mourning iconography will be supplied for potential inclusion. A living or deceased person or pet may be commemorated in this manner.
Students are requested to bring with them to class their own hair, fur, or feathers; all other necessary materials will be supplied. Hair can be self-cut, sourced from barber shops or hair salons (who are usually happy to provide you with swept up hair), from beauty supply shops (hair is sold as extensions), or from wig suppliers. Students will leave class with their own piece of hair jewelry and the knowledge to create future projects.

Karen Bachmann is a fine jeweler with over 25 years experience, including several years on staff as a master jeweler at Tiffany and Co. She is a Professor in the Jewelry Design Dept at Fashion Institute of Technology as well as the School of Art and Design at Pratt Institute. She has recently completed her MA in Art History at SUNY Purchase with a thesis entitled Hairy Secrets:... In her downtime she enjoys collecting biological
specimens, amateur taxidermy and punk rock. 
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Morbid Curiosity, or Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck: Why We Can't Look AwayAn Illustrated Lecture and Book Signing with author Eric G. Wilson
Date: Thursday, June 6
Time: 8:00
Admission: $5
Produced by Morbid Anatomy

"Why can’t we look away? Whether we admit it or not, we’re fascinated by evil. Dark fantasies, morbid curiosities, Schadenfreude: As conventional wisdom has it, these are the symptoms of our wicked side, and we succumb to them at our own peril. But we’re still compelled to look whenever we pass a grisly accident on the highway, and there’s no slaking our thirst for gory entertainments like horror movies and police procedurals. What makes these spectacles so irresistible? Author Eric G. Wilson attempts to discover the source of our morbid fascinations, drawing on the findings of biologists, sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers, theologians, and artists. A professor of English with a penchant for Poe as well as a lifelong student of the macabre, Wilson believes there’s something nourishing in darkness. He believes that to repress death is to lose the feeling of life, and that a closeness to death discloses our most fertile energies.

Eric G Wilson is Thomas H. Pritchard Professor of English at Wake Forest University and author of several books that explore the power of life's darker sides, including Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck: Why We Can't Look Away; Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy; and The Mercy of Eternity: A Memoir of Depression and Grace. 

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Morbid Anatomy Presents at London's Last Tuesday Society this June and July
A series of London-based events, workshops, special tours, screenings and spectacles surveying the interstices of art and medicine, death and culture curated by Observatory's Morbid Anatomy
Date: June 2 - July 25
Time: Variable, but most lectures begin at 7 PM
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map here) unless otherwise specified

The series will feature Morbid Anatomy's signature mix of museum professionals, professors, librarians, artists, rogue scholars, and autodidacts--many flown in direct from Morbid Anatomy's base in Brooklyn, New York--to elucidate on a wide array of topics including (but not limited to!) The Neapolitan Cult of the Dead; "human zoos;" "speaking reliquaries;" why music drives women mad; eccentric folk medicine collections; Santa Muerte (or "Saint Death); dissection and masturbation; dissection and magic; Victorian memorial hair jewelry; the "hot nurse" in popular fiction; The Danse Macabre; "a cinematic survey of The Vampires of London;" and anatomical waxworks and death.

There will be also two special backstage tours: one of the legendary Blythe House, home of the vast and incredible collection of Henry Wellcome and the other of the Natural History Museum's zoological collection, featuring the famously gorgeous Blaschka invertebrate glass model collection; a special magic lantern show featuring "the weirdest, most inappropriate and completely baffling examples of lantern imagery" conjured by collector and scholar Professor Heard, author of Phantasmagoria- The Secret Life of the Magic Lantern; a screening of rare short films from the BFI National Archive documenting folk music, dance, customs and sport; and workshops in the creation of Victorian hair work, lifelike wax wounds, and bat skeletons in glass domes.

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Wax Wound Workshop with medical artist Eleanor Crook
Sunday, June 2, 2013 at 1:00 - 5:00 PM
More here

Let acclaimed sculptor Eleanor Crook guide you in creating your very own wax wound. Crook has lent her experience to professionals ranging from forensic law enforcement officers to plastic surgeons, so is well placed to help you make a horrendously lifelike scar, boil or blister.
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Art, Wax, Death and Anatomy : Illustrated lecture with art historian Roberta Ballestriero
Monday, June 3, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

Wax modelling, or ceroplastics, is of ancient origin but was revived in 14th century Italy with the cult of Catholic votive objects, or ex votos.  Art Historian Roberta Ballestriero will discuss the art and history of wax modeling sacred and profane; she will also showcase many of its greatest masterworks.
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Music Driving Women Mad: The History of Medical Fears of its Effects on Female Bodies and Minds: Illustrated lecture with Dr. James Kennaway
Tuesday, June 4, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

Over the past few centuries, countless physicians and writers have asserted that music could cause very serious medical problems for the 'weaker sex'. Not only could it bring on symptoms of nervousness and hysteria, it could also cause infertility, nymphomania and even something called 'melosexualism'. This talk will give an outline of this strange debate, using the raciest stories to be found in gynaecological textb
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Solitary vice? Sex and Dissection in Georgian London With Dr Simon Chaplin
Wednesday, June 5, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

In this lavishly illustrated lecture, Simon Chaplin explores the sexual undertones of the anatomy schools of Georgian London, in which students dissected grave-robbed bodies in the back-rooms of their teachers' houses, while their masters explored new strategies for presenting their work to polite audiences through museums and lectures.
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Heartthrobs of the Human Zoo: Ethnographic Exhibitions and Captive Celebrities of Turn of the Century America: An Illustrated Lecture with Betsy Bradley
Thursday, June 6, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

From ransomed Congolese pygmies to winsome Eskimo babies, the American world's fairs and patriotic expositions  present history with a number of troubling ethnographic celebrities, and their stories offer a rare glimpse inside the psychology and culture of imperial America at the turn of a new century.
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The Astounding Collection of Henry Wellcome: Blythe House Backstage Tour w
ith Selina Hurley, Assistant Curator of Medicine, The Science Museum
Friday, June 7, 2013 at 3:00pm
More here

Henry Wellcome (1853 - 1936)----early pharmaceutical magnate and man behind the Wellcome Trust, Collection, and Library--was the William Randolph Hearst of the medical collecting world. That collection, possibly the finest medical collection in the world, now resides in Blythe House, kept in trust by The Science Museum on permanent loan from the Wellcome Trust. Today, a lucky fifteen people will get a rare chance to see this collection, featuring many artifacts of which have never before been on public view, in this backstage tour led Selina Hurley, Assistant Curator of Medicine at The Science Museum.
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Neapolitan Cult of the Dead with Chiara Ambrosio
Monday, June 10, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

In tonight's illustrated lecture, Italian artist and filmmaker Chiara Ambrosio will elucidate this curious and fascinating "Neapolitan Cult of the Dead" and situate it within a the rich death culture and storied history of Naples.
  
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A Vile Vaudeville of Gothic Attractions: Illustrated lecture by Mervyn Heard, author of Phantasmagoria- The Secret Life of the Magic Lantern
Tuesday, June 11, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

An illustrated talk in which writer and showman 'Professor' Mervyn Heard waxes scattergun- sentimental over some of the more bizarre, live theatrical experiences of the 18th, 19th and early 20th century - from the various ghastly manifestations of the phantasmagoria to performing hangmen, self-crucifiers and starving brides.

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Professor Heard's Most Extraordinary Magic Lantern Show with Mervyn Heard
Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

Professor Heard is well known to patrons of the Last Tuesday Lecture programme for his sell-out magic lantern entertainments. In this latest assault on the eye he summons up some of the weirdest, most inappropriate and completely baffling examples of lantern imagery, lantern stories and optical effects by special request of Morbid Anatomy.

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"Speaking Reliquaries" and Christian Death Rituals: Part One of "Hairy Secrets" Series With Karen Bachmann
Thursday, June 13, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

3-part series on human relics and Victorian mourning jewelry--master jeweler and art historian Karen Bachmann will focus on what are termed "speaking" reliquaries: the often elaborate containers which house the preserved body parts--or relics--of saints and martyrs with shapes which reflect that of the body-part contained within.

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Hair Art Workshop Class: The Victorian Art of Hair Jewellery With Karen Bachmann
Friday, June 14, 2013 at 1:00pm
More here

Hair jewellery was an enormously popular form of commemorative art that began in the late 17th century and reached its zenith during the Victorian Era. Hair, either of someone living or deceased, was encased in metal lockers or woven to enshrine the human relic of a loved one. This class will explore a modern take on the genre.

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The History of the Memento Mori and Death's Head Iconography: Part Two of "Hairy Secrets" Series Illustrated lecture with Art Historian and Master Jeweler Karen Bachmann
Friday, June 14, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

In tonight's lecture--the second in a 3-part series on human relics and Victorian mourning jewelry--master jeweler and art historian Karen Bachmann will explore the development of the memento mori,objects whose very raison d'être is to remind the beholder that they, too, will die.

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Hair Art Workshop Class: The Victorian Art of Hair Jewellery With Karen Bachmann
Saturday, June 15, 2013 at 1:00pm (More here)
Sunday, June 16, 2013 at 1:00pm (More here)

Hair jewellery was an enormously popular form of commemorative art that began in the late 17th century and reached its zenith during the Victorian Era. Hair, either of someone living or deceased, was encased in metal lockers or woven to enshrine the human relic of a loved one. This class will explore a modern take on the genre.

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The Victorian Love Affair with Death and the Art of Mourning Hair Jewelry: Illustrated lecture with Art Historian and Master Jeweler Karen Bachmann
Monday, June 17, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

The Victorians had a love affair with death which they expressed in a variety of ways, both intensely sentimental and macabre. Tonight's lecture-the last in a 3-part series on human relics and Victorian mourning jewelry-will take as its focus the apex of the phenomenon of hair jewelry fashion in the Victorian Era as an expression of this passion.

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Dissection and Magic with Constanza Isaza Martinez
Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

This lecture examines images of human corpses in Early Modern European art in relation to two specific themes: the practice of 'witchcraft' or 'magic'; and the emergent medical profession, particularly anatomical dissection.
  
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Future Death. Future Dead Bodies. Future Cemeteries Illustrated lecture by Dr. John Troyer, Deputy Director of the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath
Thursday, June 20, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

Dr. John Troyer, from the Centre for Death & Society, University of Bath, will discuss three kinds of postmortem futures: Future Death, Future Dead Bodies, and Future Cemeteries. Central to these Futures is the human corpse and its use in new forms of body disposal technology, digital technology platforms, and definitions of death.

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‘She Healed Their Bodies With Her White Hot Passions’: The Role of the Nurse in Romantic Fiction with Natasha McEnroe Illustrated lecture Natasha McEnroe, Director of the Florence Nightingale Museum
Sunday, June 23, 2013 at 7:00pm
https://www.facebook.com/events/478987722156193/

Victorian portrayals of the nurse show either a drunken and dishonest old woman or an angelic and devoted being, which changes to a 20th-century caricature just as pervasive - that of the 'sexy nurse'. In this talk, Natasha McEnroe will explore the links between the enforced intimacy of the sickroom and the handling of bodies for more recreational reasons.

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Face lift or face reconstruction? Redesigning the Museum Vrolik, Amsterdam's anatomical museum An illustrated lecture with Dr. Laurens de Rooy, curator of the Museum Vrolik in Amsterdam
Monday, June 24, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

Counting more than five thousand preparations and specimens, the Museum Vrolikianum, the private collection of father Gerard and his son Willem Vrolik w
as an amazing object of interest one hundred and fifty years ago. In the 1840s and 50s this museum, established in Gerard's stately mansion on the river Amstel, grew into a famous collection that attracted admiring scientists from both the Netherlands and abroad. In this talk, Museum Vrolik curator Dr Laurens de Rooy will take you on a guided tour of the new museum, and give an overview of all the other aspects of the 'new' Museum Vrolik.

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The Walking Dead in 1803: An Illustrated Lecture with Phil Loring, Curator of Psychology at the Science Museum in London
Tuesday, June 25, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

A visiting Italian startled Londoners at the turn of the 19th century by making decapitated animals and executed men open their eyes and move around, as if on the verge of being restored to life. This was not magic but the power of electricity from the newly invented Galvanic trough, or battery. This talk will discuss a variety of historical instruments from the Science Museum's collections that figured in these re-animation experiments, including the apparatus used by Galvani himself in his laboratory in Bologna.
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The Influencing Machine: James Tilly Matthews and the Air Loom with Mike Jay
Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

Confined in Bedlam in 1797 as an incurable lunatic, James Tilly Matthews' case is one of the most bizarre in the annals of psychiatry. He was the first person to insist that his mind was being controlled by a machine: the Air Loom, a terrifying secret weapon whose mesmeric rays and mysterious gases were brainwashing politicians and plunging Europe into revolution, terror and war. But Matthews' case was even stranger than his doctors realised: many of the incredible conspiracies in which he claimed to be involved were entirely real.

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A Waxen France: Madame Tussaud’s Representations of the French: Illustrated Lecture by Pamela Pilbeam Emeritus Professor of French History, Royal Holloway, University of London and author of Madame Tussaud and the History of Waxworks
Thursday, June 27, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

Madame Tussaud's presentation of French politics and history did much to inform and influence the popular perception of France among the British. This lecture will explore that view and how it changed during the nineteenth century.

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Backstage Tour of the Zoological Collection of the Natural History Museum with Miranda Lowe
Friday, June 28, 2013 at 3:00pm
More here

Today, ten lucky people will get to join Miranda Lowe, Collections Manager of the Aquatic Invertebrates Division, for a special backstage tour of The Natural History Museum of London. The tour will showcase the zoological spirit collections in the Darwin Centre, some of Darwin's barnacles and the famed collection of glass marine invertebrate models crafted by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka in the 19th and early 20th century.
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Bat in Glass Dome Workshop: Part of DIY Wunderkammer Series With Wilder Duncan (formerly of Evolution Store, Soho) and Laetitia Barbier, head librarian at The Morbid Anatomy Library
Saturday, June 29, 2013 at 1:00pm (more here)
Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 1:00pm (more here)

In this class, students will learn how to create an osteological preparation of a bat in the fashion of 19th century zoological displays. A bat skeleton, a glass dome, branches, glue, tools, and all necessary materials will be provided for each student.  The classes will focus on teaching ancient methods of specimen preparation that link science with art: students will create compositions involving natural elements and, according to their taste, will compose a traditional Victorian environment or a modern display.
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The Coming of Age of the Danse Macabre on the Verge of the Industrial Age with Alexander L. Bieri Illustrated lecture with Alexander L. Bieri
Tuesday, July 9, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

The lecture not only discusses Schellenberg's danse macabre in detail, but also gives an insight into the current fascination with vanitas and its depictions, especially focusing on the artistic exploitation of the theme and takes into consideration the history of anatomical dissection and preparation.
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"Viva la Muerte: The Mushrooming Cult of Saint Death" Illustrated lecture and book signing with Andrew Chesnut
Wednesday, July 10, 2013 at 7:00pm
More here

The worship of Santa Muerte, a psuedo Catholic saint which takes the form of a personified and clothed lady death, is on the rise and increasingly controversial in Mexico and the United States. Literally translating to "Holy Death" or "Saint Death," the worship of Santa Muerte-like Day of the Dead-is a popular form of religious expression rooted in a rich syncretism of the beliefs of the native Latin Americans and the colonizing Spanish Catholics.
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From Blue Beads to Hair Sandwiches: Edward Lovett and London's Folk Medicine: An Illustrated lecture with Ross MacFarlane, Research Engagement Officer in the Wellcome Library
Monday, July 15, 2013 at 7:00pm
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During his life Edward Lovett (1852-1933) amassed one of the largest collections of objects pertaining to 'folk medicine' in the British Isles.  Lovett particularly focused his attention on objects derived from contemporary, working class Londoners, believing that the amulets, charms and mascots he collected - and which were still being used in 20th century London - were 'survivals' of antiquated, rural practices.
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The Vampires of London: A Cinematic Survey with William Fowler (BFI) and Mark Pilkington (Strange Attractor)
Thursday, July 18, 2013 at 7:00pm
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This heavily illustrated presentation and film clip selection explores London's Highgate Cemetery as a locus of horror in the 1960s and 1970s cinema, from mondo and exploitation to classic Hammer horror.
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"Here's a Health to the Barley Mow: a Century of Folk Customs and Ancient Rural Games" Screenings of Short Films from the BFI Folk Film Archives with William Fowler
Wednesday, July 24, 2013 at 7:00pm
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Tonight, the British Film Institute's William Fowler will present a number of rare and beautiful short films from the BFI National Archive and Regional Film Archives showing some of our rich traditions of folk music, dance, customs and sport. Highlights include the alcoholic folk musical Here's a Health to the Barley Mow (1955), Doc Rowe's speedy sword dancing film and the Padstow Mayday celebration Oss Oss Wee Oss (Alan Lomax/Peter Kennedy 1953).
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Of Satyrs, Horses and Camels: Natural History in the Imaginative Mode: illustrated lecture by Daniel Margócsy, Hunter College, New York
Thursday, July 25, 2013 at 7:00pm
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From
its beginnings, science was (and still is) an imaginative and speculative enterprise, just like the arts. This talk traces the exchange of visual information between the major artists of the Renaissance and the leading natural historians of the scientific revolution. It shows how painters' and printmakers' fictitious images of unicorns, camels and monkfish came to populate the botanical and zoological encyclopedias of early modern Europe.

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You can find out more about all events here.

Source:
http://morbidanatomy.blogspot.com/2013/04/rest-in-pieces-book-party-with-bess.html

Nikita Review: Can’t Save Everyone

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Ever since Nikita season 3 left the Dirty Thirty behind and shifted the focus to Amanda's mission, it has been a non-stop, unpredictable emotional ride.

On "Broken Home," Division imploded from the mutiny, while the captive Nikita learned about Amanda's past through mind manipulation. Both were intense situations that ended in shocking and unexpected ways. While one happened in the past and the other in the present, both have far-reaching consequences.

Stopping Amanda

Amanda's mission to get Nikita this season has been confusing at times, but that fits with her character. What is it that Amanda really wants? She says that she wants to teach both Nikita and Alex lessons, but it's becoming more clear that Amanda doesn't necessarily know her end game. At this point of her plan, she wanted Nikita to learn the truth about her past and a tragic one it was.

"You can't save everyone." was the theme of the hour and Nikita's lesson of the day. While re-living Amanda's past, Nikita was determined save Helen from her father's torture and experiments. Amanda also continually promised to save Helen, but year after year never followed through on the promise. She couldn't overcome her father's control. It all came to a tragic end when Helen killed her father and her sister. After years of torture, Helen could only save herself and with that the new Amanda was born.

Amanda (Helen) suffered at the hands of her father and ended up following in his footsteps by using the same techniques on Division recruits. As her father made her, she made Nikita, who made Alex. Amanda's understanding of how the three of them are connected finally makes sense, while perhaps deluded. Now that Nikita knows the truth, will that alter her opinion of Amanda? Will she want to save her or kill her?

Nikita believes and Amanda implied that something else was done to Nikita's brain while she was unconscious. Did Amanda plant other thoughts in her head? For Nikita's sake, I hope it's not nearly has harmful as what Amanda did to Owen and Alex.

While Nikita took a trip down Amanda's memory lane, Alex was learning the same lesson that "You can't save everyone" at Division. Alex's self-destruction due to the implanted emotions over the loss of Larissa and the brothel girls has been difficult to watch. Not even Sean could get through to her. Rachel may have taken over leadership of the mutiny, it was Alex that spurred the actions that lead to a loss of life.

Alex's intentions to free everyone ended up including the destruction of Shadow Walker making her friend, Birkhoff, a target. Unlike the first time Birkhoff had to kill someone, he had no hesitation here. He had to protect himself, Division, and do whatever he could to save the mutineers from themselves.

While most of the Division agents were able to escape, others died and in the end, Alex lost the person who meant the most to her. Sean's death was tragic and happened so quickly. One moment he seemed fine and the next moment he was dead from internal bleeding. In the end, will Alex finally realize that Amanda did mess with her head? After everything Alex has been through in her life and her quest to save everyone, the loss of Sean may be more than she can take.

Alex may have lost Sean, but she's not responsible for his death. The blame belongs entirely to Amanda. The evil mind manipulator has taken too much from them all. She has caused unbelievable pain on all of the those remaining at Division. Nikita, Michael, Alex, Birkhoff, and Ryan should shift their focus to finally taking her out, so she can't torment anyone else. 

Source:
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2013/04/nikita-review-broken-home/

Doctor Who Review: Always

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They are really trying to pile on the mystery within the stories of Doctor Who Season 7 and "Hide" was no exception. It was a really fun ride if you're a fan of ghost stories, and I admit they've always been a favorite of mine.

At first it appeared as if they just swung the TARDIS by the 1970s so we could enjoy the groovy decor and ponder why a hot professor would have purchased a lonely mansion on the moors, while being attended to by an assistant whose charms seemed to be lost on him. Tsk tsk tsk. We should all know better than that by now!

Doctor Who Season 7 Scene

The setup to discover just what the ghost was and seeing cold rooms and The Doctor and Clara have frightened moments was just pure entertainment. It was also a lot more heart pounding, since I am actually afraid of things that go bump in the night, than the attempt they made with Skaldak to scare me in "Cold War" last week. Give me a haunted manor vs a claustrophobic submarine and the former wins every time.

I loved Clara's reaction to witnessing the birth and the death of earth before eyes within the TARDIS. It was a really interesting sideline to the ghost story of the Woman in the Well. It wasn't that they were there to just solve a story and move on, but to give Clara an even larger impression of being a part of The Doctor's world. It was beyond her capacity to understand. She couldn't grasp that The Doctor could see in the flash of an eye anyone and everyone....Always. She realized that everyone was, at some point, dead to him. They were all ghosts. She even said, "To you, we're all ghosts." To which he replied, "No, you're the only mystery worth solving."

Again the question of Clara being a mystery to The Doctor, which seems to be the running theme throughout the second half of Series 7 and heading into the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who. Last week during "Cold War" commenters wondered if Clara singing "Hungry Like the Wolf" was another link to her and Rose. It's certain that The Doctor thinks Clara is liked to something or someone, but whether it's Rose remains to be seen.

Once the mystery of the Woman in the Well was solved as a person lost in a parallel dimension and The Doctor had to fight his way past some ugly tree branch looking crawfish like creature to get back to their dimension, it seemed everything was complete. The survivor couldn't go back to her own time because it would break some space timey wimey rule, but The Doctor had sussed it out that she was actually the great (many greats) granddaughter of the Professor and Emma, and that's why the connection was so strong between she and Emma. 

Thematically, love as all through the episode and it wasn't just the professor and Emma at play. The Doctor had his arm around Clara as he realized that the creature he encountered in the other dimension wasn't trying to hurt him, but to hitch a ride to back to his love:

The Doctor: Since then they've been yearning for each other across time and space, across dimensions. This isn't a ghost story. This is a love story. Sorry. | permalink

Which brought up the theory that The Doctor believes he and Clara have a special connection with which he is being just too damned cautious with us, his loving audience. You see, he didn't take the case at the Caliburn House to look into the ghost at all, but to get a chance for Emma to meet Clara so she could "read" her for him. Unless Emma was being coy and covering up a story she wished for him to find on his own, I don't believe she found anything out of the ordinary with Clara at all. After all she went through to finally get through to her own love, she would probably have told him, if only to keep Clara from getting hurt.

So to the naked eye of a powerful psychic, there is nothing undue about Clara Oswald. She's a little more scared than she lets on. But The Doctor seems so sure she is someone that he has been searching for through many dimensions. Something tells me she predates Rose, River Song and anyone we have ever known about. Perhaps a piece of her has been within all of these souls, but is culminating in Clara, across space and time just in time for the 50th anniversary.

Wouldn't that be a hoot?

Source:
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2013/04/doctor-who-review-hide/

Vegas Review: Hoping for More

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When Vegas is on a roll, it can be a heck of a good time and that was the case for "Scoundrels"

Dixon's plight brought out the best and worst in everyone and poor Yvonne was left to stand and watch as Violet once again ruined her night.

Dixon's Under Arrest

it seemed as though just as things started to come together for Dixon and Yvonne, Violet had to come in and upset their chemistry.  I felt for Yvonne. It's lousy when the guy you like keeps walking off every time the blonde starlet looks twice at him.  

Dixon should have told his father everything that happened in Hollywood the moment Violet accused him of assault so I was happy when Yvonne finally came clean.  Even stupider was when he lied about going to the Savoy that night.  Of course this was 1960, not 2013 when every move we make is captured on video.  If Silver hadn't had cameras waiting to take that photo, perhaps no one would have been the wiser.

My favorite consequence of the entire affair was the interaction between Jack and Mia.  That was the most open she's been towards Jack since the death of her father.  When she offered to help with Dixon, the look of hope on Jack's face was somewhere between heartbreaking and adorable.  

When Mia offered to take things a step further and bring the weight of Chicago down on Silver I had to smile.  The girl knows how to get things done.  

Speaking of which, Mia and Lena were the perfect combination of vinegar and honey.  Watching these two work together is a lot of fun. I hope we get to see more.

But back to Dixon.  Ralph never lost faith in his son and he knew when it was time to protect him, even from his friends.  When Katherine had him arrested, Ralph looked more hurt than angry. 

Katherine certainly proved she had his back during the standoff with Silver's armed security when she told the L.A. policeman in this Vegas quote…

 You can all shoot each other and the ones that die die, and the ones that live can go to prison because that's what happens when you kill someone in front of a prosecutor. | permalink

In the end, I did feel for Violet.  I have no doubt Silver dropped her contract and Violet Mills will become Mary Louise once again, except now with a bruised face and a split lip. Not the Hollywood ending she was hoping for. 

Savino's role was small but fun as the fate of Mr. Purcell took on a Weekend at Bernie's turn. Otis was lucky. They could have just as easily left his dead body in that hole with Purcell as his live one.  At least this way he had the chance to dig his way out.

All in all this was probably one of the most fun episode of Vegas we've seen so far.  Here's to hoping the final three continue the trend. 

Source:
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2013/04/vegas-review-hoping-for-more/

Grimm Review: One Memory At A Time

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"Ring of Fire" keeps the serial elements to a minimum for Grimm Season 2.

With Hank and Rosalee taking a break from the canvas, the most unlikely of trios formed to keep Portland safe and weird: Renard, Monroe, and Nick.

Overwhelming Memories

While serial elements accomplish two things: the first being it keeps reviews and the analysis fresh, and the second being is I enjoy storytelling that moves at a faster pace. In the course of a 22-episode season, however, it’s sometimes refreshing to take a small step away from season long plots to just have an enjoyable time with a show and characters you love.

It was basically like guys night out, but in typical Grimm fashion.

The serial elements that are here focused entirely on Adalind and Juliette. Juliette’s memories are both sweet and annoying. By taking one memory at a time we get to see Nick and Juliette back when things are good for them. This flashback brings me back to a time when I actually enjoyed her character, yet the way Juliette gets to this point is contrived.

The memories of Nick are overwhelming her, and that’s not the problem. The biggest problem is Juliette needs to first break things off with Nick and then seek guidance with Spiritual Grandma… who tells her the painfully obvious of taking one memory at a time.

The legitimate reasons why Juliette needs to break up with Nick and be told the painfully obvious are few and far between, and it’s continually damaging to her character. Build up is one thing, but I don’t need painful, six month long ‘90s-esque soap opera storyline stalls to bring Juliette to just about the same point in time to where she was last season.

Adalind’s story focuses on Frau Pech and how much she can get for her royal baby. Adalind, much like Juliette, is focusing on her past, and she’s willing to give up her baby to the highest bidder so long as they can find a way to get her Hexenbiest powers back. It makes me wonder, since her baby is predominantly Hexenbiest if Adalind is coming up to a crossroad. The baby could be the answer to having a fresh set of powers, but at what cost to the baby?

A Few More Thoughts:

  • NBC has cancelled Ready for Love, and Grimm will be heading to Tuesdays at 10 starting April 30th for the rest of the season.
  • More Bud scenes please.
  • “El Diablo” is unlike anything we’ve seen even in Grimm’s world. 

Source:
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2013/04/grimm-review-one-memory-at-a-time/