As part of an exciting partnership with the Harvard Art Museums,
students in the Visual and Performing Arts Department at CRLS designed
and built fantastic NEVER BEFORE SEEN creatures for a project called
“Amazing Creatures”. Four CRLS classrooms (Ceramics, Theatrical Design,
Robotics, and Dance) each designed and created a creature. The week
before Halloween, the Amazing Creatures visited two elementary
schools—the Fletcher Maynard and the Morse—where students explored some
of the differences between direct and indirect observation. Some
students at the school only caught a glimpse of the creatures, or heard
about them second-hand. Others had a more focused encounter during which
they captured their observations through writing and drawing.
CRLS media students documented the project and also conducted “man on
the street” interviews at the elementary schools. These are now airing
on CEATV 98. The project culminated with an exhibit curated by another
group of CRLS students and teachers, with assistance from the staff of
the Harvard Art Museums. The exhibition opened November 17 at the CRLS
library and featured the creatures themselves, students’ drawing and
writings, and the video.
The “Amazing Creatures” Project was in conjunction with the Harvard Art Museums exhibition, Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge
in Early Modern Europe, which explored how artists and scientists
worked together to develop and communicate knowledge about the Natural
World. Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe and
the related public programs, including Amazing Creatures, were
generously supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The project and the exhibition explored the question “What do know
and how do we know it?” They highlighted the complexity of observation
and its role in the pursuit of knowledge. A key image in preparing to
design the creatures was Durer’s famous 16th century print of a
rhinoceros. Even though the 1515 print was the authoritative image of
the first rhinoceros seen in Europe in nearly 1300, the artist never
actually saw the rhino! His image is based on someone else’s description
and drawings. Yet in the sixteenth century, Durer’s image was still
considered “first hand observation.” As part of the project all
participating students had the opportunity to visit the exhibition at
the Harvard Art Museums and the Harvard Museum of Natural History.