4/25/2010
4:30 - 6:30 pm
Education Center, 812 Green Avenue, Orange
This film explores the life and works of the 18th-century English naturalist and artist Mark Catesby, whose book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands is considered one of the greatest accomplishments in art and science relative to North America. Following the screening, light refreshments at the Museum and viewing of exhibition Blooms: Floral Art in the Stark Collections. Earth Week event. Free.
One hundred years before John James Audubon, Catesby painted detailed watercolors of flora and fauna and produced the first work of natural history to portray birds in their natural plant habitats. Filmed in South Carolina, this fifty-three minute documentary by Cynthia Neal and David Elliot combines wildlife footage with examples of Catesby’s art.
Director of the Stark Museum of Art Sarah Boehme will give an introduction prior to the screening and afterwards will lead a brief discussion on Catesby’s relationship to environmental concerns. After the film and discussion, participants will go to the Museum for light refreshments and a visit to the exhibition Blooms: Floral Art in the Stark Collections, which features a 1771 volume of Mark Catesby’s The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. Additional Catesby engravings will be viewed in the Art and Nature gallery.
The Stark Museum of Art joins museums across the nation in developing programming as part of the Earth Day Network. As stated by the president of the American Association of Museums, Ford W. Bell, "Museums, as essential contributors to our educational infrastructure, play a critical role in engaging the public in environmental issues, with a unique ability to connect all Americans to the great 21st century challenge of ensuring a sustainable planet for generations to come.”
Mark Catesby (c. 1682-1749)
The Mock-bird
1731, engraving on paper, hand-colored
In The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, Volume 1
Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas, 11.18.2.A
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