Today’s agenda included a field trip to the RISD Nature Lab, a very cool Providence resource that seems to be essentially a laboratory / natural history museum designed for use by artists. It’s the kind of place with stuffed animal heads on the wall:
or, better yet:
I was there to chaperon three natural history books from our collections that were going under the microscope:
and closer:
The purpose of this biblio-magnification is a forthcoming creation by artist (and Special Collections volunteer) Amanda Thackray. Here’s Amanda at the microscope:
And here’s a view of a page under the lens:
Even from this distance it’s possible to see the detail of the paper fibers.
Look for future blog posts once the project is complete.
And here, for no particular reason, is a shot of the skeletons at the Nature Lab:
And a giant snake skin above bookshelves with light boxes (by Amanda, as it turns out):
