By Max Smith
Murphy News Service

With spring just around the corner, artists who take inspiration from nature will be streaming outdoors. But for those who prefer to stay indoors, the University of Minnesota campus may have something to offer.

The Bell Museum of Natural History, located on the corner of University Avenue and 17th Avenue, hosts a Sketch Night on the first Thursdays of months during the school year where artists are invited to come and draw the items on display. Each event has a theme, with last Thursday’s theme being taxidermy.

Jennifer Menken, an employee of the Bell Museum, runs Sketch Nights and coordinates the Touch and See Room, where the event is held. It’s a large open area with items on display that museum guests can interact with any time. But those who come on Sketch Nights are treated to even more.

“For Sketch Night, we pull out stuff that’s special for that evening,” Menken said. “There’s lots of things to draw at any time, so people could come to the museum at any time to draw, but we also have lots of stuff in our scientific collections, in our behind the scenes collections.”

For the taxidermy theme, these items included historical objects that date back to the beginning of the museum’s century-long history. Plastic fish eyes, cat mouths and eagle tongues were all brought out for people to sketch.

And artists of all sorts came to the event, from professionals to amateurs to students. Emily Langeland came on a field trip with her drawing class from Normandale Community College. She and the other students were encouraged to draw still life pieces on paper they had prepared in class with gouache to add color and texture.

“I’m just having fun with it, seeing what happens,” Langeland said.

But Sketch Night also invites creativity through more than just sketching. Going with the taxidermy theme, participants were invited to create wolpertingers out of cut up beanie babies. Wolpertingers, or fake hybrid animals, are an important piece of taxidermic history and include legendary creatures like monkey mermaids and jackalopes.

If art is meant to be moving, then it turns out that taxidermy, a word that literally translates to “moving skin,” is oddly appropriate.

FYI: The next Sketch Night will be held on April 2 and will be themed around museum dioramas.