Madison Mayfield on “A Different Kind of Life List: A Career Painting, Curating & Taxidermying Birds”
What goes on in natural history museums like the one at the Burke? And why have them?
Filled with far more than just a lot of “stuffed animals,” these collections are time-capsule libraries of biological diversity, and an irreplaceable, verifiable record of life on Earth.
Madison Mayfield is a museum professional, educator, natural history artist and taxidermist as well as a scientific illustrator. She holds a BS in Conservation Biology and a certificate in Natural History Illustration from the University of Washington. For the past 8 years, she has worked in natural history museums around the world as a preparator, educator, outreach director and now is a collections manager at the Burke. Madison is also an artist and scientific illustrator.
We’ll learn aboutthe art of taxidermy and why dead birds are more important than ever as Madison takes us along a path from painting birds to sewing up a Cassowary in Australia to banding hummingbirds in Colombia!