This week, I had the pleasure of installing a new museum exhibit on the life of George Miksch Sutton (1989-1982). Sutton is best known for his thousands of bird illustrations. Because he was a professional ornithologist (bird expert), it is not surprising that his artwork is very detailed and precise. Whenever he observed birds in the wild, he took careful notes in his field journals. These notes later made it into the many books he wrote.
Click http://www.okczooed.com/zoozeum-video-blog to see a 1.5 minute behind-the-scenes of the new Sutton exhibit at the Oklahoma City ZooZeum.
I discovered Sutton’s connection to the Oklahoma City Zoo over a period of two years. It began when our graphics department found a bronze bust of him, buried in a back closet. Later, I found some of his autographed books in the zoo’s library. As all historians do, I started connecting the pieces and discovered that he used the zoo as a source of inspiration, led zoo member safaris, and even had two previous exhibits named in his honor.
Official Zoo Press Release:
RENOWNED BIRD ARTIST HONORED THROUGH OKC ZOO ART EXHIBIT A new exhibit, In Feathered Detail: The Art of George Miksch Sutton, debuts Monday, February 18, at the ZooZeum, Oklahoma City Zoo’s historical museum and gallery. This exhibit showcases the talents of world-renowned ornithologist George Miksch Sutton. Sutton, who died in 1982 at the age of 84, was an acclaimed bird artist, researcher, author, scientist and teacher whose life’s works are still influencing bird enthusiasts today.
The date of the exhibit’s opening ceremony coincides with the Zoo’s free admission Monday, allowing the public to participate in the festivities without charge. An opening reception will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the ZooZeum with refreshments, art activities and a visit from one of the Zoo’s live feathered friends. The exhibit is made possible with help from several lending institutions, including the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, Sam Noble Museum of Natural History and the University of Oklahoma Libraries’ Western History Collections.
Sutton, whose first bird drawings were published in his early teens, was a long-time friend and supporter of the Oklahoma City Zoo. He became intrigued with Oklahoma’s rich variety of birds in the 1930s, became a professor of zoology at the University of Oklahoma in the 1950s and began writing and illustrating books on Oklahoma birds in the 1960s. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1967. In the 1970s, Sutton helped guide three safari expeditions with Oklahoma Zoological Society members and Zoo staff, including the Galapagos Islands, the Amazon and Mexico. The Zoo has dedicated two previous animal exhibits in his honor: the Amazonia in 1974 and Galapagos Islands in 1981.
The exhibit will remain open during Zoo hours from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. daily through May 31, 2013. Zoo admission is required. The ZooZeum is located adjacent to the Zoo’s Elephant Pavilion in the Elephant Habitat. Originally built as a bathhouse, the 76-year-old building was opened to house the Zoo’s historical archive and two museum galleries. The ZooZeum enables visitors to discover the Zoo’s history and reconnect with their own zoo memories.