For the hundreds who ventured behind the scenes, getting there was half the fun.
Dim stairways, clanking elevators, strange smells and long labyrinthine corridors -- not to mention the guide's headcounts -- were all clues that visitors were not on their way toward ordinary spaces.
"I came because my mom wanted to see it," said Daemien Collins, 9, from West Haven. "I expected it to be boring but it was fun and I learned a lot of stuff."
Daemien had been to the invertebrate paleontology tour of ancient cretaceous crabs, shells and other marine life. After half an hour of looking and learning, the group took a trick quiz.
"You had to sort shells into groups by species," explained Daemien. "The trick was that the males and females look different from each other so I put them in different groups, but they're really the same species. I felt a little bad until our guide told us the early scientists made the same mistake."
What was the best part? "They let you touch things," he grinned.
No touching was allowed on the entomology tour, where cases of brilliant blue and bright-green-and-velvet-black butterflies stood next to giant beetles, scorpions and horned grasshoppers.
The Peabody has over a million insect specimens, making it one of the largest collections in a university museum. Its diversity makes it an important collection.
"We have a fantastic butterfly collection," said Larry Gall, curatorial affiliate in entomology. "We're also particularly strong in genetic aberrations. We have dwarfs, giants, insects trapped in amber and insects from islands all over the world." All were on display while scientists explained how they did their work.
For Gall and other guides, the open house gave museum staff the chance to sign up volunteers, engage people's interest in specific areas of research and generally promote a positive image of science.
Visitors got the message. "I loved seeing the process of what they do, the different tools they use, how they take all the materials and put things together ... Behind the scenes is a real treat, and being able to talk to professionals and see what produces all of this is great," said Beth Northrup of Bridgeport.
Others went for the big stuff. "I like the dinosaurs best and have ever since I was a little kid," said Lucas Jolivet, 8, of New Haven. "I've wanted to be a paleontologist since I was two. I'm especially interested in how reptiles have changed and evolved from raptors into birds, snakes and lizards, for example."
He was waiting to talk to museum preparator Marilyn Fox, who was demonstrating how fossils are exposed in the ground, then encased in plaster and burlap to prepare them for their long journey to the museum. Once at the Peabody, they are slowly disassembled, and it can take anywhere from a few days to a few months to carefully scrape the matrix (dirt) off the specimens.
"I love showing people around," said Fox. "I want them to know that fossils don't just leap out of the ground; lots of work is done before people see them."
At the Yale Center for British Art
The need for much preparatory work was a common theme at the behind-the-scenes tours.
At the British Art Center, visitors to the conservation laboratory learned about the process of treating art on paper and photography before it gets hung. Guides demonstrated how prints are washed in a solution, then air-dried to eliminate brown spotting caused by age and humidity. Visitors saw "before" and "after" examples of prints with mildew, wrinkles and bleeding colors. While the transformation looked magical, the guide pointed out that the "magic" involved is a slow and repetitive process.
Visitors also could develop their connoisseurship by examining paper fiber and structure through microscopes to help determine the paper's age and condition -- a key to authenticating artwork, explained the guides.
The Center opened the doors of its Founders Room for the first time to show selected paintings from alumnus Paul Mellon's last bequest to Yale, a preview to a larger exhibit in February. The room, designed by Mellon's designer in his horse racing colors of yellow and gray, is a personal memorial to the alumnus. Inside are several small paintings and quiet landscapes, as well as a silver tray given to Mellon by Yale classmates, photographs, a pair of oars from his year at Cambridge University and other memorabilia.
The room reflects Mellon's deep and abiding interest in sporting art, an art form he advocated and that he felt was greatly under-appreciated. Horses are everywhere in paintings and bronzes. Highlights include Mellon's favorite portrait of himself, sitting on a horse, and a silver horseshoe worn by his race horse, Mill Reef, when he won the English Derby in 1971.
"He felt the horse was an archetypal symbol of vitality, " said Malcolm Warner, senior curator of paintings and sculpture. "We got the things that meant the most to him. He was an unusual collector who responded to subject matter rather than to fashion and this room is a testament to his unusual collection."
For those with an inquisitive bent, the scavenger hunt proved popular. Participants had to find 24 pieces of information scattered throughout the many collections.
"It's really hard," said one young visitor and her mother from Bridgeport. "We've never been here before, but we're getting to know the museum really well now. This is the third time we've been to the fourth floor."
At the Yale University Art Gallery
In Sculpture Hall, a rapt crowd watched New Haven artist Winfred Rembert bring figures to life as he used different tools to sculpt a baseball scene on leather.
When the scene was outlined, he invited his audience to try it. A young girl, under the artist's gentle guidance, tapped tentatively with a mallet to sculpt part of a shirt. Others contributed strokes to players' hands, belts and the pitcher's mound. Rembert then invited all his co-artists to carve their initials into the picture next to his name.
Equally absorbed were the visitors moving slowly through the dim light of the "Love and Loss" exhibit. Adults and children alike leaned over the display cases, peering through their magnifying glasses to seek hidden messages in the exquisite, tiny miniatures.
"We found a skeleton in a ring and a moon on a lady's head," said Claire and Grace Hager, 11 and 7 respectively, of Branford. "If you use your magnifying glass, it makes the people look really real, and you can see every strand of hair."
"I've never seen my children so interested in looking at art," said their mother.
Indeed, engagement was the mood of the day. The floor of the "Artful Tales" workshop was a glittering array of construction and tissue paper, sequins, feathers, crayons, silver pipecleaners, colored pompoms and ribbons of every hue. The room buzzed with dozens of young artists clipping, pasting, sprinkling and creating. "I need green, please" ... " I want one more red one right there" ... "I'm making mine with all pompoms" ... "Mine will have an orange hat with a row of red and silver feathers. ..."
The children were making masks after looking at portraits in the Gallery and learning how artists use color and shape to express emotion on faces in their paintings.
The youngest artist was Drew Sapko, 21 months, of Berlin, who exhibited decided taste. He chose yellow paper for his mask and when his mother offered him a range of colored pompoms and feathers, he unhesitatingly took all red.
-- By Lindsey Holaday
T H I S
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
Yale kicks off 300th birthday
Science Hill was a popular spot during Yale's open house
Museums welcome the public at behind-the-scene tours
The sweet and savory tale of a 300-pound cake
Peabody Museum opening Hall of Native American Cultures
New Republic editor describes his political coming-of-age
The new Gilder Boathouse is dedicated at a ceremony
Comedian Bill Cosby to perform as a benefit for L.E.A.P.
Albee to hold 'conversation' with audience
Study equates early life stress, drug addiction
NIH grant supports study of amphibians' deformities
Cancer center will lead community initiative to bridge 'digital divide'
Teasing about looks may play a role in binge eating, study finds
Symposium will explore the claim that there is an 'intelligent design' to the universe
Lecture celebrates new Robert W. Winner Professorship
Books take look at African American stage performers
Book explores conceptions of harems in art, literature
Works by Kosovo refugee on view at Physicians Building
Symposium will explore 'the portrait in American art'
DMCA presents debuts of 'Convergence' and 'Ankle-Diver'
Yale singers will present excerpts of famous opera scenes over two nights
Music festival sponsoring Carnegie Hall concert
Opening Yale 300: Images from the Celebration
In the News
Yale Scoreboard
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