Cabinet of Curiosities

 

Over the weekend, the Buttermarket has been hosting the exhibition The Cabinet of Curiosities.

Around twenty different local artists were involved, with exhibits on a variety of subjects, with a theme of the natural world.  

One table had a display of the seventeen different woods used to make a piano, with information about the traditional use of ebony and ivory on the keyboards.  There were displays on the Earth, Sea, Astronomy, Insects, and botanical illustration.  

And here's a display of natural dyes: 

And mathematics in nature - here's the Fibonacci sequence in seed cones: 

I did take some photos of the information signs, but none of them came out well enough to share.  There were quotations from Rachel Carson, and information about Earth Overshoot Day.  This is the date each year at which global consumption exceeds the capacity of nature to regenerate.  In 1970 the date was 25th December.  This year it was 28th July.

Other signs talked about dark skies, and pollution in the sea, and the decline of many types of insects, including butterflies and bees.  

I was at work today, when someone came in to ask if we had a copy of Rachel Carson's book on the sea.  They'd just seen the exhibition, and been very impressed.