I ventured out to LA a few weeks back to go to the Museum of Jurassic Technology. I had gone before, several years ago, and have thought about it ever since. The MJT is a one-of-a-kind space that is both an examination of the museum itself, and the objects we place in a museum. By the sound of it, one might think that it’s about dinosaurs and bones. Not so. Rather, it is a natural history museum about oddities themselves. The Museum explores the specimen-crazed world we live in, we excavate, we examine, and we arrange and showcase in a sterilized museum setting with dim lighting and wall signage, accompanied by the gentle hum of the narrator’s voice bringing us into the mystery of the very thing we think is odd or curious.

What is genius is that the Museum is itself an installation, a collection of various collections under one non-descript roof. The stories around objects destabilize the viewer in that I constantly question what is real and what is not. The Museum “preserves something of the flavor of its roots in the early days of the natural history museum – a flavor which has been described as “incongruity born of the overzealous spirit in the face of unfathomable phenomena.”

The curating of what is and what is not phenomena is what is intriguing. The trailer park exhibit, aptly titled “The Garden of Eden on Wheels”, complete with dioramas, a pin cushion display, photos and other artifacts take you into the history and mystery of, you guessed it, the trailer. What I am impressed with is the precision of the displays in this area. For example, the display cases in the center look like they came from the Star Wars set, and the diorama settings are an exact, scaled down version of the things they represent, which is so interesting in terms of materials available. The white lattice and the paving stones are straight out of a miniature Home Depot, and the mini year-round Christmas lights set the mood for what one can only imagine as a Coors Light night of heaven on Earth.

The Museum also takes old-wives tales to a more illustrative level, where the absurdity becomes hard to navigate in what is historically correct and what is imagined to be so, because, as they say, life can be stranger than fiction. But alas, I’m pretty sure I was being fed a bunch of high-falootin’ bull excrement. Take for example, eating mice on toast, fur and all, was meant to cure anything from whooping cough to stammering. Or, take a duck beak installation, where inhaling a duck’s cold breath cures children “afflicted with thrush and other fungeous mouth or throat disorders.” Or if a groom leaves his shoe untied during the wedding ceremony, he is ensuring no difficult love consummating later that evening. None of the tales are true, but all are compelling and worthy of our attention and concern. Many old wive’s tales are absurd, so it is nice to frolic in that gray area.

The Museum of Jurassic Technology is one of those places that make you question everything you see. But alas, some things are just what they are. Like the amazing microminiature sculptures of Hagop Sandaldjian in the eye of the needle and the stereoradiographs of Albert G. Richards, that follow you as you move ala ghost-style at Disney’s Haunted Mansion.

I have been super busy with the creation and installation of all these works which are included at the Riverside Art Museum’s next show, Works on Loan from the 21st Century. Here is a sneak peak of my installation there. The show opens this Tuesday, but the officially opening reception doesn’t take place until Friday, June 6, from 6-9 p.m. Special thank you to my BF Brian (who is my everything) for helping me hang the show and also helping me with my next project! Wink, wink.

This show is kinda exciting because it is my first show with my fellow classmates Christine Frerichs, Kate McPeak, Alison Walker, Alia Malley, Evans Wittenberg, and Gideon Barnett. I love these folks and sometimes I wish we were shipwrecked on a deserted island. But I guess Riverside will have to do.

Hope you can make it to the opening!

Awe. I always feel loved and appreciated when I find myself in the press. Even blog press. Even if someone out there in the world utters the name “Courtney” I can feel it. So, here I made my way into Richard Chang’s little write-up about the Opening Night of the HBAC’s Art Auction. (See post below) “RaRa” and “CoCo” are two hard-to-pin-down ladies, but when they are, they’re yours forever.

Also, save the date for the Live Auction party this coming Friday! I think I might have to spend my Friday and Saturday painting again this weekend . . . preparing for . . . drumroll . . . .my next show: “Works on Loan from the 21st Century,” at the Riverside Art Museum. I will have a lot of wall space and have been slaving away at making stuff for the show. Here is some info about it:

Things I am looking forward to: painting, eating homemade pasta tomorrow with Brian, buying more paints, planting my nasturtium seeds, getting a purple leaf plum tree for the front yard, and going out to dinner with Brian at the Mission Inn soon.

I don’t want to give away the surprise, but these fine young ladies are going into auction tonight. Part of the Huntington Beach Art Center’s Art Auction, these pieces are part of “going once, going twice, gone,” a purely aesthetic exhibition and sale of small works by auction artists. The artists names are revealed after the purchase, but anyone that has seen my work once could pick these ladies out of a line-up in a heartbeat. So….here’s RaRa and CoCo!

Another fun thing, check out their new print in the Shop!

Well it finally happened. Time caught up with me. I turned 30. But I made the best of it…in other words…I milked it! I had only a couple, small wishes for my birthday: Tree of Life Nursery, a drive on Ortega Highway, a cake that looked like me with my cat Lily laying next to me, a pinata, a barbecue, margaritas, and a pool party. Well, that’s kinda a lot I know! But the best boyfriend in the world made it all possible. Thanks Brian the sweetest cake! And thanks to my friends who made it super fun to be in the sun!