Public Employee Press

Horse

Union members at the Museum of Natural History design and build exhibit on the historic bond between humans and horses.

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

A chestnut-hued thoroughbred, muscles rippling, mane windswept, snorts and heaves in a rhythmic gallop that thunders through the caverns of the American Museum of Natural History. The spectacle is a high definition projection that is part of the museum’s new exhibit, “The Horse.” The show, which chronicles the enduring bond between humans and horses, is the latest installation built by the union artists of Local 1559 and protected by museum attendants in Local 1306.

The amazing display includes fossils, skeletons, large-scale photographs of 30,000-year-old horse paintings from a French cave, a diorama of prehistoric horses on the North American Plains, and life-sized replicas of beasts of burden. “The Horse” includes interactive computers and artifacts from around the world to tell the story of how the relationship with one of the most powerful animals in creation propelled the human race forward in civilization. From farming and transportation to warfare and sports, humans have always relied on horses for work and companionship.

“Puny but clever, humans needed an energy source that was both mobile and controllable — hence the domestic horse,” said Ross MacPhee, curator of the exhibit. “Over the millennia, while we molded the horse to our ends, the horse also molded us by changing the scale and scope of what could be traded, fought over, or used to make life better — in short, civilization as we know it.”

“This show allows museum visitors to have an intimate encounter with wildlife,” said Craig Chesek, an AMNH Principal Photographer and Local 1559 vice president. “Our members comprise the team that helps curators realize their creative vision of how the final exhibit will appear.”

Work seen by millions
With an eye for detail, Local 1559 members crafted lifelike horses in environments where the subjects, the scenery, even the tree leaves are union made. “We are a varied local and it’s an honor to represent such great artists whose work is seen by millions of people each year,” said Local President Peter Vreeland.

Local 1559 includes exhibition staff, Principal Photographers, museum instructors, Senior Preparators, scientific staff, painters and sheet metal fabricators, and Local 1306 members monitor visitors and provide security and maintenance for the exhibit before and after it opens.

“The main challenge in making molds from bones and fossils is keeping the original intact and knowing where to divide the molds so rubber does not get stuck to or damage the original,” said Genaro Mauricio, a Senior Principal Preparator with AMNH for 26 years. “The horse mold itself is like a piece of art.”

Working alone, Mauricio took about four weeks to cast the body molds for the diorama of ancient horses, while Sr. Principal Preparator Rebecca Meah took four months to sculpt and paint the heads. The hair for manes, eyelashes and tails was purchased, but everything else is “sculpted by hand following the pattern of real horsehair,” she said. Meah and Photographer Roderick Mickens visited the Staten Island Zoo and stables on Long Island to snap pictures that helped the artists recreate the animals’ underlying skeletal and muscular layers. “We work with the curators using skeletons and anatomy books to get it just right,” Meah said.

The realistic renderings spark natural curiosity in visitors, said Reynaldo Toro, a Museum Guard in Local 1306. Toro watched the exhibit from construction to completion. “People can pull a lever to measure their horsepower. An interactive model shows the insides of the horse — its digestive system and everything — it’s fascinating,” he said.