４、Art exhibition at an aquarium ~ Get a better understanding of the life of crustaceans through natural history paintings

 

Yasuko MIYAZAKI

TOKYO SEA LIFE PARK

collaborator:Hiroshi ARAI （TOKYO SEA LIFE PARK）

 

The exhibition “Living sea creatures drawn by Chisato Sugiura; the beauty of shrimp and crabs as in natural history paintings” was held at Tokyo Sea Life Park in the winter, 2011. Chisato Sugiura(1962~2001) is a painter who made a great effort in natural history paintings of animals, especially crustaceans. He beautifully re-created intricate details and colors of live form. Meanwhile, in the aquarium, shrimp and crabs usually hide, and it is difficult to see them. Photographs cannot easily show their fine structures. Exoskeleton samples lose colors over time. Therefore, we tried to present biological aspects of crustaceans by observations of his paintings. As an exhibition, we focus on deepening a visitor’s interest in crustaceans’ variation forms and how they relate to their life by adding scientific information to the drawings. Microscopes and loupes were provided for detailed observations. Also, a kids’ zone where children can learn about shrimp and crabs by offering quizzes and coloring books, were provided. An actual crustacean’s aquarium was also setup for comparison. In this presentation, we introduce this exhibition as an example of the arts and aquariums’ collaboration. Additionally, we discuss the achieved results by observing visitors and input from the volunteers.