Diorama Arts and the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life
by Steve Quinn, Senior Project Manager, Exhibition Dept.

The Harbor Seal Diorama. Denis Finnin / AMNH

The distant glow of warm afternoon sunlight on the horizon signals the passing of the storm on an otherwise gray and cold winter landscape. The departing squall has dusted the rocky beach with snow. Beyond the surf, sea ducks—scoters and eiders—ride the swells, disappearing as they dive to feed in the frigid waters below. Herring gulls ride the offshore winds. Beyond the receding boulder-strewn beach, standing at land's end, a lighthouse catches the raking amber light and places us at one of New York's best known, and popular, summer shore resorts—Montauk Point, on the tip of eastern Long Island.

Popular with certain winter visitors from the North, for among the rocks and cobbles of the beach before us rest two bathers of a different kind—Harbor Seals, who find Montauk's rocky beaches and food-rich waters a safe haven during the cold, winter months.

Our concentration on the natural scene before us is suddenly broken by the arrival of a large school group, descending the stairs behind us, for we are not actually in the icy winter winds of Montauk Point, but standing before a diorama in theMilstein Hall of Ocean Life at the American Museum of Natural History. The newly renovated Harbor Seal Diorama is intended to make Museum visitors aware of the richness and variety of local New York marine environments.

In February of 2001, with the cooperation of the New York State Department of Parks, the Museum sent Sean Murtha, an artist on staff in the Department of Exhibition, to Montauk Point to complete a sketch of the site. Sean collected the necessary references, in paint, to complete the final curved background for the diorama at the Museum. Once back at the Museum with these references, Sean began to sketch the final background in charcoal, making adjustments to his drawing to allow for the distortion that occurs when rendering on a curved surface. When the charcoal drawing was completed and approved by the curators, the final painting was then executed in oil paint.

Cleo Villet applies a dusting of snow to the foreground of the Harbor Seal diorama. Denis Finnin / AMNH

As do all the other dioramas at the Museum, the Harbor Seal exhibit depicts an exact place. Working with Sean Murtha, artist Cleo Villet collected all of the required three-dimensional material for the exhibit's foreground. Photographs documented the site and provided useful reference in the creation of the foreground. Once back at the Museum, Cleo was joined by artist Perry Gargano for the foreground's final fabrication and installation. A tide pool at the water's edge was recreated in polyurethane resins. Large rocks, too heavy to be brought back to the Museum, were sculpted in plaster, and a dusting of snow was simulated with a chopped acrylic.

The Harbor Seal Diorama is intended to recreate a personal encounter with these creatures in their natural, in this case, local New York, winter environment. The goal of the exhibit is shared by all of the Museum's dioramas. That is, to recreate, within the walls of the Museum, the wonder of encountering nature in all its beauty and in doing so, nurturing an appreciation for and an understanding of these often endangered ecosystems and their associated flora and fauna.

Artist Sean Murtha works on the background of the polar bear diorama. Craig Chesek / AMNH

The dioramas are not the only aspects of the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life that have been redesigned thanks to a wonderfully generous gift from Trustee Irma Milstein and her husband Paul. The entire Hall has been refocused to embrace a complete story of the evolutionary history and diversity of marine environments world-wide. New exhibits illustrate unique marine ecosystems and the adaptations of plants and animals to these habitats. The Hall highlights concerns about the future of aquatic systems and the threatened state of the important human resources, such as fisheries, that they provide.

Through the use of models, specimens, state-of-the-art multi-media displays and theatrical design techniques, the new Hall provides the public with an immersive ocean experience. The 94-ft. blue whale suspended from the Hall's cavernous ceiling has been cleaned, restored and bathed with atmospheric lighting to simulate the shimmering quality of light as it passes through water. As Museum President Ellen V. Futter has described it, the Museum has reanimated "a cherished Museum icon, awakening the sleeping giant, the Great Blue Whale.”