At the Museum of Natural History
Digital painting (with photo by artist as reference)
25.09 high by 22.56 inches wide
2005
Detail.
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Someone mentioned in the comment area the Atlanta zoo and its primate area, which is now first class. We live in Atlanta and have a family membership to the zoo and visit frequently. I have only a couple of times posted on our visits there, still, I thought I’d posted on this previously but had not. The Atlanta zoo didn’t used to be at all what it is now. I had only been to a couple of zoos before I went to the Atlanta zoo back in the early 80s. I’d been to the zoo in Washington D.C. and the one in Columbia S.C. which had natural habitat areas and islands. So we went to visit the Atlanta zoo. We had been there not very long and entered the primate house where the famous Willy B. was kept in his concrete enclosure with a television for company. And we left the zoo, sickened. It wasn’t Willy B. that caused us to leave. It was the zoo in general and in particular the orangutans. There were two, an older and a younger one. The younger orangutan looked healthy and curious, well-groomed. But the older one was lost to the world. She (if I remember correctly, the orangutan was female) sat before the bars, exposed, depressed, past the point of desperation, unkept. Concrete enclosure. Dank. Like Willy B. they probably had a rope with tire as their sole entertainment. It was obvious this orangutan was in great distress. And, as I said, we were so sickened by the display that we felt literally ill and immediately left.
I forget what initiated the scandal that followed a couple of years later, when the Atlanta zoo was declared one of the worst in the nation and was nearly closed down. If I remember correctly, there was the death of an animal that precipitated the excitement.
The zoo was redone and millions of dollars invested creating the Ford African Rain Forest. I read that they cut in half the number of species at the zoo (now Zoo Atlanta), which only makes sense, a zoo is only going to be able to have a premiere, hospitable environment for a few species. And now Zoo Atlanta is one of the best zoos in the country. When we go next I’ll carry my good camera and hopefully get some good pics I’ll post here. We’re due for a visit, and they now have new gorilla twin infants which are being touted…and which we may not even see when we visit. Which is one of the great things about the zoo as far as I’m concerned. Privacy for the primates. Their habitats are built in such a way that when you visit you may not even see but one gorilla roaming around if it isn’t feeding time.
As I was saying,we have a family membership to Zoo Atlanta and the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. We went yesterday to ogle the special exhibition Totems to Turquoise: Native North American Jewelry Arts of the Northwest and Southwest along with my brother and his wife and their young daughter. We only had time yesterday for about two and a half hours and then had to leave, but as it is, within a short while we were completely saturated with information, which is the way it is with museums. There is just too much to absorb in one visit, particularly for children. You can only reasonably take in so much information before the rest starts to wash over you and is lost. So we will be returning soon to Fernbank and will try to get there several times before this special exhibit closes.
There’s a nice little store in conjunction with the special exhibit, which doesn’t allow photos at all. We got a book of make-it-yourself kachinas and are about to do one. There were some nice inexpensive things by pacific northwest artists and some very expensive textiles. I watched as a child of about 8 or 9 went over and stood next to a large bark basket for sale that would have cost thousands and played for a while with the tassels dangling from it and then for some reason decided to put it on his mouth and chew on it a minute.
Now here’s my complaint about the zoo and museums in Atlanta such as Fernbank and the High art museum. They don’t have regular free days. I think Zoo Atlanta and Fernbank both only have one free day a year. I don’t know about the High. And now there’s a new aquarium opening which claims to be the world’s largest–and it is pricey. Most of the children in Atlanta are unable to take advantage of these valuable resources. About 40 percent of children 18 and under live in poverty. It was 38% in 2000 and I imagine is higher now. Nearly 1 in 4 families lived below the poverty line here in 2000 and current poverty line guidelines are woefully out of date. Poverty guidelines have a family of 3 at $16,090 and a one person household at $9,570. How in the hell can a family of 3 “live” in Atlanta on $16,090.
Across the street are condos starting in the upper $300 thousand range. These are plain old condos. Housing in Atlanta is expensive.
For Fernbank it costs $12 per visit per adult and $11 for children under 12. That’s $35 for two adults and one child. A family membership is $75 and pays for itself in two visits for us.
For the zoo it costs $17 for adults and $12 for children aged 3 to 11. $46 for one visit for a family of three. A family membership is $89 for a year.
The High Museum costs $15 for adults and $10 for children 6 to 17. Family memberships for a year are $90.
The aquarium costs $22.75 for adults and $17 for children 3 to 12. There are no family passes. An adult pass is about $60 for a year and $43 for a child.
There are many things we would love to do with H.o.p. that we never get around to doing because of scheduling or expense. I feel fortunate to be able to provide him the advantages of the zoo and Fernbank which I think of as essential. I think it’s important exposure and is a great supplement for the homeschooling. Next year or the year after perhaps we can add in the High.
There is the free Fernbank Science Center which is great. Still, the majority of children in Atlanta aren’t going to be able to take advantage of the zoo, Fernbank, the aquarium, the High, and it seems irresponsible of a city and its artistic and educational institutions to not provide a means of access for those unable to afford it. (P.S., 38% I know isn’t a majority but I figure that many families not poverty line are too financially stressed to be able to pop for museum memberships or visits especially if they have multiple kids.) I just noted above how with children what a museum has to offer can be way too much in a couple of hours. One free day a year just doesn’t do it. The High did have one free day a week before they moved into their new building back in the 80s. The Botanical Gardens used to have one free afternoon a week. That shut down around the time we moved to midtown. Plus, this is a city that is very spread out and hard to get around. Getting to the zoo (not on a rail line but close in town) and the High is one thing. Fernbank is nowhere near a rail line.
I did the above portrait of an unknown woman after one visit to Fernbank.
I’m working now on another idea I got yesterday.
And battling ants. Got up today to thousands of ants invading the kitchen. This happens after a rain, about two or three times a year, and though the ants are numerous I’ve never walked in to find the cabinet housing the sink black with them. It didn’t rain. And there they were. Thousands upon thousands. I poured ammonia on the back step (they come in around the back door) and started swabbing down everything. I’ve repeated the process three times now and they’ve decreased somewhat but the floor is still swarming. About 15-20 per every3 square inches now but it was like triple that before. And like I said, the cabinet holding the sink was black with ants scampering up and down and all around. Fortunately they pretty much confine themselves to the kitchen. Only a few cross the threshold out of it.
I gassed myself good with the ammonia. (No, vinegar or pepper or hot chili sauce or pepper sauce of any type doesn’t have any effect. I have tried all those remedies before.)
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