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X-WR-CALNAME:Museum of Unnatural History: New Works by Elaine Bradford
	 in Houston at Art League Houston - Eventful
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DTSTART:20090109T000000
DTEND:20090220T000000
DTSTAMP:20090129T193101Z
SUMMARY:Museum of Unnatural History: New Works by Elaine Bradford
DESCRIPTION: Official web siteMuseum of Unnatural History: New Works b
	y Elaine Bradford Art League HoustonJanuary 9-February 20\, 2009Art Le
	ague Houston is pleased to announce the opening of Museum of Unnatural
	 History\, a dioramic installation of new works by Elaine Bradford\, o
	n view from January 9 - February 20\, 2009.Museum of Unnatural History
	 consists of dioramic displays similar to those found in natural histo
	ry museums\, and which serve as "natural habitats" for the artist's fa
	ntastical crotchet covered taxidermy creatures.The opening reception f
	or Museum of Unnatural History is on Friday January 9\, 6:00 - 8:00 p.
	m. with an artist talk at 6:15 p.m.This exhibition\, which takes place
	 in the Main Gallery of the Art League\, opens in conjunction with our
	 Front Gallery presentation\, the Gold Key Art Exhibition\, featuring 
	the winners of The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards of the Harris Count
	y Department of Education.As part of Museum of Unnatural History\, two
	 free docent led tours will be conducted for the public on January 10 
	and February 7th at 2:00 p.m.For Museum of Unnatural History\, Houston
	-based artist Elaine Bradford has created a faux natural history museu
	m filled with a variety of animals and specimens "discovered" by the f
	ictitious fringe scientist Dr. Thomas Harrigan during his explorations
	 into a dimension known as "The Sidereal". According to the museum's p
	seudo-scientific text\,The Sidereal is "in many ways a mirror image of
	 our world [that] has produced a variety of species possessing adaptat
	ions wildly divergent from those we see on earth."A visitor to Museum 
	of Natural History will view creatures that include the Pushmi-pullyu 
	(Tragus januali)\, a lichen eating two headed sheep\; the longcat (Lyn
	x metamorpha)\, a blue mite covered feline whose powerful limbs and bo
	dy can expand up to ten times their at-rest length\; and the Procyon b
	esheret\, fondly known as the "pair-bears" due to the permanent fusing
	 of tails during a secret mating ritual.The animals on view are constr
	ucted from taxidermy animals\, sometimes in their original state\, oth
	er times cut in half or fused with the bodies of others\, which are th
	en sheathed in outfits which Bradford carefully crochets\, an art taug
	ht to her by her grandmother\, when the artist was a child growing up 
	in Alice\, Texas.Elaine did not really appreciate the calming\, repeti
	tive act of crochet\, nor did she take it seriously as an art\, until 
	she was in graduate school at the California Institute of the Arts. He
	re Bradford developed a project in which she crocheted individual swea
	ters for everything in her refrigerator\, including all the baby carro
	ts."I was really interested in the connotations that came along with c
	rochet for me\, ideas of comfort\, warmth\, and family\; the absurd ac
	t of making labor intensive objects for things that have no need for t
	hem always makes me chuckle."Around 2004\, the artist decided to make 
	crochet clothes for taxidermy\, after sitting in her parents' house an
	d looking up at the hunting trophies on display. Bradford remarks\, "I
	t struck me how beautiful the deer head would look in a sweater."For t
	he next five years she produced numerous and more and more fantastical
	 variations on this theme. Elaine considers Museum of Unnatural Histor
	y the culmination of all her taxidermy animals\, as it will be the mos
	t elaborate presentation of the work to date and the last opportunity 
	for audience members to view her crochet covered animals.ABOUT THE ART
	ISTElaine Bradford received her BFA from The University of Texas at Au
	stin in May 2000\, and her MFA from California Institute of the Arts i
	n May 2003. She is now living and working in Houston\, TX. Her most re
	cent work involves crocheting sweaters for taxidermied animals. She ha
	s shown extensively across the United States. Her work has recently be
	en exhibited in group shows at Greenlease Gallery in Kansas City\, MO\
	, MassArt in Boston\, MA\, Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek\, CA and in
	 the Galveston Art Center in Galveston\, TX. In 2007 she had solo show
	s at Women and their Work in Austin\, TX\, Hunt Gallery in St. Louis\,
	 MO\, and Cactus Bra in San Antonio\, TX. Bradford is the recipient of
	 a 2008 Individual Artist Fellowship Grant from the Houston Arts Allia
	nce.\n
LOCATION:Art League Houston @ 1953 Montrose Boulevard, Houston, Texas 
	77006 United States
SEQUENCE:1233257461
UID:E0-001-018570517-1
URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-018570517-1
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