Art by Akemi - Museum Work

Museum Work
Here's some work I have done for the Los Angeles Natural History Museum.

Making A PUPPET
These are designs for a Plesiosaur puppet that is in the Dinosaur Encounters show.
Eli Presser, the museum's puppeteer & puppet mechanic, engineered its structural design & construction.

These little paper fish sculptures are for a mini diorama inside the Plesiosaur's hollow tail.
I hung them up to dry after painting.

Painting tuna fish reflected in the eyes.

I used brushes & sponges to layer & texture the head with house paint & acrylics.
Later, I added small details like tiny shell fish stuck in its teeth.

Fish that will become puppets for the Plesiosaur to chase in the show. I painted them in gouache.

Making a BOOK
This is one of the removable covers for the book used in the Dinosaur Encounters show.
I painted the covers & dinosaurs in gouache.

I used Coptic stitching to bind the book.
The ribs are made of cow vellum. I covered the book boards with duck cloth.

This is the Cladogram inside the book. After painting the dinosaurs, I collaged the tree using
Egyptian papyrus & banana bark paper from Brazil.