The installation Illuminated Curiosities was originally designed for an exhibit at the grand re-opening of the Peale Museum in September of 2022. During this exhibition, the shadowboxes in the collection were paired with short corresponding animations that viewers accessed using QR codes. The animations were created using stop motion animation, bringing the items in the shadowboxes to life. The infusion of natural materials with technology contemporized the traditional curiosity cabinet format and extended its reach beyond a physical space and into the virtual realm.  

• Super Flower Blood Moon - The animation shows a mermaid's purse, whelk egg case, and a whelk shell washing up on the Delaware Bay shore before the sun sets.  The moon, represented by a moon snail shell, rises from a black hollyhock and triggers the emergence of horseshoe crabs from the water.  Materials: pressed and dried flowers, feathers, pebbles, seashells, vellum, acrylic paint, molted horseshow crab shells, rhinestones, and sequins. 

• Brood X - Illustrates the complete lifecycle of the brood x cicadas.  Materials: dirt, pressed and dried flowers, stones, beach glass, cicada molts, cicada wings, cicadas, vellum, bark, leaves.  Partially animated on a lightbox.  

• Orchidelerium - shows the collection and transplanting of orchids from the wild into a Victorian-era glasshouse. Collecting orchids was dangerous and unsustainable, with collectors depleting entire landscapes of the highly sought-after flowers. Materials: cut paper, acrylic paint, pressed plants and flowers, bark, vellum.  Partially animated on a lightbox.  

• Vanitas - Utilized the beetle from the Serpentes Vanitas shadowbox and themes and symbols representative of mortality – a ticking clock, a beetle being devoured by a carnivorous plant, and a candle melting.  Materials: bark, butterflies, beetles, pressed and dried plants, cut paper, leaves, candle.  Partially animated on a lightbox. 

Animation Stills