Adult Workshop: Curiosity Boxes

Please preregister here! 

Workshop Description:
For centuries, Cabinets of Curiosity have offered glimpses of collected items from near and far including minerals, fossils, dried specimens, preserved insects, antiquities, and more. Peaking in popularity in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, the practice predates modern museums. Each collection often includes a mixture of objects representing the collector’s interests and ranging from exotic natural specimens to scientific instruments, to antiquities, art works, and oddities. In this workshop, you’ll create your own “curiosity box,” starting with a premium vintage cigar box decorated with decoupage, paint, or decorative accents. Then select a mix of treasures from our curated offerings including mini-fossils, dried plants, shells, funny mushrooms, rough and tumbled gemstones and more! Finally, take the box home and add your own mementos over time.

Audience Target:
Adults and teens ages 10+ interested in natural history and a unique art experience.

Format:
A guided, hands-on workshop focused on decorating and filling a personalized curiosity box. Participants will have the chance to work with paint, and various decorative elements to craft their own unique box, with instruction on techniques for finishing touches.

Fee:
$40, $35 members.

Materials Provided/Fee Includes:

• All materials for decorating your curiosity box (wood, paint, embellishments, etc.)
• A selection of starter treasures including fossils, rough and tumbled gemstones, shells, dried plants, and more!
• Workshop handouts with ideas for collecting and preserving additional curiosity box items
• Garden Admission for the entire day of the event

Presenter:
Education Manager, Barbara Goldentyer has been at the Cape Fear Botanical Garden for 6 years. She has a Master’s in Environmental Studies and she has always enjoyed exploring nature. Barbara keeps a “curiosity shelf” of her own at home. Some of her favorite “treasures” include a porcupine quill, several fossils, a piece of a particle accelerator coolant tower, a sea urchin shell, cypress tree cones, and a chunk of calcite that glows under blacklight.

Please preregister here!