scandinavia, part II

if you know me personally, or have followed my blog or artwork, you will know that i am really attracted to vintage medical and science junk.  i was actually a biology major until my junior year of college, until i switched to art.  (i was thinking about being a medical illustrator for a while until i realized i couldn't sit still for that long.)  anyway, one of my favorite books as a high school student was gray's anatomy.  i spent hours and hours pouring over that thick book, looking at the plates of veins, muscles, arteries, and other components that make up humans.  

when john found out there was a medical museum (medicinsk museion) in copenhagen, i was overjoyed.  i knew that it was a must stop location on our trip.  the museum is located near the royal palace, in an amazing old building with not much signage, and two unassuming front doors under a pillared porch.  it turns out that the museum is housed in the former Academy of Surgery, which educated surgeons in Copenhagen between 1785-1842.  One of the spaces in the building is the auditorium in which dissections were carried out as part of the course of training!

dome in the auditorium

the exhibits were wonderful, as was the interior of the building.  one could walk the unfinished wide-planked pine floors and imagine surgery students long ago treading on that same surface.  inside were amazing things, including a vintage pharmacy reinstalled in the space.  there was a room with vintage prosthetics, and one with wax models of face disfigurements.  everything was so amazing!!

we read that during the time of the Academy, surgeons were not doctors.  they actually began as butchers!  at that time in history it was believed that knife skills were more important than medical training.  who knew??

vintage anatomical model

vintage anatomical chart

another model

and one more chart!

my only regret is that i don't have more photographs.  i think i was so taken with the stuff in that building that i forgot that i had a camera.  oh, what i would do for a couple of shots of those prosthetic legs, hands, and arms!!

collections

medical stuff

pocket watches

doll dressers

old toys

numbers and letters

hands

i have always been a collector.  when i was small, i collected live pet mice, dead butterflies, plastic breyer horses, and seashells. the collections were just part of who i was, and i took joy from finding a new specimen to add to my cache.  none of my early collections have made it this far into my life.  the pet mice (they bred fast, and i had over 50 in my parent's basement) met their maker when one night i left the top off their cage.  my very happy cat had the feast of a lifetime.  ugh.  the butterflies went next door to my friend timmy.  shells...i think my mom probably got rid of them secretly over time.  they just disappeared.  breyer horses?  my niece ended up with them.  by the time they resurfaced, 30 years of girl play had stripped them of most of their ears and small appendages. goodwill was the final recipient.  

 i still collect today.  i like old things, things with wear and tear.  i often wonder what makes us collect, and why we are drawn to those things in our collections.  my gatherings of items changes a lot.  i go through periods of passing on my things, and replacing them with other ones.  sometimes i think i have to be crazy to keep all of this stuff, and do a major clean out.  often, i wonder if the collecting thing is a outward sign of a mental issue deep within me!!  i do know that finding and saving things is definitely something that makes me feel happy.  the good news is that most of my things cost little.  i am the consummate bargain shopper.

every once in a while, i like to donate a really great former collection item to goodwill.  i think about how happy i am when i find a great thing in the heap of donations at the thrift store.  and i somehow get a dose of glee thinking about the person who finds my former treasure.  it's a kind of payback to the universe.

anyway, the pictures above document some of my current collections.  i won't go into long reasons why these things resonate with me, because sometimes i just don't know.  but here they are for you to consider.