Ben Miller

Ben Miller

@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

Thinking about the art and history of paleontology in museums. Exhibit developer at the Field Museum, opinions my own. he/him Website: extinctmonsters.net

4.7K followers964 following4.2K posts

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Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

I’m closing in on 2k followers (thanks!) so I think I should clarify what I mean in my profile when I say the fun dinosaur pictures I post are a form of art history (besides wanting to sound elitist or something). 🧵

Ben Miller reposted

Josh Gondelman
@joshgondelman.bsky.social

I just think when some guy from YouTube ruins his own life by being a dipshit, I should get to continue not knowing who he is instead of hearing about him all the time!

Ben Miller reposted

Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

Basic question time: what is your favorite Tyrannosaurus rex display at any museum? 🦖 Reasons for your choice (interpretation, lighting, pose, interactive peripherals) appreciated!

Ben Miller reposted

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D.
@sarahmackattack.bsky.social

Today’s hearing was incredible. While I am disappointed to report that no one from the mayor’s office, attended, city council absolutely grilled the Drexel University representative. It exceeded every expectation. Another hearing is scheduled for Nov 16th. Get your popcorn ready.

Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

Basic question time: what is your favorite Tyrannosaurus rex display at any museum? 🦖 Reasons for your choice (interpretation, lighting, pose, interactive peripherals) appreciated!

Ben Miller reposted

Susanna J Dodgson
@peacescientists.bsky.social

Dioramas youtu.be/oSNID9efdeU?...

youtu.be20260925 Large and small African animals at Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia S5260003YouTube video by Dr SJ Dodgson
Philadelphia Inquirer@inquirer.com

Unlike other parts of the museum’s collection, the dioramas are near-immovable historic artifacts. Preserving them would require significant time, labor, and money, perhaps millions of dollars.

inquirer.com‘Once we lose these, they’re gone forever’: What will become of the dioramas at the Academy of Natural Sciences?
Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

IMO a key part of exhibit-making is understanding who your audience is, what they’ll want to know, and when they’ll want to know it. Then you shape the designed space to present answers in the appropriate places. If you aren’t doing that, you’re making the exhibit for yourself.

Asher HELLbein@asherelbein.bsky.social

There is a race to the bottom here of assuming that because most people don't read signs, it's somehow elitist or off-putting or anti-democratic to have them. But not having them is, I think, a dereliction of what a museum is. These are not and should not be contextless artifacts

Ben Miller reposted

Memento Morlys 🍉
@aardwyrm.bsky.social

aw, it's gorgeous george! has a much more accurate mount these days (and, as the specimen is now identified as daspletosaurus, the name is not so apt as it was for a purported gorgosaurus) but i'm juuuust old enough to remember this guy greeting you as you came in

fieldmuseum.orgBefore SUE the T. rex, there was ‘Gorgeous George' - Field MuseumExplore Before SUE the T. rex, there was ‘Gorgeous George', a story from the Field Museum.
This post is unavailable.

Ben Miller reposted

HulloThere
@jethroreading32.bsky.social

Three years ago, my dad said that all fish are the same shape. Out of spite, I decided to draw all 478 families of bony fish listed in Nelson 2016. There's still some stuff I need to edit and some fish I want to redraw but, after 985 days, I finished my big dumb fish project last night.

Ben Miller reposted

Carl T. Bergstrom
@carlbergstrom.com

Sandhill cranes have returned to the Minnesota farm field where my father was born. His mother remembered them from her childhood, but he never saw them until a decade or two or so back.

Michael Druker 🇨🇦@mdruker.app

Social media loves talking about how everything is getting worse. But what’s something that you’ve seen get _better_ in your lifetime?

Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

I guess the Field doesn't have the only Spinosaurus cast on display outside Japan anymore, but we do still have the only one with legs.

Ben Miller@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

New NatGeo museum is alright. A nice looking space without much in it for the most part. The “archives” section is the strongest, but rather cramped. I wish this content was spread out more.

Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

For some reason I got a weird amount of pushback to that claim back when Sobek/Swimbo was new. For the record all the other displays people pointed out were either temporary, sculpted skeletons, or Suchomimus.

Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

I'm curious if the NatGeo skeleton is the same one that was in the Lost Giant of the Cretaceous touring exhibit. That one predated the publication of the fin tail, but the new display has the tail as a separate piece. And there were efforts to sell off that exhibit around ~2 years ago.

Ben Miller reposted

Danny Anduza
@paleontologizing.bsky.social

It broke my heart a little to hear SciAm was being sold off and butchered. I unsubscribed in June, and I recommend you do the same. Learning some of the details of what happened is certainly clarifying, but depressing. Science in this country is being silenced. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

thenation.comThe Fall of “Scientific American”When the beloved science publication got too political, its corporate owners stepped in. Now its future is uncertain.

Ben Miller reposted

Danny Anduza
@paleontologizing.bsky.social

Everybody knows Charles R. Knight's paleoart, but fewer people know he got his start with depictions of modern animals — including the bison on this US $10 bill issued in 1901. Anyway, it's his birthday today, and I'm hosting a special stream this afternoon discussing his art, life, and legacy 🎂

Ben Miller reposted

Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

Monday morning seek-and-find: Here’s the Cretaceous Maryland mural I worked on with Clarence Schumaker back in 2016, and the revised version from after JP Hodnett took over:

Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

New NatGeo museum is alright. A nice looking space without much in it for the most part. The “archives” section is the strongest, but rather cramped. I wish this content was spread out more.

View full thread
Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

New NatGeo museum is alright. A nice looking space without much in it for the most part. The “archives” section is the strongest, but rather cramped. I wish this content was spread out more.

View full thread
Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

There’s cool stuff in here, but it’s smothered by corporate-approved branding language and spaces that were designed to look neat, rather than accentuate the content.

Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

New NatGeo museum is alright. A nice looking space without much in it for the most part. The “archives” section is the strongest, but rather cramped. I wish this content was spread out more.

Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

Monday morning seek-and-find: Here’s the Cretaceous Maryland mural I worked on with Clarence Schumaker back in 2016, and the revised version from after JP Hodnett took over:

Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

My focus was on getting the theropods, sauropods, and landscape right, and kind of phoned in the turtles, crocs, and fish. JP gave Shoe much more detailed references for all those guys. They also snuck in some Aquilops and substantially revised the ankylosaur.

Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social

American Progress isn’t a particularly good painting, and it was pointed out to me today that her book literally just says “school book.” Also unclear what’s holding her robe up

Ben Miller reposted

Ana Voltz 🏳️‍⚧️
@anavoltzart.bsky.social

The book is real and it’s finally out!! Extinction Coast is a collection of my dinosaur art and stories of the changed world they inhabit. I’m super proud of it and so stoked it finally really exists