Six-Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
Tuesdays, April 28 - June 2, 2026
8:00 - 9:30pm ET (NYC Time)
$160 Paid Patreon Members / $180 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: Classes will be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
Join Robert Marbury—author of Taxidermy Art: A Rogue’s Guide—for a six-week immersion into the strange and compelling ways preserved animals have both shaped and reflected human belief systems, power structures, and cultural desires throughout history. Designed for artists, writers, historians, museum-goers, and curious thinkers alike, this seminar invites participants to look closely at why humans preserve animals and what those preserved bodies continue to mean.
Rather than focusing on technique, the course approaches taxidermy as a cultural artifact—one that reveals evolving ideas about nature, colonialism, science, spectacle, memory, and art. Each session will combine visual lectures—supported by images, archival materials, and case studies—along with guided discussion, reading commentary, along with a range of critique-style conversations centered on mounts, dioramas, and historical examples.
We will being with an exploration of preservation practices from ancient times through the Age of Exploration, tracing how organic materials have survived—from bog bodies and mummification to early forms of skin preservation—and how these methods evolved as animal specimens were transported to Europe to fill Cabinets of Curiosities and, later, museums. We will follow taxidermy into the Industrial Revolution, when it shifted from amateur pastime to professional discipline, and discuss topics such as the rise of mail-order workshops, scouting culture, changing hunting practices across regions, and the emergence of conservation ethics and legal frameworks.
Next we will turn our attention turns to iconic mounts and dioramas, examining how taxidermy freezes not only animals but also narratives of authority, heroism, loss, and control. These case studies open into questions about authorship, realism, spectacle, and the institutional spaces where meaning is created and contested. We will also look at taxidermied animal as a site of ideological conflict, probing how both traditional and alternative preservation practices intersect with colonialism, patriarchy, environmentalism, and contemporary acts of re-appropriation—reminding us that preservation is never neutral.
We will end with an investigation of modern and contemporary art, considering dead animals as a visual and conceptual medium. We will discuss the manifesto Dead Animals in Art, and look at artists who use animal bodies to provoke, challenge, and reframe cultural norms and institutional boundaries.
As a final project, each participant will be invited to present an analysis of a single taxidermy object through at least three interpretive lenses—environmental, political, economic, or aesthetic—encouraging layered thinking and personal reflection. A curated reading list will accompany the seminar, with time in each session dedicated to shared discussion and contemplation. No prior experience with taxidermy is required.
Robert Marbury is a Baltimore-based multidisciplinary artist and co-founder of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists. Working fabric, photography, fur, and found materials, he explores alternative taxidermy as cultural critique. Marbury lectures internationally and is the author of Taxidermy Art: A Rogue’s Guide.
Images: The Kitten’s Wedding, Walter Potter, 19th century; Kitten Princess of Winter, By Tia Resleure of A Case of Curiosities Fine Art Taxidermy, From the Collection of Ronni Ascagni, Art Director, New York City, 20th century, photos by Joanna Ebenstein
Six-Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
Tuesdays, April 28 - June 2, 2026
8:00 - 9:30pm ET (NYC Time)
$160 Paid Patreon Members / $180 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: Classes will be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
Join Robert Marbury—author of Taxidermy Art: A Rogue’s Guide—for a six-week immersion into the strange and compelling ways preserved animals have both shaped and reflected human belief systems, power structures, and cultural desires throughout history. Designed for artists, writers, historians, museum-goers, and curious thinkers alike, this seminar invites participants to look closely at why humans preserve animals and what those preserved bodies continue to mean.
Rather than focusing on technique, the course approaches taxidermy as a cultural artifact—one that reveals evolving ideas about nature, colonialism, science, spectacle, memory, and art. Each session will combine visual lectures—supported by images, archival materials, and case studies—along with guided discussion, reading commentary, along with a range of critique-style conversations centered on mounts, dioramas, and historical examples.
We will being with an exploration of preservation practices from ancient times through the Age of Exploration, tracing how organic materials have survived—from bog bodies and mummification to early forms of skin preservation—and how these methods evolved as animal specimens were transported to Europe to fill Cabinets of Curiosities and, later, museums. We will follow taxidermy into the Industrial Revolution, when it shifted from amateur pastime to professional discipline, and discuss topics such as the rise of mail-order workshops, scouting culture, changing hunting practices across regions, and the emergence of conservation ethics and legal frameworks.
Next we will turn our attention turns to iconic mounts and dioramas, examining how taxidermy freezes not only animals but also narratives of authority, heroism, loss, and control. These case studies open into questions about authorship, realism, spectacle, and the institutional spaces where meaning is created and contested. We will also look at taxidermied animal as a site of ideological conflict, probing how both traditional and alternative preservation practices intersect with colonialism, patriarchy, environmentalism, and contemporary acts of re-appropriation—reminding us that preservation is never neutral.
We will end with an investigation of modern and contemporary art, considering dead animals as a visual and conceptual medium. We will discuss the manifesto Dead Animals in Art, and look at artists who use animal bodies to provoke, challenge, and reframe cultural norms and institutional boundaries.
As a final project, each participant will be invited to present an analysis of a single taxidermy object through at least three interpretive lenses—environmental, political, economic, or aesthetic—encouraging layered thinking and personal reflection. A curated reading list will accompany the seminar, with time in each session dedicated to shared discussion and contemplation. No prior experience with taxidermy is required.
Robert Marbury is a Baltimore-based multidisciplinary artist and co-founder of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists. Working fabric, photography, fur, and found materials, he explores alternative taxidermy as cultural critique. Marbury lectures internationally and is the author of Taxidermy Art: A Rogue’s Guide.
Images: The Kitten’s Wedding, Walter Potter, 19th century; Kitten Princess of Winter, By Tia Resleure of A Case of Curiosities Fine Art Taxidermy, From the Collection of Ronni Ascagni, Art Director, New York City, 20th century, photos by Joanna Ebenstein
