Fern Bank History

The Facts For my first encounter I decided to visit The Fern Bank Museum of Natural History and explore the exhibit, “Reflections of Culture”. This exhibit is a permanent exhibit and allows one to learn about several civilizations around the world and their cultural similarities, differences and behaviors. I found the exhibit to be interesting, due to the fact that the exhibit displayed creative examples of contemporary and traditional forms of customs over eras of history. The varied forms of the customs included clothing, jewelry and body art, which explain the reasoning behind the diverse forms of artistic expression. From examining the artifacts I learn the value these customs play to a specific group such as a religion, ethnic group …show more content…
I wish the Museum did have replicas that visitors could observe closer and actually feel and hold similar to the actual pieces on display. There was much to walk around and observe. Hindu Deities displayed handcrafted beaded necklace. When looking closer you will see that the actual stones are name after Gods and Goddesses. I wish we could have been able to see them up close with magnifying glass such as other stones located in the museum to see if the quality or clarity have any association with the actual deity, and if so that would’ve been exciting to read about. So in all the exhibit consists of a background of architecture, food, religion, music, and Arts and craft. The museum also had a special exhibit dedicated to sounds called Wild Music “Sounds and Songs of Life”, this exhibit was by far my favorite being the interactive musical instruments visitors could play. The exhibit was filled with instruments that makes notes and sounds similar to the one you can hear in different places in the world. There were instruments created from resources and people of tropical rainforests in South America to the wild jungles of Africa. The Xylophone known as “Mbila”, of African and Southeast Asian background was very fun to play and created different pitches of wooden sounds that was pleasant. They are commonly used for musical entertainment in Hindu regions and withhold customary significance in west of Africa, Thailand, and Myanmar. I enjoyed my visit to the Fern Bank Museum of Natural History and learned several interesting facts about cultures and the importance culture plays in civilization. Also, the influences that culture has had for over centuries on the many ways we express ourselves and survive as people, for instance liberal arts, fashion, music, and food and the constant evolving they