risd's nature lab

One of the coolest things that risd has is the nature lab. It is full of taxidermy!




It has little blowfish that are dried up!


It has live chameleons, fish, turtles, rat-like creatures & crickets, and these frogs:


The nature lab started many years back, I think around the 1930s by a teacher, Edna Lawrence, so it is officially called the Edna Lawrence Nature Lab. She started to collect things from nature for her students to draw, and then it just kept on growing.

One great thing is that any item in the nature lab without a red dotted sticker can be taken out of the nature lab for a week! But none of the taxidermy heads can be taken out, but things like shells and pine cones and some butterflies in little clear boxes.


It's an excellent place to come and draw. When I had to make a character from an animal, I first drew the stuffed bear in the nature lab. It's really good to draw something that isn't two dimensional, off the internet or from a book, it's just easier to get a sense of the animal's certain characteristics, like how their paws bend and such.

It's the job of a few students to work in the nature lab, it seems to me like they always have around three students working at one time, as well as a manager or two. I think it would be a great student job, feeding the fish, bringing down the taxidermy when requested, etc. There are also several fake skeletons in the nature lab, and one real skeleton. There are skulls of various different animals and fetuses also. I think a lot of Foundation students come here to draw, I think it would be a great resource when just learning to draw.

This deer sits by the iguana who is kept warm by the red light.