Going Animal
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a bison, a rabbit, or a spider? Do you ever pretend to be an animal? Every artist in NCM’s new exhibition, Animal Art, explores how and why animals excite the human imagination like almost no other topic.

For centuries, the spirit of exploration and discovery, ownership and mastery, prevailed in artists’ depictions of animals. During the last decade, however, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of artists working with animals and a distinct change in the prerogatives and methodologies behind their work. Changes in our shared environment, rising rates of extinction, new conceptions of animal rights and genetically informed ideas about the increasingly narrow distinction between the human and animal kingdoms are all issues that have led to the urgency and passion that informs the artists’ work in Animal Art. 

Why do we look at animals? 
What do we see when we look at animals? 
What can we learn from animals?

These questions are posed throughout this exhibition, and we encourage our visitors to use them as a guide to learn more about the artists’ ideas, and the animals they study. 

Come visit the Museum to enjoy Animal Art with your entire family—there are many ways to enjoy Animal Art together. Think about how we are different from animals, and what it is that makes us human; create with an artist in one of our brand new, hands-on studio workshops; and play in our galleries, with a staff of gallery guides who lead games every day and are armed with animal jokes!

Animal Art is organized by The New Children’s Museum, and made possible by the generosity of The Institute for Museum and Library Services, The James Irvine Foundation and the Helen K. & James S. Copley Foundation. Support is also provided by Patty & Marc Brutten, Patsy and David Marino, Ian O. Mausner, Laurie Mitchell & Brent Woods, Amelia & Ken Morris, and The Gerald T. & Inez Grant Parker Foundation.

The exhibition is further made possible by the support of Nordstrom, Esther & Bud Fischer, Linda & Shearn Platt, the City of San Diego Commission for Arts & Culture, the County of San Diego’s Community Enhancement Program, Museum members and donors to Friends of Animal Art.