Special Exhibit: “Corporeal Manifestations”

The Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia presents an exhibition of eleven ceramic sculptors who examine the human experience from a physiological and psychological perspective.

This exhibit will be coming down on Thursday, September 9, 2010.

Image Gallery (click the thumbnails to see larger versions)

Photo credits
Top L: Christina West, Untitled.
Top R: Jason Briggs, "Cherry."
Middle L: Roxanne Jackson, "Cadaver Study with Grill."
Middle R: Anne Drew Potter, "Piggy."
Bottom L: Tip Toland, "Survivor."
Bottom R: Melissa Mencini, "Hypertelorism."

Click the links below to visit the artist's personal website:
Kate MacDowell
Melissa Mencini (additional website)
Jason Briggs
Christina West
Anne Drew Potter
Colleen Toledano
Tom Bartel
Jessica Kreutter
Tip Toland
Roxanne Jackson
Sergei Isupov

Guest Curator: Sasha Koozel Reibstein

February 2, 2010-August 2, 2010
Grand Opening: April 2, 5.30-7.00 p.m.
Gallery talk with the artists: April 3, 3.00-5.00 p.m.
Register for the gallery talk here!

Corporeal Manifestations is a unique collaboration between the Mütter Museum and curator Sasha K. Reibstein, Assistant Professor of Art, Director of Ceramics Palomar College, which highlights artists who create traditional ceramic figurative work by exploring the psychology of our biological existence. The multidisciplinary exhibition interprets the documentation and display of medical specimens and their conditions in three-dimensional objects from clay, one of the most natural materials available to artists. Medical research and ceramic arts reflect on how we understand our physical selves and construct how perceptions of the human body. The work exhibited ranges from the strong realism of Tip Toland’s and Christina West’s life-size figures to Jason Briggs and Jessica Kruetter's abstract forms which resemble body parts and organs, focusing on the sensual and visceral. Artists Roxanne Jackson’s and Kate MacDowell's sculptures depict realistic anatomical parts that blend with elements from nature, exploring our relationship and dominance over the natural world.

The Soap Opera

The Mütter Museum is actively involved in ongoing research using 21st century technology to solve the 19th century mystery that is the Soap Lady. Dr. Joseph Leidy, known as the Father of American Vertebrate Paleontology, originally reported that she died of the Yellow Fever epidemic in 1792 and was buried at 4th and Arch Streets. The Yellow Fever epidemic victims were indeed buried at 4th and Arch, but they were buried in 1793. Everything Leidy believed about her time of death and interment were proven false by the original x-rays taken of her in 1986. These x-rays showed buttons and pins on her clothing which postdated her death at least until the 1830s, when these items were first manufactured in the United States.

Thanks to the radiology team from Quinnipiac University led by Jerry Conlogue and Ron Beckett, we have finally finished a new set of x-rays, done in both digital and print. As an initial result of these x-rays, we have revised her age from about 40 to significantly younger than 40, perhaps in her late 20s.

We are now working with Dr. Frederic Rieders of NMS Labs to conduct forensic analysis on the Soap Lady. We are hoping these tests will answer the following questions:

When did she die?
How did she die?
Why did she lose her teeth so early in life?

As part of the testing, NMS will run a toxicological analysis of her hair. They will also run trace and chemical analysis of her adipocere, the fatty substance that encases her body. We have also retrieved a piece of her fingernail, upon which NMS will conduct nutritional profiling, chemical composition, and hormonal evaluation.

This is an ongoing process which may take years. Every test yields new information and interpretations. When the analysis is complete, we hope to have a much clearer picture of the Soap Lady's life and death.