Giant-screen Films
Current Exhibitions
Upcoming Exhibitions
Past Exhibitions

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CONTACT:
Tim Murray
Director of Exhibits
619.255.0205
fax: 619.232.0248
exhibits@sdnhm.org

Water: H₂O=Life
July 19–November 30, 2008
It is a natural resource more valuable than oil and more precious than gold. Life on Earth originated in it and cannot exist without it. Water, the essential ingredient in our life, culture, history and future will be celebrated and explored in this captivating new exhibition. New visualization techniques and cutting-edge technologies, hands-on exhibits, videos and interactive media, specimens and artifacts will forever change your view and appreciation of this common, yet invaluable substance. Also, the San Diego Natural History Museum has designed and developed Water: A California Story which will remain on exhibit at the Museum for at least two years. The special exhibition uses natural history specimens, live animals, photos, and interactive exhibits explore the water issues facing southern California and Baja California. Discover why, to have water in the future, we all need to change how we use water now.      

Spirits in Stone—Art & Animals of Africa
July 11–October 12, 2008
Come face to face with Africa’s cultural vanguard in this exciting collection. The exhibition features sculpture of internationally acclaimed African stone sculptors, as well as masks, jewelry, and baskets. The sculpture is steeped in the legend and traditions of an ancient African culture, yet stunningly modern in appearance. Sculpting by hand with simple and found tools, the self-taught artists carve in indigenous serpentine, granite, and rare precious verdite. The unique rock they shape illumines with more than 200 natural color and texture variations. The result is a diverse body of work alive with dynamic, spiritual themes. Visitors will also enjoy seeing live African lizards and bugs, fish, frogs and snakes

Autumn
August 16 –November 9, 2008
In The Ordover Gallery at the San Diego Natural History Museum, Autumn will showcase works of spectacular color and beauty by fine-art photographer Abe Ordover. The show will also include magnificent fall imagery by Brent McCullough, Charles Cramer, Annaliese Cassarino, Alison Shaw, William Neill, Elizabeth Carmel, Lisa Jordan, Dick Daniels, Bruce Heinemann, Bill Evarts, and Christopher Burkett. See photographs that range from majestic landscapes awash in brilliant color to abstract works that focus on the movement of line and color. Ordover has created his autumn imagery over several years, from numerous journeys across the United States. Ordover’s Autumn portfolio includes works that are abstract, impressionistic, and traditional.

Aerial Portraits of the American West: Photographs by John Shelton
May 11–Indefinite
This photography exhibition, a retrospective of Shelton’s work, marks the first time works by the legendary geologist will be exhibited for the public. A geologist filled with a love for music and machines, John Shelton is best known for his pioneering aerial photography. Formerly an associate professor of geology at Pomona College, he has always been intensely interested in the process of learning. Shelton’s love and knowledge of flying enabled him to reveal geologic features and processes through his aerial photographs of wondrous landscapes. His aerial photographs of North America are especially valuable today, when diminishing air quality makes some of his shots irreplaceable.

Fossil Mysteries
Permanent exhibition
From dinosaurs to mastodons, discover the rich fossil history of our region. In this major exhibition, created by the Museum, ponder a mystery, examine the strong fossil evidence from the Museum's collection, and use scientific tools to discover answers. Traveling through a 75-million-year timeline, from the age of dinosaurs to the Ice Ages, experience an unfolding of the prehistory of southern California and Baja California, Mexico.
Developed by the San Diego Natural History Museum. Major funding provided by the California Cultural and Historic Endowment; National Science Foundation; Stephen and Mary Birch Foundation; an anonymous donor; and generous support from the J. W. Sefton Foundation; the San Diego Foundation: Weingart-Price Fund and Carol and Henry F. Hunte Fund; San Diego County Supervisors Pam Slater-Price, Ron Roberts and Greg Cox; The Legler Benbough Foundation; THE PARKER FOUNDATION: Gerald and Inez Grant Parker; Thomas C. Ackerman Foundation; Charmaine and Maurice Kaplan; Carol and Dennis Wilson; Rice Family Foundation; Samuel and Katherine French Fund; Ellen Browning Scripps Foundation; and Sony Electronics Inc.

Upcoming Exhibitions

TIBET: Imagery by Kenneth Parker
November 15, 2008–March 1, 2009
Fine-art photographer Kenneth Parker has immersed himself in the culture and landscape of Tibet. His images reveal the religious monuments, prayer flags, modest homes and dramatic mountains of the region. Monumental 14th-century monasteries, with giant Tantric fresco wall murals, can be found in his images from Mustang. In order to create his imagery, Parker engages in 5–10 day backpacking excursions to remote areas and carries 75–85 pounds of gear. Regarding his work, Parker says, “Moved as much as by any wilderness I have ever happened upon, the light and form of their lands have the power to evoke in me an arresting image that can make one feel immersed...as if actually willing to climb deep inside its own special world and somehow inhabit it.”

Gunther von Hagens’ BODY WORLDS 2 & The Three Pound Gem
The Original Exhibition of Real Human Bodies
March 5–October 4, 2009
Body Worlds exhibitions have been hailed by many as the most educational exhibitions ever created to improve the public’s awareness, knowledge, and appreciation of the human body. Thanks to a process developed by Dr. Gunther von Hagen called “plastination,” these exhibitions feature dynamic, whole-body plastinates that are unparalleled for their aesthetic and informative value. Visitor studies have shown that people who see Body Worlds exhibitions have made lifestyle changes in diet, alcohol, smoking, and exercise habits to improve their health. Body Worlds 2 and the Three Pound Gem focuses on the brain.

 Past Exhibitions

Enraptured: Works by Mitch Dobrowner
A Day in Pompeii
Contemporary Israeli Photography
Dead Sea Scrolls
Playing with Time
Earth, Wind & WILDFIRE
Dinosaurs: Reel & Robotic
GENOME: The Secret of How Life Works
Backyard Monsters
Wildlife Art
Fossil Hunters San Diego
Natural Treasures: Past and Present
Chocolate: The Exhibition
Feathered Dinosaurs and the Origin of Flight
Plant Portraits: The California Legacy of A.R. Valentien
Spirit of the Mountains: Images by Thomas D. Mangelsen
The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
Spirits in Stone: The New Face of African Art
Glow: Living Lights
Rare Places in a Rare Light: The Wildlands Photography of Robert Turner
DOGS!
FORE! The Planet
T. REX on Trial
California's Native Grandeur
Animal Eyes
After the Dinosaurs: When Crocodiles Ruled
Monarca: Butterfly Beyond Boundaries
Epidemic! The Natural History of Disease
BEARS: Imagination and Reality
The Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park: The Lost World
Desert and Sea: Visions of Baja California
The Nature of Diamonds
SHARKS! Fact and Fantasy
REPTILES! Real and Robotic
Cats! Wild to Mild
Shona