Digging for Dinosaurs
December 13, 2008 - July 26, 2009
This interactive exhibition puts you in a paleontologist’s boots as you discover where to look for dinosaurs, how to uncover their fossil remains, and what the fossils reveal about these “terrible lizards.” The excavation area is a major attraction of the exhibition, where visitors can scrape away matrix to free cast dinosaur bones. Displays of fossil and rock specimens and expedition images put the activities into context. The exhibition is supported by the Charles M. and Deborah G. Royce Exhibition Fund.

Innovations in the Third Dimension: Sculpture of Our Time
January 24, 2009 - May 24, 2009
The exhibition showcases over 40 masterpieces of modern sculpture and addresses how ideas about the medium, size, presentation, patronage, and techniques of sculpture in the 20th and 21st centuries have created exciting and startling new possibilities for the medium. The exhibition features notable examples of sculpture, from late 19th-century precursors such as Rodin to the early 20-century modernists (Archipenko, Calder and others) though mid-20th century work (Louise Nevelson, Henry Moore and Anthony Caro) to more recent, cutting-edge contemporary sculpture (Jeff Koons, Folkert de Jong, Do Ho Suh and Sue Webster & Tim Noble). The exhibition is supported by the Charles M. and Deborah G. Royce Exhibition Fund.

Dinosaurs: The Art of Reconstruction
February 7, 2009 - June 14, 2009
Juxtaposing the work of painters and sculptors with cast skeletal and fossilized remains of dinosaurs, this exhibition examines the question, “How do artists reconstruct a dinosaur’s appearance, social behavior, hunting methods – essentially, the world in which dinosaurs lived?” A brief examination of the history of artists’ reconstructions features the work of important early contributors to the field such as Waterhouse Hawkins and Charles R. Knight. Notable reconstructions on view illustrate how ongoing research by paleontologists enables the artist to make more accurate interpretations. The exhibition is supported by the Charles M. and Deborah G. Royce Exhibition Fund.

Illuminating the Sea: The Marine Paintings of James E. Buttersworth, 1844-1896
March 28, 2009 - July 5, 2009
This major retrospective exhibition highlights the work of famed 19th-century marine artist James Edward Buttersworth, a ship portraitist who meticulously illustrated America’s Golden Age of Sail, capturing a realistic view of sea and sky while incorporating the human element into his work. Many of the paintings on loan are part of recent gift to the Mystic Seaport Museum. The exhibition is supported by the Charles M. and Deborah G. Royce Exhibition Fund.