International Village Wildlife Museum

02/15/2022

Shout out to our friend Divya from Gotham Taxidermy! Divya was also featured alongside Art in the Carl Cotton exhibition label at the Field Museum and you can tune in virtually to hear her story tomorrow, February 16th at Noon! Check out her stories and bio to register.

I’m back! And so honored to share that I’ve been invited to speak about my experiences making a career in taxidermy with in the A. Watson Armour Series! The program provided science lovers an opportunity to be inspired by a variety of emerging and accomplished BIPOC professionals sharing insights about their education, experience, and careers. Any students joining can also get advice to begin taking their next steps beyond high school. Tune in this Weds Feb 16th at 12pm CST, and see past recorded sessions on the museum’s website. Link to register in my stories and in bio!

02/15/2022

Happy Black History Month!

As part of the ongoing exhibition featuring Carl Cotton, The Field Museum has a small section dedicated to other taxidermists of color who have made an impact in the field, including the one and only Art Ledger!

If you are in the Chicago area, check it out before March 6.

PS - The GoFundMe is still live! We've used a variety of platforms to raise money and this one is the easiest to leave open for the foreseeable future, so please share!

08/31/2021

Thanks again to Divya from Gotham Taxidermy for introducing us to Diane Patrick, granddaughter of renowned tanner Sinclair Clark!
Sinclair Clark was a legendary taxidermy tanner, originally from Barbados in the West Indies.
Learn more about him on his Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Clark_(taxidermist)

08/06/2021

Cleveland meets Brooklyn! Divya of Gotham Taxidermy paid us a visit this week, while she was in town for some taxidermy business. Divya specializes in birds and is a strong supporter of conservation efforts, diversity + equity in the taxidermy community, and vintage fashion. Truly an artist!

Friendly reminder, the Go Fund Me is still live for the International Village Wildlife Museum: https://gofund.me/4eda75bc
Art will be focusing on creating an accessible visitor entrance and bathroom for the museum, while displaying custom mounts and specialty workshop spaces.

06/23/2021

Check out this blog post from the Field Museum on Art Ledger!
Thank you to Reda Brooks and Tori Lee for taking the time to interview Art and include him in their ongoing series to feature black taxidermists.

Art Ledger wants to inspire a love of wildlife in the next generation.

06/13/2021

FYI - as we are closing out the ioby fundraiser, any future donations may go to the Go Fund Me account, which is still active:
https://gofund.me/0fc3dad2

Thank you to everyone who has donated!

Art Ledger was the first African-American taxidermist in the United States to ow… Susan Underwood needs your support for International Village Wildlife Museum

06/04/2021

Art Ledger was not only the first African-American taxidermist in the United States. He also owned and operated Ohio's first state certified taxidermy school and served for 40 years on Ohio's Taxidermist Board as a member, judge, and president.

06/04/2021

Interview with the man behind the museum, Art Ledger!

We have extended the end date for the ioby fundraiser for this interview and an upcoming blog post from the Field Museum - stay tuned!

Fundraiser:
https://ioby.org/project/international-village-wildlife-museum

Art Ledger, a local taxidermist on Cleveland's near West Side, hopes to raise money to turn his shop into a wildlife museum.