an inspirational visit to the denver museum of natural history

i have always been a bit of a loner. in high school, i had several very good friends, but spent much of my time by myself. one thing that i used to love to do was to go to the denver museum of natural history and geek out. i would hang out in the "gem and mineral hall" or sketch all of the amazing animals. i also spent a lot of time admiring the gem carvings of vasily konovalenko. the recent visit to the museum with my parents brought back a lot of memories.

you could stand inside this "crystal cavern".

a huge rock with rhodonite crystals

fabulous agate slabs

geodes

check out this amethyst!

these are amazing.

aquamarine crystals

amazonite, in its "natural" surroundings

but always my favorite place in the museum was the room with the gem carvings. these are INCREDIBLE! each and every part of every sculpture is carved from gemstones, with an occasional gold or silver accent.

her body is something called "beloretsk quartz"; her hair is rutilated quartz; his hat and mittens are jasper; his boots are obsidian; the sheet is rose quartz.

his bucket is petrified wood; the brush is agate and amethyst; his face and hands are jasper; his shirt is lapis and the apron is howlite.

her boots are red picture jasper; her blouse is variscite; her skirt is nundoorite; her hair is onyx; her "kerchief" is goldstone; her instrument is made of tiger eye, petrified wood, gold, and silver. his shirt is opal and his jacket is lapis.

have you ever seen anything like these? are their similar sculptures in other museums? i am just as fascinated by them now as i have always been and would love to learn more about them!