What’s It Made Of?
In the spirit of caring for the environment, the designers of the animals aboard Noah’s Ark at the Skirball used mainly repurposed and recycled materials. On your visit, look out for familiar objects that have been transformed into new, one-of-a-kind creations.
Ram
This ram’s design was directly inspired by a piece of art called Bull’s Head, created by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso in 1942. Picasso’s work, just like this one, used an old bicycle seat for the head and bicycle handlebars for the horns. The ram’s fluffy body is made from cotton curtain fringe.
Barn Owl
The Noah’s Ark owl hovers overhead with its majestic spread of wings made from red and black Asian fans. Barn owls are found on every continent in the world except for Antarctica, and can have wingspans of up to three-
Norway Rat
This lively rat’s colorful body is actually a used croquet ball. Croquet is a popular sport played around the world, in which players use a mallet to knock their balls through hoops stuck in the grass. Wrapped wire forms the arms, tail, and those wacky whiskers! The rat’s good-humored, comical expression is completed by a pair of buttons for eyes.
Zebra
The life-sized zebras at the entrance of the Ark are made of wood, keyboards, and wind turbines that visitors can make spin around. Every zebra in the world has its own pattern of distinctive stripes, unique to each individual.
Brown Kiwi
Wild Boar
Inspired by punk kids sporting mohawk haircuts, designer Alan Maskin gave this friendly wild boar a stiff mane of brush bristles taken from a large industrial paintbrush. Its bright-yellow carved-wood body is fashionably complemented by a curly, yellow telephone cord tail.
The brown kiwi, a flightless bird native to