Skip to main content

Exhibition Opening Talk: Exquisite Creatures with Christopher Marley

Talk/Lecture
Great Hall
$30 ($25 for members)
This event has passed
Crystal Bridges will close early at 4 PM on Friday, May 3, to prepare for the VIP Premiere of The Portal: An Art Experience by Jewel. Lunch will be served in the Great Hall on Friday. The Coffee Bar and select galleries will close at 3 PM.
Man smiling in grey shirt sits at table with color fish mounted on a white board
Christopher Marley

Join us to kick off the Creature Fest weekend celebration and the grand opening of Exquisite Creatures with a captivating talk between artist Christopher Marley and moderator Kyle Kellams. It’s an extraordinary evening of art, nature, and insightful conversation that you won’t want to miss! Afterwards, join us for a book signing of Exquisite Creatures: A Dialogue with Art, Nature, and Science.

Tickets are $30 ($25/members), reserve your spot online or with Guest Services at (479) 657-2335 today.

To get your book signed, please purchase a book with your ticket and pick it up the night of the lecture.

About the Speakers

Christopher Marley

Christopher Marley is an artist, naturalist, photographer, and author who uses preserved natural specimens as his medium. He grew up in the Pacific Northwest, immersed in nature from his earliest memories. During a decade spent traveling the world as a fashion model, Marley’s passion for discovering unfamiliar elements in the natural world became an obsession.

His work was born of a desire to share nature’s majesty in a way that inspires both the urbane and the nature aficionado equally. Marley believes that in the proper light, beauty is found in every organism and that the deeper our appreciation for the aesthetics of nature, the more eager we are to immerse ourselves in it and conserve it.

All of the vertebrates that Marley uses in his work are reclaimed after dying of natural or incidental causes. He has innovated techniques for a host of organisms that are not typically considered good candidates for preservation. He also utilizes insects that are collected or bred in an environmentally sensitive manner using a worldwide network of people and institutions that share his passion for nature.

Christopher Marley

Marley’s work explores the deep relationships between vastly different natural objects and the love and unity we intrinsically feel with them and with nature as a whole. His first book, Pheromone, was named one of the ­best books of the year by The Times (UK). His second book, Biophilia, was a New York Times Best Seller.

Marley’s traveling museum exhibits have been experienced by millions of visitors in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Kyle Kellams

Kyle began working in radio in 1979 at KTLO in Mountain Home. He attended the University of Arkansas and worked at KUAF as a student. After a few years back at KTLO and as news director at KIX-104, he returned to KUAF as news director in 1989. He began producing the program “Ozarks at Large” in March, 1990. It’s now heard six days a week. In October the program began airing in Little Rock.

Kyle lives in Fayetteville with his wife, Laura, who is the director of the northwest Arkansas office of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families…and Daisy, an Australian cattle dog who has defended the house from UPS invasion for three years.