Imagined at the ROM

As part of my recent two week teaching gig at Haliburton College's Artist Blacksmith program, I supervised students on a two day field trip to Toronto. The major component of this was visiting the Royal Ontario Museum.

One of the assignments students were given was to document two objects seen at the ROM which interested them. They were to record via drawings (or possibly photographs) and notes what the object was, some indication of where it was located, and especially what aspect tweeked their attention.

I came home with a page of (too brief) notes and about 20 images.
A lot of those were intended as reference on just what historic iron objects the ROM currently has on display (not that many I must report).

In terms of 'imagination' - these are what caught my eye as I rushed about supervising the students :

Bone plated skull of an ancient armoured fish.

Dish shaped protective scales of an ocean living dinosaur.

Bundles of fossilized cartilage (?) along the spine of another.

Skull of an ichthyosaurus.

When you consider forged materials, I think you can see why I am drawn bones in general, and ancient fossils specifically.