With Collectors Evan Michelson, Karen Bachmann and Jennifer Berman; Includes admission to the Morbid Anatomy Museum’s “Art of Mourning” Exhibition
Date: Wednesday, November 19th
Time: 8pm
Admission: $8 ( Tickets Here )
Location: Morbid Anatomy Museum, 424 Third Avenue, 11215 Brooklyn.

Because human hair is resilient and does not decay, it is the perfect medium for memories. For centuries it has been cherished as a religious relic, a love token, a memorial, a memento mori or a sentimental keepsake. The Victorians perfected the art of hairwork; they wove it into brooches, necklaces, rings and pendants. They fashioned hair into flowers for large framed wreaths; they formed hair birds, butterflies, trees, gravestones, baskets, hearts and lyres. They even created tiny, detailed hair dioramas. When ground up into paint, “dissolved” hair has been used to create miniature portraits of mourners, angels, gothic ruins and graveyards - there is no end to the decorative possibilities for this natural, human fiber.

Some people find themselves irresistibly drawn to sentimental hairwork. Like collectors everywhere, they doggedly seek out the rare, the beautiful and the strange. Collecting hairwork means collecting bits of strangers, and collecting their untold (and usually unknowable) stories. Hairwork is mystery, often with a name attached.”

This roundtable discussion will involve three hair collectors who have contributed pieces to the first Morbid Anatomy Museum exhibition on the Art of Mourning: Evan Michelson (antiques dealer and Morbid Anatomy Scholar-in-Residence), Karen Bachmann (jeweler, teacher), and Jennifer Berman (costume designer. The three will discuss the history of hairwork and delve into their personal obsessions: how they discovered it, when they fell in love with it, and why, after so many years, it continues to hold such a fascination. There will also be a show-and-tell, with additional hairwork pieces that are not on public display.