[mou] John Jarosz, birder behind the scenes

[Holly Peirson]

I totally agree with Jim's thoughts on John Jarosz' work. I had thought that
it was Walter Breckenridge, also, but perhaps he and FLJacques did the
paintings and left the rest to Mr. Jarosz. Jim W's story of how he came to
that position is wonderful. I hope, hope, hope, that the dioramas will make
the move to the new Museum building intact, for they are among the most
valuable treasures we have here in the Twin Cities, for both natural and
historical reasons. I think the only other place where Mr. Jacques'
paintings for dioramas are located is at the American Museum of Natural
History in NYC. Someday I hope to get there to see them.

Thank you, Jim Williams, for bringing Mr. Jarosz to our attention, and to
Jim M. for these thoughts.

I wonder if the Bell might put on a show of Mr. Jarosz' wood carvings, that
would be something to see!

Holly Peirson
Columbus, Anoka Co.


-----Original Message-----
From: mou-net-bounces at moumn.org [mailto:mou-net-bounces at moumn.org] On Behalf
Of James Mattsson
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 5:57 PM
To: Jim Williams; mou-net at moumn.org
Subject: Re: [mou] John Jarosz, birder behind the scenes

Like the ten's of thousands of other people who have stood before the Bell
Museum's standard-setting nature diorama's, I have been transported back to
a period of time when man's impact on this planet was minimal, when things
were still fairly in balance, when "carbon footprint" was a term not yet
coined. But I usually take a few minutes to look closely at the intricacies
of each diorama, at the care and craftmanship and artistry that makes these
depicted primal worlds somehow come alive. I have always felt strangely
humbled by those dioramas, and I am grateful to John Jarosz for the lasting
educational contributions he made, through his craftmanship and obvious
love of nature. Thanks, John.

Jim Mattsson
Eagan


> [Original Message]
> From: Jim Williams <two-jays at att.net>
> To: <mou-net at moumn.org>
> Date: 1/31/2008 10:10:11 PM
> Subject: [mou] John Jarosz, birder behind the scenes
>
> John Jarosz died a few days ago. The  name might not be familiar, but if
you have visited the Bell Museum of Natural History, you are familiar with
his work. John, a resident of Brooklyn Center who lived to be age 92, was a
noted wildlife artist and chief curator of exhibits at the museum for 33
years. He also was a wood carver of extraordinary talent. In 1995 I was
privileged to visit with John one afternoon. 
> This story was drawn from that interview. It first appeared in the MOU
newsletter in November 1995.  Jim Williams
>
> =====
>
> It all began when John Jarosz shot a duck near a private hunting preserve
belonging to the King of England. The King has nothing more to do with this
story, but the duck does.
>
> John began his working career as a barber, learning that trade at age 16.
Later, he was a steeplejack. He entered the Army in 1942, training as a
combat engineer. He spent his war years building air bases in England.
>
> That is where he shot the duck, a black and white bird with reddish feet,
a Shelldrake. It was a gorgeous bird, he told me. I decided to preserve
the specimen. He had learned taxidermy as a youngster. The duck was
prepped with a pocket knife, gasoline used to clean the skin. 
>
> John wrapped his finished bird and sent it home. Custom officials
confiscated the package. Possession of the mounted duck was illegal, his
parents were told. Destroy it or give it to a museum.
>
> His parents called Dr. T.S. Roberts at the University of Minnesota Museum
of Natural History. He accepted the Shelldrake, and he was so impressed
with the taxidermy work that he asked to visit with John when his Army duty
was finished.
>
> And that is how John became preparator, curator, and taxidermist for the
Bell museum.
>
> If you have visited the museum and toured its quiet, darkened halls,
standing before those windows that open upon so many different Minnesota
landscapes, you have seen much of what John created during his university
tenure.
>
> Many of the dioramas at the museum contain his taxidermy work, and show
his skill at recreating the environment in which the plants and animals on
display once lived. He could show you how to create a tree or fashion
leaves and flowers from wax. He could make a rock so real you almost could
hear the click of wolves claws as they walked across it, make mud that
looked as sticky as the real thing.
>
> John and his coworkers labored as long as two years to create one of
those large displays.
>
> In his retirement years, John pointed those skills at much smaller
targets. In the neat living room of John and wife Margie in the fall of
1995, inside a lighted display case, were a Passsenger Pigeon, a Great Auk,
a Carolina Parakeet, an Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and a handful of other
birds and mammals.
>
> Handful is the key word. The birds could perch on your index finger. You
could hold a flock of them in one hand. These were tiny, perfectly formed
miniatures carved and painted by John. He fashioned more than 500 of these
delicate works of art.
>
> MOU member Bob Janssen has a set of all of the Minnesota warblers,
regular and casual, carved by John. His first carving for Bob was a
Henslows Sparrow, fashioned in the year following his retirement. In 2003,
Bob received his last Jarosz carvings, two woodpeckers. 
>
> Most of his carvings were of birds. They were my first love, he told
me. What would we do without our feathered friends?
>
>
>