Long before a giant T-Rex chased Jeff Goldblum and the cast of “Jurassic Park” through the jungle, Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species” as one of the first recorded observations of evolution in the natural world.
Now in its 18th year, Darwin Day at UT will celebrate Darwin’s 205th birthday and his life’s accomplishments by hosting lectures, contests and an expert panel. Darwin Day’s keynote speaker this year is Alan De Queiroz, who will discuss biogeography as a branch of evolutionary science.
“Our mission is to involve as much of Knoxville as possible, because historically we have a misunderstanding of evolutionary science and some hostility surrounding evolution,” said Sarah Sheffield, a Ph.D. student in earth and planetary sciences.
First appearing in 2013, Darwin Day’s most visual hook for evolutionary education are the two 12-foot tall, paper mache puppets designed by local artists Kevin and Cindy Collins.
Aside from their passion for local and national activism, the Collinses and their children Will and Kayce, constructed the puppets that depict Darwin and his contemporary, Alfred Russel Wallace.
“It’s a very collaborative effort,” Cindy Collins said of the process of creating the puppets’ heads. “As we do specific character, Kevin gathers up a lot of pictures and they are posted all over the house, and he studies those a lot, and then he comes up with a sketch of what characteristics. He even measures the face to make them as accurately as possible.”
Cardboard, chicken wire and newswire also secure the shape of the puppet’s body, along with a backpack shoulder piece which allows the animator inside to hold up the puppet’s weight.
The next step, as Cindy Collins describes, involves eight to ten hours of placing paper mache, dry brush paint and perfecting the distinctive characteristics on a puppet’s face.
“They’re not caricatures, but you look for features that are distinctive,” Kevin Collins said. “Darwin’s forehead was distinctive, and when it comes down to it everything’s distinctive. The ears are distinctive, and the nose, if you’ve got a crooked nose. It’s just picking those features out and how to represent those in the best way.”
The Collins family also accompanied the Darwin Day committee to its pre-event trip to Dayton, Tennessee, to visit the historic courthouse where the Scopes Monkey Trial was held on July 21, 1925.
A field trip like this, Kevin Collins said, adds greater relevance to past events and enriches a student’s education for the long term.
“You get a sense of history and get a sense of the importance of how things work if you’re there,” Kevin Collins said. “You can sit at the prosecutor’s desk or the defending attorney’s desk, because those things are still there and so you are in touch with history 100 years ago. For me, I love history, so it’s good for me, but trying to provide education and educational experiences, is also good for [Wes and Kayce].”
For Joy Buongiorno, a Ph.D. student in microbiology, the impact of the puppets will take on a different perspective as she and Sheffield, Darwin Day’s student organizer, bring the Collins’ Darwin and Wallace puppets to life this week.
“It’s a pretty laborious process once you’re in there,” Buongiorno said of her time inside the puppet. “[There’s] a lot of grunting and yelling, and a lot of awkwardness.”
Yet, Darwin’s Day emphasis on education and spreading excitement about evolutionary science, Sheffield said, still remains a primary focus of Darwin Day since its foundation in 1997.
This year, Darwin Day held contests for Knox County elementary, middle and high schools, asking interested students to draw cartoons of common ancestors and examples of biogeography for prizes.
“What we do or what we hope to do is introduce people to the fun of science, the beauty of learning and how really spectacular it is to study the world around us and how the events in the past shape the world today,” Sheffield said.
“I come in and say I’m a paleontologist and I don’t have to say more. They’re on board.”
For a full list of this year’s Darwin Day events, visit http://darwindaytn.org/
