www.montereycountyweekly.com JANUARY 26-FEBRUARY 1, 2023 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 39 CULTURE Imagine a secret door that takes you to another world. A mirrored wall turns out to be movable; through it, from a 19th-century home library—itself beautiful and worth exploring—one enters a land full of nature. The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History packed big California outdoors inside three rooms now filled with an early learning space and exhibit called Wonder! The first room has a study, old maps and a magnifying glass, one of many to be found in the exhibit that caters to young explorers, ages 4-8, and their families. It’s supposed to be Mary Norton’s office. Norton, current Executive Director Carla Bitter explains, was the first curator of the P.G. museum. The next rooms mimic the outdoors, with rocks and greenery and invisible birds singing the glory of hundreds of natural history objects. “Every bell jar, every keyhole, every cubby is filled,” Bitter says about the small but packed space abundant in mammoth teeth, Aztec jars, fossilized halibut, snow goggles and taxidermied pigeons. Ninety percent of the objects have never been presented before, and many are local. Old Chinese fishing boats hang from the ceiling. Monterey cypress, kelp and poison oak are shown next to the banks of the Carmel River. “Some people like it so much that within a week after we opened, they came back four times,” Bitter adds. Of the museum’s permanent exhibits, Wonder! is the one created for children “to investigate the curiosities” of the museum, as the brochure reads, and “be inspired.” The funding came from a $2 million capital campaign that launched in 2017. After a Covid closure, the museum presented some of its work in March 2022 when Nature Exchange opened as an exhibit of rocks and fossils dedicated to young conservationists. Wonder! is the second volume of the same effort. Does it mean the facility is becoming more of a children’s museum? Young people and students are definitely the main customers. A preschool group meets each Saturday, and now Wonder! will be their meeting spot. There are junior naturalist excursions for ages 7-12, summer camps for grades K-5, plus middle school and high school science programs. But no matter what age you are, Bitter promises, you will be mesmerized wandering through the young explorer’s imagination. Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History is open 10am-4pm Wednesday to Sunday. 165 Forest Ave., Pacific Grove. $6/youth; $10/adults. 648-5716, pgmuseum.org. DANIEL DREIFUSS Wonderland Wander a new, permanent, early learning space at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History. By Agata Pop˛eda The Wonder! exhibit is multi-sensory in design and completely hands-on. Drawers are meant to be opened, paper and crayons invite visitors to draw, and there’s little text. Get Your Tickets Now! SUNSET PRESENTS... UP NEXT! Branford Marsalis The Revered Triple Grammy-Winning Jazz Saxophone Virtuoso and Band Wednesday, March 15 at 8:00 PM , March 15 at 8:00 PM Mavis Staples Celebrate Black History Month with the Beloved Gospel/Soul Legend Wednesday, February 15 at 8:00 PM , February 15 at 8:00 PM Celebrating Cesar Chavez Day: A Song for Cesar A Film Screening and Live Music Performance Celebrating the Man and the Movement Cesar Chavez Day, Friday, March 31 at 7:00 PM , March 31 at 7:00 PM
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