Swan’s Islander shares how he found a Wooly Mammoth in Maine

Description

TREMONT — Swan’s Island artist and author Gary Hoyle shares the story of his search for the truth about a mysterious tusk with two conflicting histories – one ancient, and one modern – at the Bass Harbor Memorial Library on Wednesday, Oct. 19 beginning at 6 p.m. It’s a search that led him to direct the first excavation of a wooly mammoth in Maine, and to uncover historical facts about an elephant that inspired P. T. Barnum. It’s a tale he recounts in his new book, “Mystery Tusk: Searching for Elephants in the Maine Woods.” Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the library that evening. The Wendell Gilley Museum is a co-sponsor of this event.

Mr. Hoyle is proud that the book has been endorsed by the Chicago Field Museum, Museum of Natural History and the Paramount and Disney Studios.   

Throughout his life, his work has been at the interface of art and science. For 28 years he was an exhibits artist and the Curator of Natural History at the Maine State Museum where he designed and fabricated a majority of the exhibit elements for the permanent exhibit halls, and worked on a team that relocated and restored four historically important wildlife habitat dioramas He has also done project work for organizations from New England to Iowa, including the Field Museum. His sculptures and paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States, including at the Wendell Gilley Museum in Southwest Harbor, as well as at the Aomori Prefecture Museum in Japan. 

Mr. Hoyle has created exhibits and artistic works for museums and corporations nationwide, and his work appears in the book “Art of Acadia.” He has been an artist in residence with Acadia National Park. His fanciful dinosaur illustrations toured the United States in "The Dinosaur Show" sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution. In 2008 he was Artist in Residence at the Climate Change Institute where he developed a cartoon series on global warming. 

For more information about this program, call the Bass Harbor Memorial Library at (207) 244-3798.