Welcome spring with a look at bunnies, birds, and flowers! overview image
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Welcome spring with a look at bunnies, birds, and flowers!

  • Post Date: 03/24/2018
  • Author: Elizabeth Sutton
  • Reading Time: 2 minute read

Spring is officially here. And while it’s still a little chilly outside, we’ve decided to embrace the season instead of wishing for warmer weather. We have searched the Spurlock Museum’s collections in order to find our most quintessentially spring objects. Here are some of our favorites to inspire you to celebrate the season. And don’t worry, those warmer days are just around the corner.

  • shiny black figurine of a rabbit
    This blackware ceramic rabbit from the W. Dale and Jeanne C. Compton Collection was made at the Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, by Carmel Romero in 1931. (2017.07.0015)
  • wooden hare standing upright with a bag slung over his shoulder
    From the Fred A. Freund Collection, this wonderful wood okimono from 19th century Japan depicts a hare carrying a sack. (2004.13.0006)
  • carved wooden pulley in the shape of a rabbit
    This small weaving pulley is from Thailand and also depicts a rabbit. This object is from our Kieffer-Lopez Collection. (2012.08.0013)
  • front of a greeting card cut in the shape of a brightly illustrated red flower with six petals
    This beautiful vintage greeting card flower was a gift of Natalia M. Belting. We hope to see more spring blooms any day now. (1972.21.0265)
  • small circular box resembling a tightly woven overturned basket with a flower design woven into the top
    This box, embellished with porcupine quills, comes from the Ojibwe of Michigan. The 3D flower detail on the top is very intricate and created with much skill and care. This item is also from our W. Dale and Jeanne C. Compton Collection. (2017.07.0102B)
  • small bird carved from a slightly translucent smooth orange material
    These little birds are scale weights from the ancient Near East and are carved from a dark yellow chalcedony. (1900.53.0122)
  • small bird carved from a slightly translucent smooth red material
    (1900.53.0123)

Past Time Pastimes

Once spring arrives for real in April, be sure to check out our upcoming Past Time Pastimes exhibit, showcasing a number of vintage board games—many prominently featuring bunnies!

Past Time Pastimes is part of the Playful by Design, Interdisciplinary Game Studies at Illinois Spring Symposium (external link) held April 5–7. It is sponsored by the Illinois Project for Research in the Humanities, Spurlock Museum, Illinois Informatics, CU Community FabLab, CITL, and the School for Information Sciences at UIUC.