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Human, Approachable, and Fun 



— The Families at Work Exhibit 



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By Fredelle AAaynard 



Ron Testa and Diane Alexander White 



Just beyond the ancient China collection — past 

 the marble sarcophagus and those austere deities 

 (God of Creation, Judge of Purgatory), the Bud- 

 dhas and bottles and polychrome bowls — visitors to 

 the Field Museum this spring now find themselves in 

 a surprising world. Here, stuffed and mounted, are a 

 white-tailed doe with two fawns, a baby bat clinging 

 to its mother in a windowless cave, a newly hatched 

 monarch caterpillar. 



Here, too, are cases of brilliant child garments 

 from Pakistan, Botswana, Greenland, the American 

 12 Southwest. Here are hand-fashioned toys from round 



the world — carts and dolls and balls and miniature 

 farm implements. Life-size photographs of the world's 

 families illustrate and elaborate displays. At the heart 

 of the exhibit, under banners which identify its 

 themes (Bearing, Tending, Feeding, Carr;ving, 

 Covering, Protecting, Teaching), children — real live 

 Chicago children — are playing. In the baby area, one 

 toddler pushes a cart while another chatters into a dis- 

 connected phone; a third delightedly contemplates 

 her own mirror image. Some mothers sit on bright 

 floor pillows, directing and commenting. ("Look, 

 Jason, A white bear, a blue fish, an orai-ige carrot.") 



