BAR HARBOR — This summer the Bar Harbor Whale Museum is facilitating special encounters with artists and authors whose delight in the life of ocean has been published in words and in images. This series, held once a month this summer on a Sunday afternoon, features workshops and readings with local children’s authors and artists who focus on nearby waters.

The first session is on June 27 at 1 p.m. Dee Perry will talk about her new book, “A Whale in my Backyard.” In words and drawings by Ms. Perry, the book features the family of curator and director of the Bar Harbor Whale Museum, Toby Stephenson, who actually did have a whale in their backyard.

It’s the very same whale that now hangs inside the museum. In addition to running the museum, Mr. Stephenson is an expert on marine skeletons, having cleaned, repaired and articulated whale bones for Harvard University, Phillips Exeter Academy, the Bar Harbor Whale Museum, and other institutions.

When a whale is found dead near to shore, it often will be dissected and autopsied — or necropsied — to add to the store of knowledge about the species. Given the right situation, Mr. Stephenson will then bury the whale for a few months, allowing creatures of the soil to feed off the remaining meat and fat, ultimately cleaning the bones.

Ms. Perry’s book details how skeleton displays get created, with facts about humpbacks woven throughout.

Joining Ms. Perry at the book presentation will be Rosemary Seton, stranding coordinator for Allied Whale, the marine mammal research arm of College of the Atlantic. Should an injured or dead whale or other marine mammal be found, she is the one to rescue or salvage it.

For more information, call 288-0288.

For more arts & entertainment news, pick up a copy of the Mount Desert Islander.

Comments (0)