What's On

Exhibition On Now!  

From the flying aliens featured in the movie Pitch Black, to the giant crocodile in Peter Pan, John Cox's Creature Workshop has created some of the world’s coolest animatronic movie visuals. How To Make A Monster - the Art and Technology of Animatronics, is the first major travelling exhibition to come to TELUS Spark and made its Canadian debut here in Calgary! 

An awesome example of how Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) all go into making movies, How To Make A Monster creates an opportunity for audiences to become animatronic puppeteers, lighting technicians, creature

designers and more!

Visitors will experience how steel, wire, nuts, pulleys and miniature motors are combined to create the bones and muscles that bring animatronic creatures to life. Expect to touch the alien guts from Pitch Black, run Inspector Gadget into a stop sign, manoeuver Megalania (an ancient Australian mega-reptile), and even direct a dinosaur.

This internationally-shown exhibition focuses on the skills and processes, as well as the art and technology that goes into creating and building the monsters seen in some of our favourite block-buster films and TV shows. Exhibits featuring characters from films such as George of the Jungle 2, Pitch Black, Inspector Gadget 2 and various other movie and television productions help to illustrate the creature-making process from start to finish – including storyboarding and concept design, to the actua

l manufacture of fantasy creatures and realistic animals.

Don't miss exciting special events, included with General Admission and Membership, such as:

• 1st Thursday evenings: Engineering Nights
• 2nd Thursday evenings: Adults Only Nights
• Monthly: Special Event Weekends

Buy Tickets Online Now!

Coming to Calgary from Australia, this world-class showing was created by John Cox’s Creature Workshop. Cox is a visual effects expert who received an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for his work on the movie Babe (1995).

Extras

Download How to Make a Monster Podcurator
Prior to visiting, download this podcast to your mp3 player for added detail and insights about the exhibition!

Exhibition Images Coming Soon!

This Travelling Exhibition is free with Admission or Membership.

Thank you to our Media Partners:

Supported by:

For Educators 

This limited-time Travelling Exhibition is complimentary during your visit between February 9 and July 1, 2013. Educators, check out the Curriculum Connections below and  book your visit today!

Grade 1:
Building Things

1-8- Identify the purpose of different components in a personally constructed object or model, and identify corresponding components in a related object or model.

Grade 3:
Building with a variety of Materials

3-6: Safely use a variety of tools techniques and materials in construction activities.

3-7: Construct structures, using a variety of materials and designs, and compare the effectiveness of the various materials and designs for their intended purposes.

Testing Materials and Designs

3-8: Evaluate the suitability of different materials and designs for their use in a building task.

Learning Outcome 2: Compare and evaluate the strength and stability of different models or objects constructed.

Grade 4:
Wheels and Levers

4-6 Demonstrate a practical understanding of wheels, gears and levers by constructing devices in which energy is transferred to produce motion.

Building devices and vehicles that move

4-8 Explore and evaluate variations to the design of a mechanical device, demonstrating that control is an important element in the design and construction of that device.

Light and Shadows

Learning Outcomes 6: Recognize that opaque materials cast shadows, and predict changes in the size and location of shadows resulting from the movement of a light source or from the movement of a shade-casting object.

Grade 5:
Mechanisms using electricity

Learning Outcomes 1: Identify example applications of electrical devices in the school and home environment, and classify the kinds of uses.  Categories of electrical use may include such things as: heating, lighting, communicating, moving, computing.

Learning Outcomes 9: Given a design task and appropriate materials, invent and construct an electrical device that meets the task requirements.

Grade 7:
Structures and forces

Learning Outcomes 1:

• Recognize and classify structural forms and materials used in construction
• Interpret examples of variation in the design of structures that share a common function and evaluate the effectiveness of the designs
• Describe and interpret natural structures, including the structure of living things and structures created by animals

Grade: 8
Mechanical systems

Learning Outcomes 2: Analyze machines by describing the structures and functions of the overall system, the subsystems and the component parts.

Learning Outcomes 3: Investigate and Describe the transmission of force and energy between parts of a mechanical system.

Grade 9:
Electrical Principles and technology

Learning Outcomes 2: Investigate toys, models and household appliances; and draw circuit diagrams to show the flow of electricity through them.

The art curriculum for div 1 and 2 is all centered around 4 key concepts and builds on itself throughout.  The concepts are: reflection, depiction, composition and expression.  They all fit with the exhibit.