Dreams and Dioramas

JAN VRIESEN’S WORK IN THE NATURAL HISTORY GALLERY

Jan Vriesen paints the backdrop for the coastal forest diorama in the Natural History gallery in the 1970s.

Museum visitors examine the completed seashore diorama. Jan Vriesen’s work is visible in the background.

Jan Vriesen painting the seashore diorama in the Natural History gallery.

Jan Vriesen inspects his work on the seashore diorama in the Natural History gallery.

Sandra Hudson

Communications Consultant

Jan Vriesen mixes paints while working on seashore dioramas in the Natural History gallery.

In the lead-up to the opening of the current Royal BC Museum galleries in the 1970s, the museum assembled a design team to bring the new displays to life. This team was led by acclaimed museum designer Jean Jacques André, director of exhibits. The new exhibits included the incredible dioramas that museum visitors enjoy to this day.

One of the members of that team was carpenter’s assistant Jan Vriesen, who had immigrated to Canada with his family from Germany in 1958. With a new bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Victoria, Vriesen had hoped to obtain a job as a painter with the design team, but none were available in 1972. Before the end of his first year, however, Vriesen was given the opportunity to work on the diorama paintings. In 1973 he was assigned the job of painting the coastal forest and seashore dioramas in the Natural History gallery, a task that kept him occupied until 1976. Vriesen describes dioramas as the part of the exhibit “that allow museum visitors the opportunity to step right into the setting.”

Vriesen remained at the museum until 1982, when an opportunity to paint a mural at the Kwisitis Visitor Centre (formerly known as the Wickaninnish Interpretive Centre) in Tofino presented itself.

Vriesen was then hired by the State Museum of New York in 1984, and he has worked as a diorama painter in museums across North America ever since. His work includes dioramas at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center in Fairbanks, the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. His most recent diorama work, completed in 2015, can be found at the Wanapum Heritage Center in Washington State. In addition to diorama work, Vriesen has worked with scientists to paint ancient landscape reconstructions, where technical and scientific work is brought to life through art. A series of ten paintings on display at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver is the result of collaboration between Vriesen and palaeontologist Kirk Johnson, formerly of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Each two-and-ahalf-by-three-metre (eight foot by ten foot) painting is a snapshot of what Colorado would have looked like in the distant past—60, 150 or 250 million years ago. Johnson and Vriesen’s work is also presented in the book Ancient Denvers: Scenes from the Past 300 Million Years of the Colorado Front Range.

Now 78 years old, Jan Vriesen currently divides his time between Port Alberni, BC, and Minnesota. While computergenerated art has meant less work for diorama painters in recent years, Vriesen continues to paint landscapes and recently held a joint exhibition in Port Alberni at the Rollin Art Centre.

Reflecting on his career, Vriesen said, “I am thankful that my career began at the Royal BC Museum. It was a great introduction to museum work and a tremendous opportunity to work with a dream team led by Jean Jacques André.”