Whether it's a coastal forest or an imaginary submarine, the exhibits at the Royal BC Museum are a form of stagecraft.
And visitors can take a behind-the-scenes tour to see how it all comes together.
Artists work in a prop shop for inanimate theater, making the museum’s different environments come to life.
"They create a plaster cast of an actual leaf… it's subsequently painted, maybe some worm holes and details added, it's then attached to a wire, then attached to a twig," explained Richard Hurst, museum docent. "It's then added to the forest, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of leaves."
Artists also made a wooly mammoth's coat out of yak hair and handcrafted a giant, detailed pine beetle.
"There's a lot of work that goes into making that magic happen,” Hurst said.
The Royal BC Museum is located in Victoria and is open daily. 675 Belleville St, Victoria, BC V8W 9W2, Canada
