The One-Armed Lion Tamer

The One Armed Lion Tamer. 9" x 12" portrait of Captain Jack Bonavita, animal trainer of the early 20th century. He lost his arm as a result of his encounter with the lion 'Baltimore' at Coney Island in 1904. Captain Bonavita appeared in the arena with 27 lions, a performance which no other trainer had ever attempted. He met his death on March 19, 1917, when he was mauled to death by a polar bear.

The One-Armed Lion Tamer

9" x 12" portrait of Captain Jack Bonavita, animal trainer of the early 20th century. He lost his arm as a result of his encounter with the lion 'Baltimore' at Coney Island in 1904. Captain Bonavita appeared in the arena with 27 lions, a performance which no other trainer had ever attempted. He met his death on March 19, 1917, when he was mauled to death by a polar bear.
Work in progress.

Chicken Nancy Luce

Chicken Nancy Luce. By Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler.
Nancy Luce was a poet who lived for 76 years on Martha’s Vineyard raising chickens and writing poems about them to sell to tourists. She died in 1890 and today tourists leave plastic chickens on her grave

Chicken Nancy Luce

Nancy Luce was a poet who lived for 76 years on Martha’s Vineyard raising chickens and writing poems about them to sell to tourists. She died in 1890 and today tourists leave plastic chickens on her grave.
This is her portrait, 8" x 10", acrylic on acid-free paper, work in progress, by Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler.

Anesthesia

Anesthesia. By Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler.

Henry Dances with His Cat

Henry Behrens, the World's Smallest Man, Dances with his Cat, 1956. From a vintage photograph of the same subject.

At the Hospital

Work in progress today.

The Flying Man of Coney Island

The Flying Man of Coney Island. By Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler.
 My representation of an event reported in The New York Times of 1880 describing “a man with bat’s wings and improved frog’s legs” flying over Coney Island.

The Flying Man of Coney Island

The Flying Man of Coney Island. Work in progress today. My representation of an event reported in The New York Times of 1880 describing “a man with bat’s wings and improved frog’s legs” flying over Coney Island.

The Flying Man of Coney Island

Work in progress. As you can see, I wasn't sure where I wanted that fellow's left arm to be. I finally decided that he needed to shade his eyes.

The Flying Man of Coney Island

The Flying Man of Coney Island. Work in progress today. My representation of an event reported in The New York Times of 1880 describing “a man with bat’s wings and improved frog’s legs” flying over Coney Island.

The Flying Man of Coney Island

The Flying Man of Coney Island. Work in progress.  My representation of an event reported in The New York Times of 1880 describing “a man with bat’s wings and improved frog’s legs” flying over Coney Island.

Wall Street

Work in progress today.

Wall Street

Wall Street. Work in progress today.

The World's Fair

The World's Fair. Work in progress.

The Priscilla Test

The Priscilla Test, Part of Operation Plumbbob. 9" x 12" acrylic on acid free paper. By Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler.

Operation Plumbbob was a series of nuclear tests conducted between May 28 and October 7, 1957, at a Nevada Test Site. It was the biggest, longest, and most controversial test series in the continental United States.

On shot Priscilla (37 kt), 719 pigs were used in various experiments on Frenchman Flat. Some pigs were placed in elevated cages and provided with suits made of different materials, to test which materials provided best protection from the thermal radiation. The pigs survived, but with third-degree burns to 80% of their bodies. Other pigs were placed in pens behind large sheets of glass at measured distances from the hypocenter to test the effects of flying debris on living targets. Studies were conducted of radioactive contamination and fallout from a simulated accidental detonation of a weapon; and projects concerning earth motion, blast loading and neutron output were carried out.

Plumbbob released 58,300 kilocuries (2.16 EBq) of radioiodine (I-131) into the atmosphere. This produced total civilian radiation exposures amounting to 120 million person-rads of thyroid tissue exposure (about 32% of all exposure due to continental nuclear tests).
Statistically speaking, this level of exposure would be expected to eventually cause between 11,000 and 212,000 excess cases of thyroid cancer, leading to between 1,000 and 20,000 deaths.

In addition to civilian exposure, troop exercises conducted near the ground near shot Smoky exposed over three thousand servicemen to relatively high levels of radiation. A survey of these servicemen in 1980 found significantly elevated rates of leukemia.

The Priscilla Test

The Priscilla Test, part of Operation Plumbbob. Work in progress today.