Ry Williams is a self-described “dinosaur erection specialist” who’s a lot like a window dresser at a department store, except instead of arranging mannequins he poses and positions delicate, huge and ancient dinosaur skeletons.
Almost always, they’re positioned as natural to how they likely would’ve looked millions of years ago when they were alive.
Sometimes, though, Williams gets to let his hair down a little, like with his latest work at Dino Lab in British Columbia, Canada, which has two mortal enemies talking over some lovely tea.
Williams, his wife Lina and brother Nate decided to go beyond the traditional dinosaur display and make something more whimsical and thought-provoking.
“Bygones” is the result, a mount of a Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops sitting at a 12-foot-tall table, setting aside their ancient antagonism over a nice cup of tea.
The dino tea party is fun, head-turning and is a political statement about the conflicts in the world today.
“I think it’s a message the world needs right now,” Williams told Cowboy State Daily. “The two most iconic mortal enemies sitting together and having a conversation. It’s fun, but cool to build something with a message.”
Dinosaur Erection Specialist
Dino Lab, a fossil restoration lab in Victoria, British Columbia, prepares and mounts fossils for museums and private clients. As home to some of the world’s most prolific and important dinosaur fossil sites, Wyoming specimens and replicas are all over the world.
Williams was a college welding instructor when he was recruited to create steel armatures to secure the fossils in dynamic poses.
“I met the founder, Terry Ciotka, at a birthday party,” he said. “I asked how somebody could get into that business, and Terry said the No. 1 thing he needed to find was a welder. And here I was, with a background in high-level welding and fabrication.”
Williams’s work includes “Horridus,” one of the most complete Triceratops skeletons ever found on permanent display at Museums Victoria in Australia. He’s also mounted “Victoria,” a Tyrannosaurus specimen that’s been visiting museums worldwide for several years.
“I went to a birthday party ten years ago, and now I’m cleaning and mounting dinosaur bones,” he said.
Doing Something Different
After putting together several conventional dinosaur mounts, Williams decided he was ready for a challenge, artistically and scientifically.
“We’ve done work with paleontologists all over the world, and the goal is to get everything as accurate as possible,” he said. “You get to the point where you ask, ‘What else can we do?’ And then I had what seemed like a pretty crazy idea.”
Dino Land had several Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops fossils, collected from various sites in the U.S., that weren’t complete enough for a full skeleton. Williams thought they could be mounted in an unorthodox but compelling way.
“A real T. rex and a real Triceratops sitting down and having tea together,” he said. “The most iconic enemies in the history of the planet having a conversation. I think the world needs that kind of message right now.”
To his surprise, everyone at Dino Lab supported the unorthodox idea. Although fabricating it would be Williams’ greatest challenge yet, he had experience working with the figures he’d be depicting.
“Having experience working with T. rexes and Triceratops was a good thing to have going into it,” he said.
Above And Below The Belt
From start to finish, “Bygones” took more than three years to complete. Williams and his team had to mount two partial dinosaur skeletons and put them in unconventional poses that had them sitting with their heads 24 feet in the air.
“I tried to keep the dinosaurs within their actual range of flexibility,” he said. “The finished mounts are within the range of how their arms, legs, and tails could actually move. I didn’t want them to look like they were in outer space. They needed to look real.”
The skeletons are a mix of real fossils, between 25% and 30% of the skeletons, and sculpted replicas. Most of the actual fossils are from the back halves of the dinosaurs, keeping the largest, heaviest bones closer to the ground.
“The legs and hips on both dinosaurs are real fossils,” Williams said. “Some of the shoulder blades, a couple arm bones, and the 6-inch chunks of the ribs are real. It’s pretty sporadic.”
Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops are renowned for their huge, heavy skulls. A complete fossilized Triceratops skull can weigh more a ton but be as thin and fragile as fine china.
Topping both of the sitting dinosaurs with sculpted or replica skulls would reduce the mount's weight and complexity. Nevertheless, Williams said even those have actual fossil elements incorporated into them.
“There’s quite a bit of real bone in the Triceratops skull,” he said. “Lots of the frill, one side of the face, and the horns. They’re fragments, but they’re real.”
Sitting Tall
Welding the steel armatures for the skeletons was a challenge for Williams. Dinosaurs aren’t known for being vertical, but the T. rex and Triceratops mounts had to sit tall.
“Positioning all the brackets was tricky, but it was cool to see these things in a totally different position,” he said. “You’re looking at these dinosaurs and their anatomy in a completely different way.”
The dinosaurs sit at a 12-foot-tall steel table. Williams welded the dinosaur-sized furniture and covered them with rose motifs as a homage to a late family member.
“The teacups they’re holding are an heirloom from my grandmother,” he said. “She passed away 15 years ago, but my aunt kept her heirloom tea set. The rose motifs on the table and chairs match the tea set.
The finished mount “Bygones” was unveiled at Dino Lab at the end of January. It has attracted considerable attention, considering nothing like it has ever been done on this scale.
Williams’s dinosaur mounts have been seen all over the world, but he sees “Bygones” as one of his crowning achievements. It might not be scientifically accurate, but it’s proven to be thought-provoking in a way he hasn’t experienced before.
“Everybody’s been really receptive,” he said. “People see it and I’ve seen their jaws drop. I’ve had a few people start crying, which is pretty weird, but cool that you can build something that evokes that kind of emotion.”
Taking A Step Back
Williams has dozens of dinosaurs on his docket, including skeletons of Camarasaurus and Stegosaurus excavated in Wyoming. He will mount those specimens in scientifically accurate stances rather than fanciful poses.
“I went to Wyoming a few times this summer,” he said. “It’s a great place.”
Mounting life-like dinosaurs is a return to form for Williams and his team, but there’s room for more artistic pieces. With “Bygones” finished, he hopes it’ll give people new perspectives on what prehistoric dinosaurs can represent in the modern world.
“It checks all the boxes,” he said. “It’s a curiosity and a piece of art, but it’s also natural science. It has a message that creates a lot of awe in people who’ve seen it. There’s definitely some ideas about what else we could do, but now we’ve got a lot of conventional dinosaurs to work on.”
Williams believes “Bygones” could someday stand in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City or the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and wouldn’t be out of place at either place.
Personally, Williams relished the opportunity to do something different. “Bygones” gave him much-needed perspective as a dinosaur erection specialist welding steel for dramatic dinosaur displays.
“When you get into the minutia of bending metal, it becomes a job,” he said. “Once a week or so, you’ve got to take a step back and say, ‘This is really, really cool.’ It isn’t just a job. You’re dealing with dinosaurs.”
Contact Andrew Rossi at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
