Instagram Youtube Facebook Flickr Linkedin
Join
Search

News

The Peale is Baltimore’s Community Museum.

What's On?
Events

Sassy Toes

Come Meet Sassy Toes - The Peale’s Biggest Resident!

"Sassy Toes" was created by artist Francisco Benavides for Submersive Productions’ 2017 immersive theater experience "H.T. Darling’s Incredible Musaeum Presents: The Treasures of New Galapagos"

There’s a new star at The Peale, and she’s impossible to miss.

 

Floating gracefully through the museum’s spiral stairwell is Sassy Toes, a towering puppet-sculpture of a mastodon whose presence fills the space with wonder and playfulness.

 

Sassy Toes is more than an artwork — she’s a symbol of everything The Peale stands for: creativity, curiosity, and community. Inspired by the original mastodon once exhibited by Charles Willson Peale in 1802 — the first full fossil reconstruction ever shown in America — this new interpretation brings that spirit of discovery into the 21st century.

Hand-crafted by local artists and collaborators, Sassy Toes was designed to move people — not just in size and scale, but emotionally. Her sweeping ribs and enormous limbs seem to climb upward through the stairwell, inviting visitors to follow her path from floor to floor. 

 

Each view reveals something new: light filtering through the bones, shadows dancing on the walls, and that unmistakable feeling that history is alive and playful here.

Now that she’s settled in, we invite you to come meet Sassy Toes in person. Bring your friends, family, and curiosity — she loves a good audience. Snap a selfie from the landing, share it to help us welcome this prehistoric Baltimorean to her new home. 

 

Because at The Peale, the past isn’t something we simply preserve — it’s something we play with, learn from, and bring to life.

An interior room in a museum that features books on a table and a replica gaslight in the corner.

The Peale Announces New Advisory Board

January 28, 2026

The Peale Announces New Advisory Board The Peale, Baltimore’s Community Museum, is proud to announce the formation of a new Advisory Board—an engaged group of leaders, thinkers, and practitioners who will help guide the museum’s

Read More »
Two young men work on striping paint from old windows.

Peale Fine Art Framing Is Now Open

January 19, 2026

We’re excited to announce the launch of Peale Fine Art Framing, a new professional framing service now available inside The Peale in downtown Baltimore. Peale Fine Art Framing offers museum-quality custom framing, conservation framing, and

Read More »
Scroll to Top