Art Exhibit Features Giant Dinosaur Marionettes Designed by Mines Mechanical Engineering Students

November 19, 2025
Art Exhibit Features Giant Dinosaur Marionettes Designed by Mines Mechanical Engineering Students
South Dakota Mines mechanical engineering students brought engineering and imagination together to build large dinosaur marionettes, each one crafted with a variety of materials ranging from papier-mache and fabric to metal and 3D printed parts and designed with at least two movable parts.

South Dakota Mines mechanical engineering students brought engineering and imagination together to build large dinosaur marionettes, each one crafted with a variety of materials ranging from papier-mache and fabric to metal and 3D printed parts and designed with at least two movable parts.

The creatures are now on display in the Apex Gallery in the university’s Classroom Building. The project isThe creatures are now on display in the Apex Gallery in the university’s Classroom Building. The project is part of the freshman introduction to mechanical engineering course taught by Cristian Vargas Ordóñez, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Leslie A. Rose Department of Mechanical Engineering. part of the freshman introduction to mechanical engineering course taught by Cristian Vargas Ordóñez, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Leslie A. Rose Department of Mechanical Engineering.

“The installation showcases the first design project from our mechanical engineering freshmen, where students learned foundational engineering concepts, particularly statics, by designing and building giant dinosaur marionettes,” said Vargas Ordóñez.

Working in 33 teams of three to four students each, students were given basic guidelines and a budget of $75, but the rest was up to their ingenuity.

Each puppet animates core concepts of forces, moments and equilibrium through student-designed mechanisms—linkages, pulleys, levers, and other motion systems—while also embracing storytelling, material exploration and playful expression.

“I didn’t want to constrain them,” said Vargas Ordóñez, who did a similar pilot project last spring. “I was really impressed at what the students produced and the creativity they took with the project.”

One team even partnered with the Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C., using computer-aided design to model fossil parts for their dinosaur marionette.

“The resulting creatures reveal the blend of rigor, curiosity and imagination that defines early engineering identity, transforming foundational mechanics into movement, character and joy,” said Matthew Whitehead, lecturer at Mines and director of the Apex Gallery.

Vargas Ordóñez and Whitehead collaborated on the pop-up installation, which opened last Friday, November 14, with a reception at 4 p.m. today, Wednesday, Nov. 19.

The next installation at the gallery will be the second annual Zinefest 2025 where students, faculty and staff will display their zines, which are small, independently published booklets. The exhibition opening is Friday, Dec. 5.