A few months ago, I sweet-talked (in very poor German) my way into a behind-the-scenes tour of a local museum. As a staff member was showing me around, he mentioned that the collection space was roughly divided into two zones. Zone 1 housed the “valuable” items - the pieces that get put on display and used by researchers. Zone 2…
When I began as the Curator of Interpretation with the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery in 2008, my first project was Soapstone Prairie Natural Area. 28 square miles in northern Colorado, Soapstone was purchased by the city of Fort Collins to be a park and conservation area. Along with its attraction as a natural space,…
It’s no secret that I don’t like traditional dioramas. But apparently I do like it when it looks like traditional dioramas have exploded and scattered animals throughout the exhibit. I like it a lot. Last week I visited the National Museum of Scotland. And it was a lovely, if somewhat predictable, experience until I got…
Disclaimer #1: This post is primarily shameless bragging. But, as Lesley Gore would have said if she blogged about museums while eating German chocolate in her pajamas, “It’s my website and I’ll brag if I want to.” Disclaimer #2: The awesome exhibit I’m about to show off was a collaborative effort. I was the primary developer,…
The more ways I involve myself in creative projects, the more how see how much of the creative process is the same, regardless of your final products and goals. This video about Dustin Lance Black’s storytelling process focuses on screenwriting, but it could just as well be about how we tell tales in museums. “Figuring out why. Not…
Be sure to read Part 1 and Part 2. Note: While I’ve divided these steps into sections, when you’re developing new language resources chances are that many of the tasks from Part 2 will happen concurrently with the ones in Part 3. Part 3: When It’s Time For Layout and Design (1) Use a Standard Order When labels will…
Last year I wrote about how impressed I was with the interpretive moments sprinkled throughout Icelandair’s planes. When I traveled with them this month my admiration kept growing. These guys are good. Their little language and cultural stories are consistently interesting, quirky, and beautifully phrased, while still being short and snazzy. The world needs more interpretive signage…
That if you give museum visitors an opportunity to create, one of them will eventually create a penis. However, this was found at a museum dedicated to an artist who drew and sculpted his own share of penises, so we can probably cut this particular visitor some slack. Psst - this isn’t the first time penises have…
I had planned on publishing “Tips for Developing Multi-Language Labels: Part 2” today, but a last-minute museum contract has me writing limericks* about cows instead. *Don’t worry, museum-in-question, they’re not all limericks. Here’s hoping you like knock-knock jokes, too.
Another must-see on my trip to Reykjavik was The National Museum of Iceland. We almost didn’t get to go, but am I ever glad we did. It was gorgeous, interesting, fun, and I may have tried to hide our suitcases so we’d miss our flight and I could go back again. And while I loved the museum…
Museums Askew 