I came across the fantastic Some Rules for Students and Teachers, by Sister Corita Kent. With a little modification, I think they’re quite perfect for museum work, too: Find a place (or story or visitors) you trust and then try trusting it for a while. General duties of a museum visitor: Pull everything out of a…
A two-week trip to Iceland filled me with love for the land of volcanoes, icebergs, elves, and chocolate-covered licorice. It also filled me with ideas. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a mini Iceland-Inspiration series of clever ideas, interesting exhibits, and approaches to ponder. Enjoy! Let’s start at the very beginning, shall we?…
Freiburg’s Colombischlössle Archaeological Museum (or “The Colombi” for those of us who still can’t manage umlauts) has an amazing collection of artifacts from Freiburg’s history, from the Stone Age through the Romans and up to the Middle Ages. But there are two things at the museum that recently caught my eye. The first is the…
If you follow me on Twitter (cough…shameless plug…cough), you know that I recently spent a day in Switzerland, swimming in the Rhine. Or floating in the Rhine. Whatever. There was some kicking involved, so it totally counts. Have you done this? You should do this. It was heavenly to drift down the river, and so…
How do you share your museum’s data? Charts? Lists? Memos? Newsletters? Why don’t you turn all that delightful data into an infographic and… Organize your information in logical and attention-grabbing ways Simplify how you define and describe yourself Embrace color! Share the results of a survey in a new way Market an upcoming event or…
How do people see images of your institution? Your website? Promotional flyers? Other people’s vacation photos? Are the images ordinary? Beautiful? Edgy? What mood, tone, and attitude do they convey? Is it the one you want? What if you design a museum lookbook and… Show off your museum from a new angle? Use evocative images to…
How do you tell your community about your exhibits? Are you opening a new exhibit? Do you have an existing exhibit you want more people to visit? What if you create an exhibit trailer and… Preview your new exhibit to the world? Re-envision and remind visitors of the great exhibit you already have? Make something busy and exciting? Quiet…
Last month, Jaunty Dame (one of my favorite blogs on the interwebs) gave her answer to the question,“What books would you like to read that don’t exist?” and I’ve been thinking about the idea ever since. Her suggestions are excellent (YES to the George Martin book), and so is the question. I’d love to see a…
Phylogenetic trees. I love you almost as much as dichotomous keys…almost. Like most charts and graphs, phyogenetic trees aren’t big interpretive hits in museums. The fault isn’t that the information is boring – evolution is about as amazing and awe-inspiring as it gets (for this bio-nerd, anyway). The problem is that the information is too interesting.…
This week I’ve had the pleasure of getting a sneak peek of a chapter from Lynda Norris and Rainey Tisdale’s manuscript on Museums & Creative Practice. That thought-provoking reading, coupled with another creativity-focused project I’m preparing for, reminded me of a draft post I started back in March, 2012 but never finished. Since there’s no…
Museums Askew 