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Exhibition Design

I responded to a posting from the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History and was chosen to redesign the entry way exhibit for the museum. I am still thrilled with the work we did together and I look forward to future collaborations for public exhibition. I’ve included here some views of process behind the exhibit. The museum gave me the entry way glass house and second floor bridge crossing, as well as an attached small shop to redesign. I began by modeling the complex space and proposed the general layout, procured new artifacts, and wrote much of the copy. The center piece of the exhibit is a scale model 1000 butterfly visualization of the population change over time.

Visualizing Loss

Artifacts

Modeling

Visualizing Loss

While The town of Pacific Grove is known as Butterfly town, because once millions of butterflies settled their and in the surrounding south west annually. But over the span of 23 years became thousands. What caused this dramatic crashing? And what was it like during their migrations in the 90s when there were still millions in the region? That scale of loss is what this piece is showing.

View of the hanging sculpture from the bridge, and the placard explaining the loss that is visualized here.

Full sheet of unfolded butterflies off the laser-cutter

Building the sculpture

What’s left

I originally designed the butterfly loss into a costume, this later became the inspiration for the exhibit.

Artifacts

I procured new historical specimens and scientific artifacts, worked with existing museum artifacts, designed new graphics, and wrote exhibit copy. A video loop shows intimate footage that expose the butterflies fascinating biology and maps, graphs, and imagery allow you to examine the butterfly up close and across the long reach of time. Collectively the all work together to tell the story of the rise and fall of this butterfly in our social conscious.

Selection from the media I procured for the exhibit design, here showing the Monarch Butterfly in an intimate profile.

Sinage from exhibit

Illustrating maps helps communicate to a broad public larger trends we are connected to. Here the map of the Monarch Migration shows how populations across North America perform their incredible multi-generational migration.

Sample placard from the exhibit, showing some of the writing and design for the museum.

Modeling

The entry way space is a two story glass house split by a bridge spanning within it. It’s filled with light and the museum exhibits and gardens split off from it in two levels. It’s a complex, central space so it was helpful to do some rough scale models in 3d to help visualize the print and assemblage artifacts and show how they interact with the entry way space. I also put together quick photo collage sketches to show designs of signage I was proposing in place at the museum. I emphasized meeting in the entry space to discuss placement of artifacts, signage, and the flow of people through the entry way.

Here modeling the cabinetry we would be building and using for the exhibit.

Quick 3d sketch of the complicated museum entry way to help visualize the design constraints and the design in space.

Sometimes an illustration is the best way to communicate a space redesign. Here an illustrated map of the planed structure for the museum garden helped align the museum on vision for the space.

Mockups like this one of the doorway / pillar for the exhibit helps align stakeholders.

Mockups like this one of the exhibit cabinet help ensure that the content is coming across.