Fishing exhibit

Today is April 15th, 2020 and you don't need me to tell you that the world is in the midst of a global pandemic. Museums are closed and all non-essential travel has come to a stand-still which makes writing a blog about museums and travel a bit tricky. 

I can't travel or visit new museums right now but I can give you a sneak peek at the new fishing exhibit I've been working on for the Children's Museum of the Treasure Coast in Jensen Beach, Florida. 

This is a concept rendering I made for the new exhibit. Children will have the opportunity to explore inshore and offshore fishing while learning about fishing and boating regulations, boater safety, invasive species and much more.

I'm very excited to be working on this project and will keep sharing updates as things progress. In the meantime, stay home and stay safe! 

da Vinci Workshop at the Discovery Museum

As I wrote in my previous post about my design work for the Water Gallery, The Discovery Museums in Acton, Massachusetts were recently renovated to combine both the original Science Discovery Museum and Children's Discovery Museum into one 16,000 sq ft. redesigned space now called the Discovery Museum. I was hired by Paul Orselli Workshop to create the environmental graphics and artwork for some of the new exhibit spaces, one of which was da Vinci Workshop. The da Vinci Workshop is a hands-on STEAM makerspace where kids can design and engineer their own creations using tools and a variety of recycled materials. Outside the workshop area are several simple machines and engineering interactives. 

The project called for an entry/title sign that incorporated a full-body portrait of da Vinci in the style of da Vinci based on his only known self-portrait. This was quite the tall order and, I'll admit, a bit intimidating. It required some research on my part since there are no full-body paintings of da Vinci and the drawing is only of his head.

*Interesting side note: No one can say with absolute certainty that the portrait is actually of da Vinci. The drawing was done when he was 58-60 years old (he died at age 67) and his portrait is of a much older man. Some people have speculated that he purposely made himself look older for reasons unknown or that it's a portrait of his father. 

In order to render his body, I researched the clothing of his time period, confirmed that he was most likely left-handed and based on his skeletal remains, approximately 5'9" tall. I re-drew his self-portrait in my own hand in order to make the full-body portrait look like one cohesive drawing. The next challenge was to make it look like the drawing was created during the Italian Renaissance. Incidentally, I studied Renaissance painting techniques in Italy 20 years ago and this was the perfect opportunity to put some of that knowledge to use. I wasn't able to use the exact tools and materials that da Vinci would have used so I improvised with a Tuscan red Prismacolor pencil on parchment and then used several different computer programs to make the drawing look appropriately aged and colored. 

We also wanted the title sign to look like it was hand-painted. I decided the best way to do that would be to actually paint the lettering by hand! Many people have speculated about why da Vinci wrote from right to left and I can tell you why without even having to ask da Vinci. It's because, like myself, he was left-handed. Even though I tried to channel my inner da Vinci, I didn't paint the lettering from right to left strictly for authenticity purposes. It was actually because my hand would've smeared black paint across the entire sign. Any lefty can relate to this dilemma. 

I laid the lettering over the background which I painted on a canvas texture using Photoshop and then added several filters in On1 Photo RAW to give it an aged and weathered look. If the sign ever gets damaged, a new one can be printed to replace it. This turned out to be a wise decision since this is already the 2nd printing of the sign!

These are shelves where the children can leave their inventions to dry. I was pretty much given free rein to design something that incorporated da Vinci's sketches for the back of the shelves.

I created a 12' wide image of what I imagined da Vinci's workbench might have looked like. I looked through more than a thousand of his sketches which have been archived by the British Library, National Library of Spain and Cornell Library. This part of the project was fascinating and also made me feel really lazy. He filled so many books with drawings, inventions, and observations. I really need to start sketching more!

This wall is all about simple machines. Around the corner is a gear wall so I tied the two together with these wall-mounted circles using a similar color scheme. Again, I searched through the archives of da Vinci's sketches until I found some that were great examples of the six simple machines. I then added a tint of color to each of them to make them more appealing to kids and to further distinguish them from my own illustrations of basic simple machines on the smaller circles. Each simple machine illustration corresponds with one of the drawings of da Vinci's inventions.

The exhibit included a working replica of da Vinci's ornithopter. I was tasked with creating a wall mural that integrated drawings of da Vinci's flying machines. The size of this mural is 12' wide by 6' high.

Pictured above is the flying machines mural with the replica ornithopter installed. Kids can design their own flying machines and use the nearby vertical wind table to test them out.

This project was both technically and creatively challenging and I hope da Vinci would've been pleased. I was personally thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to the creation of the exciting new Discovery Museum.

Discovery Museum Water Gallery

The Discovery Museums in Acton, Massachusetts were recently renovated to combine both of the original museums into one beautiful redesigned space now called the Discovery Museum. 

They have created new and reimagined immersive STEAM 

exhibit spaces for all ages. 

I had the opportunity to design some environmental graphics

 for a couple of the new galleries.

 These are pictures from the Water gallery where I designed

some fun little wall graphics.

The Water Gallery is an immersive experience where children can explore the properties of water using all of their senses.

Since the water gallery is adjacent to the sound gallery, we played with onomatopoeia to create some watery sounding words.

              

I paired each word with a corresponding water picture such as

 Slosh, Splash, and Ripple shown above.

I created five signs altogether: Splash, Drip, Ripple, Bubble, and Slosh to go along with the exhibit components.

Also, be sure not to miss da Vinci Workshop when you're visiting the Discovery Museum. I contributed art and environmental graphics to this really cool space where you can get creative and tinker.

In Harm's Way at the Long Island Museum

I recently got to do a bit of collaborative design work with Paul Orselli Workshop (POW!) for a very exciting and timely project called, In Harm's Way. It is currently being exhibited at the Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages through December 31st. In Harm's Way explores hurricanes and other storms throughout Long Island's history.


I described it as timely due to the onslaught of hurricanes we've recently experienced here in the south with Hurricane Harvey in Texas, Hurricane Irma here in Florida and Caribbean and then Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands. As if that wasn't crazy enough, shortly after Maria hit Puerto Rico, Ireland was hit by Hurricane Ophelia.

The reason why I was excited to work on this project, besides the fact that Long Island is where I grew up, is because I'm fascinated with bizarre weather phenomena. For the record, I did not enjoy experiencing Hurricane Irma. It was actually very scary nor do I enjoy people losing their homes or electricity and running water but I've always enjoyed the science behind meteorology. I actually spent an entire semester in art school devoted to a thesis project where I created three-dimensional children's illustrations about bizarre weather stories. Here's a few of them:

May 15, 1963: Near Liberty, MO, a large barn was set down nearly intact and upright after a tornado lifted it from its foundation and carried it some 100 feet. The contents of the barn were relatively undisturbed.

March 25, 1900- Snowflakes of unusually large size fell on Richmond, VA during the late afternoon. Most were oblong-there were some whose greatest diameters could barely be covered by a teacup.

June 21-22, 1791: A hurricane (El Temporal de Barreto-the Storm of Barreto) generated a huge wave that carried off the coffin of a rich but hated Count as he lay in state in his mansion near Havana, Cuba. The coffin and the body were never seen again.

One of my professors encouraged me to show these illustrations to the Providence Children's Museum and they wound up offering me my very first museum job. So here we are 18 years later and I finally had the opportunity to work on a project about hurricanes and other crazy storms while in the midst of one of the biggest hurricanes to ever hit land in the United States.

To get more information about this exhibit and for schedule and directions to the Long Island Museum click here: In Harm's Way

The New and Improved Kim Wagner Designs

 
If you're wondering why my blog posts have subsided over the past few months, it's because I've been working on giving my website a face lift. I'm pleased to report that I've finally finished and after many hours of hard work Kim Wagner Designs has a whole new look! Please take a few minutes to check out the new and improved www.kimwagnerdesigns.com

Walkin' in Memphis

This week I visited Tallahassee, Florida and Memphis, Tennessee. I spent less than 36 hours in Tallahassee and was hoping to get to see at least one cool attraction while I was there but unfortunately the "Sunshine State" did not live up to its name. Severe thunderstorms left me confined to my hotel room and by the time the rain stopped at 4 am I was on my way to the airport again and off to Memphis. 

Memphis was another quick trip but thankfully the weather was great and I was able to walk around all day. The first thing I did was follow the Mighty Mississippi along Downtown Memphis and over to Beale Street for Barbecue, Blues, and great people watching. 


The picture below is of an interesting museum housed in A. Schwab's Five and Dime store on Beale Street. This is the first museum I've ever visited where I could also buy homemade jams and underwear all under the same roof.

Although A. Schwab's Museum was truly fascinating, it just wouldn't have been a satisfying trip to Memphis if I didn't get to see Graceland. Luckily, I had a couple hours to spare the next morning on my way to the airport. 

I have to admit was well worth the extra hustle. I absolutely loved it! 

There are 3 tours you can choose from. 

1. Graceland Elvis Entourage VIP Tour

• an audio-guided tour of Graceland Mansion and grounds
• a self-guided tour of Elvis' two custom airplanes
• a self-guided tour of Elvis' Automobile Museum
• a self-guided tour of Elvis in Hollywood Exhibit
• a self-guided tour of Elvis Lives: The King and Pop Culture Exhibit
• a self-guided tour of Elvis Presley: Fashion King Exhibit
• a self-guided tour of '68 Special Exhibit
• a special VIP Only exhibit at Graceland Mansion
• Front of the Line Mansion Access
• Special All Day Ticket
• Keepsake Backstage Pass

2. Graceland Platinum Tour

• an audio-guided tour of Graceland Mansion and grounds
• a self-guided tour of Elvis' two custom airplanes
• a self-guided tour of Elvis' Automobile Museum
• a self-guided tour of Elvis in Hollywood Exhibit
• a self-guided tour of Elvis Lives: The King and Pop Culture Exhibit
• a self-guided tour of Elvis Presley: Fashion King Exhibit
• a self-guided tour of '68 Special Exhibit

3. Graceland Mansion Tour

• an audio presentation and tour of Graceland Mansion and grounds only
• a self-guided tour of '68 Special Exhibit

If you only have an hour you can do tour #3 and just see the Mansion and still get the full experience. I had about 2 hours to spare so I took tour #2. The Graceland Platinum Tour. 

I usually prefer to have a live guide conducting the tour because I find audio tours to be dull but this audio tour was fantastic. It had Elvis' music playing in-between clips of information which really set the mood. Some parts were also narrated by Lisa Marie Presley. She spoke about memories she had of certain rooms in the mansion as you were walking through them which really brought them to life.

After touring the inside of the house, you're led to the backyard where you can tour the grounds, the office, and some of the other buildings which used to be the trophy room and racquetball court but are now showcasing exhibits of Elvis' gold records and other awards. The exhibit also showed a side of Elvis that many people don't know about. Rather than just displaying his trophy's, they also displayed an entire wall of checks that Elvis wrote to various charities. The display of gold records showed how many people he touched with his music but the display of checks showed how many people he touched with his charitable heart. 

In the backyard, are also the graves of Elvis and his family members. Everyone slowly walks through the meditation garden, pays their respects and this is where the mansion tour ends.

                                                             

The rest of the exhibits were also self-guided tours so you can choose which order you see them and how long you spend in each one. My favorites were the Elvis Automobile Museum and the Lisa Marie and Hound Dog II Jets.

The Elvis Automobile Museum displays all of Elvis' cars, motorcycles, Go-carts, and even his John Deere tractor.  The tour of the airplanes was definitely worth paying the extra money for the Platinum tour. You're allowed to board both airplanes and even walk through the Lisa Marie. 

Just like the Mansion, the planes have been left exactly as they were when Elvis was alive. I think I was expecting Graceland to be something like a Disney Land adventure but the whole tour was done very tastefully and with a lot of respect. 

Museums of the Future

Happy New Year! It is 2010. Welcome to the future! If you asked me twenty years ago what I thought the world would be like in 2010 I probably would have imagined we'd be living in outer space and driving around in flying cars like the Jetsons. 



Now that we're actually living in the "future" I would expect that new museums would be producing new and inventive exhibits but a recent visit to the newly opened Children's Museum of the Treasure Coast in Stuart, Florida did not meet my expectations. I had really been looking forward to visiting this museum because it was a long time in the making. I'd read a lot of articles about its construction over the past few years but lack of funding put the opening on hold. 

So after much anticipation and excitement, I prepared myself to take my niece and nephew the day after Christmas. I did a lot of deep breathing exercises and stretches to get myself both mentally and physically prepared for the massive crowds but when we walked in, the place was completely empty. There was only one other family there. It was a huge space but only half of it was being used. The rest was blocked off. Was it unfinished? Was this some sort of event space or theater in the making? I'm not sure. My expectation from this new museum was to find some fresh and new exhibits but what we got was a rip-off of every other children's museum exhibit in the country. Perhaps if the museum had something the others don't they might have more visitors. "Our Town Wellness Center" had the exact same exhibit that I worked on at a children's museum ten years ago! It was like I traveled back in time. Hmmm...Now that would be a cool exhibit! 

"Toddler Beach" was cute. It was your typical cushiony vinyl toddler play area and the beach theme was fitting for the community but I think toddlers would be more interested in playing and exploring the REAL beach right outside the doors of the museum.

The worst offense was the "Our Town Market" which scored a big fat ZERO for creativity, inventiveness, and originality. It was very clear that the exhibits were based on sponsor money and this one was sponsored by Publix Super Market. I know this because the sponsor signs were bigger than any of the signs with educational content. I'm not even sure what the educational value of a mini-market exhibit is anyway. My 5-year-old niece got into a fight with a toddler who stole her fake plastic groceries out of her cart. On our way home I asked her if she learned anything new from her trip to the museum. She replied, "Yeah, it's not nice to steal someone else's groceries!" Maybe that's the message behind these grocery store exhibits?? 

Here's an original idea! How about we get a sponsor to fund a new task force called the Exhibit Police. Any museum that builds another child-sized market will get a fine. I think if I were to find out exactly how many Children's Museums in this country have these markets and issue them a fine, I would have enough money to build a new museum with some inspired fresh new and innovative exhibits! 

Actually, there was one exhibit in the museum that I liked a lot. It's also the gallery that my niece and nephew spent the most time in. It was called the Florida Cracker House sponsored by RE/MAX of course. This was a truly unique exhibit because it was exclusive to the region. Children learn about traditional cracker houses and the significance their architecture played in early Floridian life. It also teaches about different types of houses all over the world and how the region and climate affect architecture. This exhibit reignited the waning hope the other exhibits left me with for the future of museums.

We might not be driving around in flying cars but the world is constantly changing so why are we still making the same exhibits that we were making more than a decade ago?! 

With a new year comes new resolutions. For 2010 let us resolve to stop copying what other museums are doing and come up with some really inspired and radical ideas...
AND
Stop stealing groceries from other people's carts!

Access Panels: Don't design your exhibits without them

When designing an exhibit you should always assume that at some point it will eventually break or require some kind of maintenance. Exhibits endure a lot of abuse. If you are a designer you should always take into consideration that someone else will need a clear and easy way to maintain it. Don't cover screws with wood putty and don't build things that are so heavy they're impossible to lift. Try to use parts that can be bought off the shelf. For example; don't install a light bulb that needs to be specially ordered from Germany. One day that bulb will need to be replaced. The person responsible for maintaining the exhibit should be able to simply open a door and unscrew the bulb to replace it with a new one. It should not require five men to remove the exhibit from the museum floor with a forklift or hiring someone who speaks German to call the company in Germany only to find out they are no longer in business.

It's also a good idea to leave enough storage space under/behind your exhibit to store extra or spare parts. This will help avoid having to put up one of those dreaded "out of order" signs that cause visitors to complain about all the money they spent to see broken exhibits. If any pieces of the exhibit somehow disappear (as they often tend to do) they can be quickly and easily replaced. This will make the exhibit maintainer's job easier and more efficient and the museum visitors will be much happier when the exhibit is working.