Exhibit Design 101

We’re in the last days of installing our new exhibit, Git fer Vegas , Cowboy! Exhibit development includes ingredients of staging a play and of creating a book. The writer, or curator, establishes a storyline. Inspiration comes from any number of sources — a song, a person, a newspaper article. In this case, our curator found a compelling story in the programs and poetry of the Cowboys’ Reunions. The curator chooses pieces of the Museum’s collection as illustrations. Next, the story and the “illustrations” are turned over to the exhibit designers. This team decides how the objects, images and text will best demonstrate to the visitor the curator’s concepts and how these elements will be arranged in a gallery. Fabricators build casework, platforms and other apparatus to house objects or hang images. Many pieces in museum collections are fragile and require special handling. This is especially true when these artifacts are displayed. Preparators create special mounting devices that hold objects securely without harming the object’s material or form. All of these elements are choreographed in the gallery and come together in a flurry of activity, so I guess exhibits have a little bit of dance in them, too.

Linda Gegick

Museum Administrator