Everyone is really busy here at the Office of Exhibits Central. This September, all four shops plus our offices are moving for the first time in 30 years! During June and July, we are finishing several projects, so that we can pack tools and offices, archive old files, and move materials and heavy equipment in August and September.

Above, Rob Wilcox, our project manager overseeing all aspects of the move, tours the new facility with Sarah Drumming, civil engineer with Smithsonian’s Office of Engineering Design and Construction. Before we can move in, much work needs to be done, including the installation of new ventilation and electrical systems.

Back at OEC, the design, editing, and graphics shops are working on the Summer School exhibit, which opens June 20 at the Archives of American Art. Below, designer Alicia Jager checks the colors on a map to be sent to our graphics shop for final printing. And graphics specialist Kathleen Varnell laminates a digital print with a protective film.

In Fabrication, we’re building components and planning the installation for Going to Sea, a temporary exhibit to open with the National Museum of Natural History’s Ocean Hall in September.

Modelshop is constructing a diorama for the new exhibit Dig It! The Secrets of Soil”, which opens July 19 at the National Museum of Natural History. Below, exhibit specialist Natalie Gallelli adds a mixture of epoxy and maché to give the sides and edges naturalistic texture.