The exhibitions that OEC designs and produces need to arrive at their destinations safely. This is especially crucial with traveling exhibits, like the ones we make for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), because these objects are handled more frequently than those in permanent exhibits.

SITES registrars Ruth Trevarrow, Cheryl Washer, and Juana Dahlan were at OEC recently packing up Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes and The Dancer Within. One of their main goals is to ensure that objects travel safely and are easy to remove from the packing. This includes thinking about whether the person unpacking the objects may hurt their back by bending over too far to remove a heavy object and also making the process to remove an object simple and easy-to-understand.

Harry Adams, OEC specialist in artifact and exhibit packing, uses the crate specifications document sent to him by SITES to design and build crates for the objects and accompanying labels or cases. For Beyond, Adams made what Trevarrow calls “the Cadillac of crates.”

To protect the large, heavy framed photographs, Adams made crates with felt-lined slots the photographs could easily slide into. The photographs are so large they need to be stored vertically so the crates will fit through the doors of all the exhibition venues. The photographs used for Dancer are smaller and due to the manner in which they are mounted, they need to travel lying flat. They are placed in foam trays that are then stacked on top of each other in the crate.

Collaboration and good communication between the registrars, designers, and the crate makers is necessary to produce crates that will be easy to use and best protect the objects inside.

top photo: Trevarrow slides a Beyond photograph out of the crate.
middle photo: Packed Beyond crates.
bottom photo: Adams arranges foam trays made by Tim Smith.

More photos

Elegant Evolution. Orchids through Time. New Finds: Ancient Orchids. Darwin’s Orchids.

These are all proposed titles for Horticulture Services Division’s orchid exhibition, opening in January 2009 in the special exhibits gallery at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). NMNH’s Department of Botany is working with Horticulture to craft an exhibit that displays both the beauty of the orchids with information about the biology behind them.

The central part of the exhibit will feature fossilized pollinia from a 10 – 15 million year old orchid preserved on the back of an extinct species of stingless bee encased in amber. The fossil was found in the Dominican Republic in 2000 and is the first orchid fossil ever to be discovered, which is integral to scientists who study orchid evolution. Charles Darwin’s work on orchid reproduction and evolution will be featured in this exhibition, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the publication of his The Origin of Species and his 150th birthday.

This exhibit is moving from the conceptualization phase to the design and scripting phase of production. In March, both the initial design concept and draft script will be ready for review.

A challenge of this exhibit is that OEC is moving into new facilities this summer, when our shops would normally be busy building the exhibition’s components. Horticulture will then be moving their greenhouses to a new site after the exhibit closes in April 2009.

photo by Ariel Ressler

OEC employees have been hard at work designing and building new officer desks for the entrances to the Smithsonian Castle. OEC exhibit designers Bart McGarry and Lynn Kawaratani interviewed the security officers, who are currently stationed at tables, to figure out how the new desks could best meet their ergonomic and functional needs. McGarry and Kawaratani designed two desks with enough space to store wheelchairs, two with lockboxes to provide a space for confiscated items, and two planters to open up the space and provide a place for Horticulture Services Division to display some of their plants while limiting access to the Great Hall to only the security entrances.

In the Fabrication department at OEC, Stoy Popovich is building the desks and planters out of walnut. Part of the wood used is recycled from an old Smithsonian Institution project and the rest is walnut veneer over recycled medium-density fiberboard (MDF). These materials were used as a part of the effort to make this a green project by conserving resources and using environmentally safe products.

After Popovich cuts the wood, makes the decorative moldings, and sands it to a smooth finish, Walter Skinner, OEC’s finisher, is in charge of staining and finishing the wood. He is using Fuhr Industrial water-based products that emit no odors and no gasses–the strongest products possible that are still environmentally safe. The finish consists of a conditioner, the stain, a sanding sealer, and two to three layers of a clear top coat. Each process requires a day of drying time.

In two to three weeks, Popovich will install marble tops on the desks and they will be ready for use by the guards at the Castle.

top photo: Popovich working on the molding for one of the desks.
bottom photo: Skinner finishing the staining process on parts of a desk.

More photos

Q: Can you describe the first things you consider when making a mount?
A: Well, the first thing we say is, “Oh, I can’t do it!” (laughs) No, the first thing we need to know is whether the object we’re mounting is a prop or an artifact. An artifact is an object that is or will be accessioned. These are given a number and put into, or are already a part of, a permanent collection. If it’s an artifact, we have to make a mount that will protect and preserve it. If the object is a prop, then almost anything can be used to mount it. We usually don’t need to worry about destroying it because it won’t be used afterwards. Then, depending on what type of environment the object will be in, the look the client wants, and the support the object needs, we work on fashioning a mount.

I use “we” because I make mounts with the help of other people. Everyone in the model shop at OEC is capable of making mounts and some people bring valuable experience in certain types of mount making to the jobs. For example, Natalie has more experience than I do making mannequins. Jon and Danny have more experience than I with props.

Q: What materials do you typically use to make the mounts?
A: Well, if we’re working with an artifact, we can’t use wood or any other natural material in case this would attract creatures, decay, and/or interact chemically with the artifact. I often use brass, stainless steel, or man-made plastics. Steel can be used, as well, but only for a short period of time; otherwise it will start to rust. If we’re mounting a prop, we can use whatever material we think will work best because we don’t have to worry about preserving the object.

Q: Do you make all the mounts here at OEC?
A: Sometimes, the object is so fragile that it can’t be transported to OEC. In that case, I have to travel to the site to make the mount. I can’t take all my tools with me, so I have to be more resourceful with what I use to create the mounts, which can be fun!

Q: How long have you worked at OEC? And where did you work before?
A: I have been at OEC four years. I worked at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology for thirteen years as their principle Mountmaker before I retired. I worked only with artifacts there, so when I came to OEC, I had to learn how to make mounts for props.

Q: Why did you decide to work here?
A: After I retired from the University of Pennsylvania, I had friends living in Rockville who convinced me to come live next to them. I looked for part-time work starting with the National Museum of the American Indian because I heard they were looking for mountmakers. I never got through to talk to them and I ended up speaking with Lora Collins here at OEC, who had just lost her principle mountmaker, ironically, to the Museum of the American Indian. That is how I started working here.

Q: What’s your favorite part of the job? What’s the most challenging?
A: The variety of objects and projects I get to work on. All of the projects are challenging. But I’d say the biggest challenge is keeping up with the people I work with. They’re young, brilliant, and so creative. They’re just amazing.

Q: Have you had a favorite project so far?
A: No; I like them all for different reasons. Jim Henson’s Fantastic World was fun, First Ladies was fun – but both for completely different reasons! I also enjoyed doing the electronics for the Polio interactive displays and the rain showers for the exhibit Orchids: Take a Walk on the Wild Side.

Q: How did you decide you wanted to be a mountmaker?
A: A friend of a friend asked me to make some mounts for several large African pieces. I managed to make the mounts without destroying the pieces even though I knew virtually nothing about mountmaking and less than that about conservation. As a result, I was asked to do some more mounts for friends of his. At the time, I had my own business designing and building interiors for children’s rooms and private playgrounds. A friend told me about an opening at the University of Pennsylvania Museum. I applied for the job of Mountmaker and was hired.

Q: What kind of training did you go through?
A: I took a course in mountmaking after I had been making mounts for a year or so. Virginia Greene, the head conservator at Penn and her assistant Lynn Grant were most helpful over the years teaching me the things that good conservation methodology required. Slowly I developed approaches that produced mounts that were lighter, stronger and less obtrusive.

Q: Family?
A: I have three children and seven grandchildren. Everyone here knows my grandchildren as “Howard’s Mob” because I put one of those old-fashioned sepia photos of them in the break room.

photo: Clemenko shows where the artifact he is holding will be located in an exhibit.

More photos

One of Clemenko’s mounting jobs at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

The spirit of dance is a difficult thing to capture on film, but photographer Rose Eichenbaum has successfully undertaken that challenge in The Dancer Within, a new traveling exhibit produced by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). The exhibition’s first stop will be at the Ypsilanti District Library in Ypsilanti, Michigan, beginning in April 2008. The show will finish traveling throughout the U.S. in April 2010.

OEC Graphic Specialist Nancy Post is matting and framing forty-eight of Eichenbaum’s photos for inclusion in the exhibit. Framing of each photograph requires two pieces of mat board: a back mat onto which the photo is mounted; and a top mat which has a “window” cut into it that is the same size as the image. Once the two sheets of mat board are attached to one another at the top with linen tape, the photo is mounted on the back mat so that it is visible through the top mat’s “window.” Post then puts plexiglass on top of the mat package to protect the photograph, and corroplast on the back, before placing the matted image into the frame. The result is a secure and well-protected environment in which the photograph can safely be displayed.

Once all of the photos have been matted and framed, they will be carefully labeled, placed in ethafoam trays, and packed into wood crates for their tour.

photo: Post secures a photograph in its frame.

More photos

The third sea creature to be featured in our series on the National Museum of Natural History’s Ocean Hall’s big models, the Mola mola (ocean sunfish) has been completed and is ready to be put on show. This life-size model measures an impressive height of six feet from fin to fin.

Instead of sculpting a giant sunfish for molding and casting, OEC modelmaker Natalie Gallelli sculpted a smaller version from clay, called a maquette. The maquette was then sent to Direct Dimensions, a company based in Maryland, who digitally scanned the sunfish and sent the information to another company to be machined out. A life-size reproduction made of dense, urethane foam came back to OEC. Gallelli then sculpted a thin layer of clay over the foam model so that it could be used to make a mold.

One side at a time, Gallelli made a plaster mold (called a “waste mold” because it is broken off in chunks and not used again) from this foam and clay model. The final model was then cast in fiberglass and polyester resin which Gallelli painted using a combination of techniques.

top photo: Gallelli and her ocean sunfish
middle photo: Gallelli sculpts the ocean sunfish.
bottom photo: Two ocean sunfish: foam and clay (red) and the fiberglass cast (grey)

More photos

For the last six months, OEC modelmaker Carolyn Thome has been hard at work creating the model of a ten-foot-long Regalecus glesne (oarfish), an ocean-dwelling creature at times mistakenly thought to be a sea monster by the rare few who see one in nature. This is one of the four life-size models that will be displayed in the National Museum of Natural History’s Ocean Hall, opening in September.

Unlike the mold for the Giant Japanese spider crab model, which was made using a real crab specimen, the mold for the oarfish model was formed from a clay sculpture Thome shaped based on photographs of the silver-colored oarfish. The final product is made from fiberglass, as is the crab. A steel channel was set lengthwise inside the model so it can be mounted to the wall. The model will be displayed vertically, much as the fish actually swims.

Once the fiberglass model was cast, Thome airbrushed a water-based glue onto the model, before applying aluminum leaf one square at a time with a soft brush. A clear coat then set the aluminum before Thome airbrushed natural-looking blue and black markings onto the model with a stencil she made.

The oarfish model will be completed in a couple of weeks, when the red dorsal fins and large crest have been attached to the body.

top photo: The ten-foot-long oarfish in the model shop.
bottom photo: Thome uses a stencil to paint spots on the oarfish with an airbrush.

More photos

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Archives of American Art (AAA) is installing the exhibition A Thousand Kisses: Love Letters from the Archives of American Art, located in the Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery in the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, and will run through May 30, 2008.

A Thousand Kisses, featuring love letters written by and to American artists, was organized by Liza Kirwin, curator of manuscripts, and Joan Lord, curatorial archives specialist. The exhibit celebrates the publication of their new book With Love: Artists’ Letters and Illustrated Notes.

OEC Graphics supervisor Rolando Mayen installed two vinyl murals for this exhibition: one of painters and spouses Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, and another of nature photographer Harry Bowden and his wife Betty. In order to fit the approximately 80 by 130-inch photographs on the arched walls, Mayen cut them to shape using a template made during the previous installation. He then taped the photographs in position on the walls before peeling away the backing and adhering them to the walls. Each wall mural was made of two sections, overlapping only about a quarter inch to account for possible flexing due to temperature or humidity changes.

When the exhibition closes, the vinyl murals, which are backed with low tack adhesive, will peel off quickly and with little damage to the walls.

top photo: Bruce and Libby Thiel of Blueline Design put away their silkscreening materials.
middle photo: Mayen double-checks the measurements before putting the mural on the wall.
bottom photo: Mayen makes sure the mural is applied without any air pockets.

In March 2007, we ran a story about how we acquired a Giant Japanese spider crab to make a life-sized reproduction for the National Museum of Natural History’s Ocean Hall, which opens in September 2008. Since then, OEC modelmaker Vincent Rossi has been hard at work.

His first step in creating the model was setting the pose of the frozen crab in a position that would balance showing off the crab’s size while still keeping its pose natural. To preserve the crab specimen for NMNH, it had to be stored in OEC’s freezer when Rossi was not working on the model. The legs were cut from the body to fit in the freezer.

To make the molds, Rossi supported one half of each leg with plaster and then coated the other half with silicone rubber. After the rubber set, a sheet of fiberglass was molded to the outside. Then, the mold was removed and he went through the same process with the other side of the leg. The shell of the model was created by brushing a polyester resin/milled fiberglass mixture into the mold. Rossi placed steel rods inside the outer shell of the body and legs for support along with a dense, expanding foam to fill the inside of the model. After Rossi paints the model, it will be ready to be mounted and displayed.

The Giant crab is one of four life-sized models that OEC is making for the Ocean Hall exhibit. Stay tuned to see stories and pictures of the other models.

top photo: Vince Rossi glues locator pins in place to provide a template for the mount makers.
bottom photo: Silicone rubber molds for the crab body

More photos

We finally got ourselves set up on YouTube so that we can post videos of our work from time to time.

Here’s one from June that relates to our last post.