Downhill to the Opening

We finished some major tasks this week, and I feel tired and satisfied. The exhibit panels, images, and video/audio elements were the biggest push, and Ryan and I got them all into production. Darrin and Benjamin at Mishap Studios finished the first set with us and the panels went to the print shop to be printed and mounted on foam core. Ryan and I picked up the first set of panels today, and we'll hang them tomorrow. In the photo below, Ryan and Rick Cleveland of Rainbow Sign and Banner are holding the exhibit's welcome sign.



I also spent time with Benjamin today, as we selected video and audio clips for different parts of the exhibit. I was again impressed by Mishap Studio's computer set up. They are working this weekend on the exhibit's touch-screen video.

Ryan will also work with Mishap to record the audio for our "black box theater." I am using this theater to allow people to hear the voice of Heber C. Kimball, a potter and pioneer Latter-day Saint.  The narrator will read some of Kimball's sermons, while museum visitors sit in a darkened box with dramatically lit pottery.


I've finally finished painting vitrine bases. Just a few morning touch ups and then the paint can cure until we put ceramics on the bases and seal the acrylic boxes over top.  It feels great to be done painting!


This week we also finished the exhibit booklet. I wrote an essay I think is unlike most exhibit catalogs. I didn't inventory the stuff in the show, but wrote instead about the Utah Pottery Project and the potters. I suppose the essay is a bit passionate, but I think most people who come to the show will understand. I hope the entire endeavor encourages people to think about Historical and Industrial Archaeology in Utah as well as cultural heritage generally.

Kudos to Stefanie Michaelson and Karen Krieger at Utah State Parks for their herculean efforts to edit the booklet and finish the beautiful design!

Mobile blog post

Object Photography

I spent a bunch of time today working with Benjamin Howe of Mishap Studios, taking photographs of pottery objects that will be in our exhibit, Potters of the Gathering: Clay Work in Early Utah.  We were taking photos for the small catalog booklet that Utah State Parks plans to publish for the exhibit.  These are a preview of the photographs in the book and the objects that will be in the exhibit:

These are some of the items that will be on display May 2 through July 31.  

Darrin, Ryan, and I finished the display panels and have taken them over to Rainbow Sign and Banner  to be printed and mounted on thick foam core board.  I spent some time this afternoon priming vitrine bases again.  I expect to spend more time tomorrow painting them black and perhaps we'll be able to start putting objects into cases by the end of the week!

Rapid Progress in the Shop

Gib, our carpenter using the saw in the picture below, and the Iron Mission State Park staff (including Murph, also in the picture) are making rapid progress building new wooden bases to match our Plexiglas and acrylic cubes.  

To stretch our exhibit budget, we are re-using all the display vitrines (commonly called cases). The Church History Museum graciously lent us some acrylic cubes they had in storage, so combined with those we removed from current exhibits at the Iron Mission Museum, we don't need to order any new Plexiglas or acrylic boxes, and are just building new wooden bases for all the boxes.  This is a huge cost savings-- acrylic boxes are expensive!-- so we will be able to put many more items out for display than we could have afforded otherwise.

The floor also looks great, thanks to the efforts of Ray and the maintenance crew here at the Iron Mission Museum!
Things are really coming together!  I'm getting very excited for the opening.