EXHIBITS
Good exhibit design provides the viewer the opportunity to discover and learn at their own pace, and the designer a platform to educate, inform, and inspire. The correct combination of these elements can create an engrossing experience that has the potential to change lives. An exhibit I recently designed is referenced in an article by BET (Black Entertainment Television) titled 11 Places You Should Visit That Celebrate And Preserve Black History.
The Maurice Sendak Memorial Exhibit features fifty original artworks from the award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books; including his most famous, Where the Wild Things Are. When the traveling exhibit came to the Pratt Library in Baltimore, I recreated life size versions of Max’s room, boat, and other items with the principle design goal to create an immersive experience accessible to all regardless of ability. This included adding sounds of the jungle that played in the background, items with which visitors could touch and interact, and versions of the book Where the Wild Things Are in Spanish, French, German, Hebrew, Arabic, and Braille in built in book shelves on the boat. As interest in the additional pieces grew, the library began receiving requests for their use. Although we were not able to facilitate every request, the items followed the exhibit to St. Louis, Toronto, and the Rawlings-Blake Conservatory in Baltimore. Thousands of visitors interacted with the exhibit at four venues, in three cities, in two countries.
Sendak Exhibit: Baltimore
Pratt Library, Baltimore
Sendak Exhibit: St. Louis
St. Louis Public Library, St. Louis
Sendak Exhibit: Toronto
Toronto Public Library, Toronto
Sendak Exhibit: Rawlings-Blake Conservatory
Baltimore
'“20 And odd Negroes” 1619 and the Introduction of Slavery in America
Pratt Library, Baltimore
The exhibit tells the story of twenty enslaved Africans who were brought to Virginia in 1619, and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It was referenced in an article by BET (Black Entertainment Television) titled 11 Places You Should Visit That Celebrate And Preserve Black History. It was created in partnership with the African American Department.
Art as Applied to Medicine
Pratt Library, Baltimore
The exhibit, created in partnership with Johns Hopkins University, celebrated the 100 year anniversary of the department. Illustration by David Rini.
Mapping Maryland and the World: Historic Maps from the Pratt Collection
Pratt Library, Baltimore
When it was published in 1869, the “E. Sachse & Co.’s 1869 Bird’s Eye View of the City of Baltimore” map boasted that it was the only map that showed every building in Baltimore. The installation was an element of a larger exhibit titled Mapping Maryland and the World: Historic Maps from the Pratt Collection, which was coordinated and displayed in conjunction with a map exhibit at the Walters Art Gallery.
Making A Difference: African American Women and the Civil Rights Movement
Pratt Library, Baltimore
Original Illustrations by Floyd Cooper
Pratt Library, Baltimore
The exhibit celebrated the artworks of Floyd Cooper, a talented, award-winning, author, artist, and illustrator of children’s books.
Created Equal
Pratt Library, Baltimore
An exhibit celebrating the 150th anniversary of the emancipation Proclamation, the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and the second inauguration of President Barack Obama
Mencken Dispatches from the Scopes Trial
Pratt Library, Baltimore
Frederick Douglass: His Life and Legacy, 1818-1895
Pratt Library, Baltimore
Soul Food: The Food, The Origins, The Cooks
Pratt Library, Baltimore
The Negro Leagues in Baltimore
Pratt Library, Baltimore
The large wall graphic was part of an exhibit that told the story of the negro baseball leagues in Baltimore and their impact on the sport before the segregation of professional baseball in 1947 by Jackie Robinson.
