Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service

Sticky Note Inspiration

Sometimes, less is more. After considering a number of high-tech ways to engage with our Suited for Space exhibition audiences, we decided on three very basic tools--pens, pencils, and sticky notes. Yes, the exhibit itself is about innovation and technology, but no modern device has the universal ability to convey information like a good, old-fashioned writing implement and a tiny slip of paper. There's nothing to download here; it's not device specific and runs on an hOS. (That's the hand operating system.) But, really, in this age when mobile is hot, and paper is not, why did we go with such a simplistic solution?

Maybe, we just liked the size of the sticky notes; they're so cute--each one a miniature canvas that only takes a second to customize with quick sketches and personal witticisms. Let's face it, this is a 140-character society, and asking folks to spend more than a few moments on anything might be asking too much. This sticky-note concept, while certainly not new, is really the antithesis of where we are in the technological moment, and yet, it reminded us of the most basic of museum goals--to foster dialogue.

That vibrant, sticky-note color also sucked us in. Are you a hot pink kind of gal or a lime green sort of fellow? No matter, you choose. Oh, and what about that wonderful, tacky swathe of glue? When was the last time you saw someone adhere their mobile device on a wall for others to see? "Hey, look at all my pictures, world. Here's my banking information and all my friends' phone numbers." Maybe, the point here is that the sticky note is personal and yet, somehow, very anonymous--an opportunity for publically condoned graffiti.

We tested the concept of the sticky note wall at the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey, California, where the Suited for Space exhibition was recently on display. To get the conversation started, we asked people to answer a couple of questions. Among them, "What one thing would you bring on your trip into space?" The answers were both serious and whimsical, thoughtful and flippant.

It's safe to say that Californians love their iPods, iPads, and cameras. It's also fairly accurate to state that food was of great concern. Many cited the implicit need for candy in space,  for cheese cake, hot cheetos with sour cream, Nutella, pizza, and pineapples (hooray for the fruit lover). Some, more nostalgic writers, asserted that a picture of their families would be a must, while others hoped that their beloved cat or dog could make the trip too.

Long story short, we were exceptionally pleased with the level of engagement at the site. Personally, I might have joined the waves of writers who referenced their mobile phones, but alas, maybe I could be convinced that a pen, pencil, and pack of sticky notes would be just as valuable.

Suited for Space opens at the Strategic Air & Space Museum in Ashland, Nebraska, this weekend. The national exhibition tour is generously supported by DuPont.

 

Titanoboa: Monster Snake Revealed

By now, you may be aware that something big, really big has come to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. In fact, it's so enormous that it arrived in six separate crates, each weighing about 500 pounds.

I was lucky enough to be in the weeds as the Smithsonian Pennsy Facilities team, SITES project director Jennifer Bine, and our registrars, Cheryl Washer, Ruth Trevarrow, Viki Possoff, and Juana Shadid put this 48-foot thing together.

Even before the crew heaved Titanoboa out of those crates, I was quietly amazed by the texture and coloration of the serpent's scales--so supple that they seemed to glisten with rain forest moisture under the dim museum lights. Segment by segment, the snake became even more awe inspiring, both in its scale and its girth. Indeed, getting down on the ground with this baby, I imagined Titanoboa swallowing a medium-sized person without batting an eyelash . . . if snakes had eyelashes, or real eyelids for that matter. 

Tracy Rollins, of the Smithsonian's Facilities crew, was poised to test my theory as he wrangled with the serpent, connecting two of its more recalcitrant parts. Inside of a massive set of coils, which in real life would have exerted some 400 pounds of pressure per square inch, Tracy looked like Titanoboa's first victim in 60 million years. That's when the snake really started to take shape, a mega predator slithering through the murky waters of a distant Paleocene world.

Titanoboa would have been at the top of the monster-eat-monster food chain, and it was easy to understand why when the team finally attached the monster's head, jaws agape, arched around a lifeless crocodile. Like modern constrictors, Titanoboa killed by squeezing its prey to death. Long, flexible tendons in the upper and lower jaws then allowed the snake to devour just about anything that was unlucky enough to get in its path, including massive snub-nosed crocodiles and turtles the size of billiard tables. You could almost hear the stomach acids churning as the snake's digestive system prepared to dissolve this croc's bones and tissues.

Head finally in position, she was born--a snake the length of a school bus, orginially conceived by Ontario-based model maker Kevin Hockley. There were some proud moments as the team stepped back to study the newest addition in the Smithsonian family. "Good gracious," I heard one staffer exclaim, "that's thing's a beast."

Titanoboa: Monster Snake is now on display at the National Museum of Natural History through January 2013. The exhibition will then travel to the Florida Museum of Natural History and the University of Nebraska State Museum, where the Titanoboa research teams continues to make discoveries. From there, there's no telling where the snake will end up--maybe in YOUR natural history museum.

For a complete view of the snake as it was being installed, see our Facebook gallery. Visit the exhibition website to find our about the upcoming tour schedule, see clips from the Smithsonian Channel film, and more.

 

Message from Smithsonian Chief about New African American Museum

Tomorrow will be a historic day for the Smithsonian—it is the day we break ground for our 19th museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The museum was created by an Act of Congress in 2003, and it is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, art, history and culture.

We will celebrate this milestone at a special groundbreaking ceremony that will take place on the site of the museum. We are honored that President Obama, Mrs. Obama, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), Gov. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), former First Lady Laura Bush and many other special guests will be with us for this occasion.

Congratulations to the museum’s director, Lonnie Bunch, and his entire staff on this occasion. They have been hard at work for the past nine years building the museum and ensuring it will be a place that will help all Americans learn about the richness of African American culture and its importance to the story of America.

Sincerely,
Wayne Clough
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

As a special note, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) is already working with the National Museum of African American History and Culture to bring its collections to the American people. Currently, SITES is traveling Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment as well as Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits.

The Art of Love: Museum Style

Cupid is pretty sneaky. One day, you're driving to a potential host site for a Museum on Main Street exhibition, just minding your own business, eyes on the road, brain cells in overdrive as you take advantage of a few quiet hours in the car to sort out your mental laundry. The next day, Cupid, sly and underhanded, is coordinating a meet up between you and your future husband.

In 2006, Ann-Mary was just doing her job--making the trek from the Arizona Humanities Council's headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, up to the small but noteworthy town of Winslow. She was working with the Smithsonian to find a fitting destination for the Museum on Main Street show "Between Fences," which to date has visited 23 states across the U.S. and is still on the road.

The 183-mile drive to Winslow is none too shabby, weaving through the cactus-studded deserts and the jagged mountains of Tonto National Forest, a short distance from Flagstaff and Sedona. But, Winslow seems to have a charm that's distinct from its neighbors. A town of about 10,000 residents, it's perched along Route 66 and is a serious destination for tourists, if not for its architectural gems, shops, and old-West history, then for its  "Standing on the Corner Park," a spot made famous by the Eagles' 1972 hit "Take It Easy." (Feel free to sing now: "Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine sight to see . . ..") 

This wasn't Ann-Mary's first trip to Winslow. She'd been there before to stay at the historic La Posada Hotel, a recently renovated 1930s' landmark, designed by architect Mary Colter. That was back in 1999. Interesting place, Ann-Mary recalled. And, that seemed to be the end of it. However, Cupid had other plans for the former Arizona Humanities Council grants coordinator.

Back to 2006: Ann-Mary met with the local museum director and others at the La Posada Hotel. In the group was one Dan Lutzick, a fine arts graduate from the University of California Irvine who, with a handshake and a vision, became a partner in the La Posada Hotel restoration project as well as an advocate for all things history and art in Winslow. Dan's intense love affair with the La Posada Hotel ultimately lead the handy-man artist to repurpose another space, a 1914 Babbitt Brothers department store, into his own art studio/gallery.

Now for another kind of passion. When Ann-Mary met Dan that day, first at the Hotel then again at his Snowdrift Art Space, where the "Between Fences" exhibition would be on display, she remembers that love was not on her mind. In fact, she didn't even give Dan a second thought; on the other hand, his dogs were real lookers. Ann-Mary took a few pictures of the lovable canines and emailed them to her new friend. Dan's response: "The next time you're in Winslow, I'll show you around the area." Smooth Dan, very smooth. Within a few months, these two dog people started dating. (As everyone knows, the way to a person's heart is through their pet, duh.)

That was the fall of 2006. Fast forward to Christmas 2007. What do artists give their loved ones during the holidays? Original artwork. In Dan's case, he created an impressive sacred heart sculpture for his sweetie. It was beautiful on Christmas Eve, when she opened the gift in front of friends, but it was exquisite the following day when Dan revealed that the sculpture contained a secret compartment which housed yet another gift. And, there it was, inside a tiny box, wedged into a hidden slot--the ring, That's good stuff, Dan.

Ann-Mary and Dan were married in the summer of 2008, just a few days after "Between Fences" opened at the Snowdrift Art Space. "He's an artist who loves history," Ann-Mary reflects, and "I'm a historian who loves art. We just work."

Yes, we do take a little credit for tipping Cupid off to the facts in this museum love story. "I'll always have a soft spot for BETWEEN FENCES," muses Ann-Mary, who is now the director of the Old Trails Museum in Winslow.

What's the old saying, "You get out what you put in"? The passion and energy that went into making "Between Fences" was evidently transferred via some magical museum channels to Winslow, Arizona, where if you stand on the corner, you might just see Ann-Mary and Dan creating art, renovating old buildings, playing with their dog, and working to bring another Smithsonian exhibition to town.

 

Elvis is alive in Virginia

Our Elvis at 21: Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer exhibition has been swinging since Elvis' 75th birthday back in 2010. Enthusiasm for this exhibition, comprised of 56 black-and-white images taken by the acclaimed photographer Alfred Wertheimer, has never wanned. In fact, the buzz about Elvis has become something of a frenzy at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond.

A few weeks after throwing an incredible Elvis birthday gig attended by nearly 2,000 people, the museum hosted a screening of "Elvis '56," a 1987 documentary film narrated by Levon Helm, the Arkansas-born drummer-singer for "The Band." It was the first time I had seen the movie in full, but within the first four minutes, I was struck by two things: One was that Helm was the perfect interpreter of Elvis' story. With iconic hits like "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," and "The Weight," he clearly understood the soul of Southern music and the culture that gave birth to it.

The other thing was that the viewers weren't just watching the clips, they were responding to the film. When Elvis sang, they came to life. He danced, and they were exuberant. Elvis was their hero. They cheered when the narrator recited John Lennon's words "Before Elvis, there was nothing." And when the girls in the original 1956 footage screamed, there were collective murmurs of understanding as if the crowd too remembered getting all worked up. When Elvis swung his hips aggressively, provocatively, in one performance, they felt the power of that pelvis, even now. In this YouTube-age of anything goes, that was as surprise. 

With every seat in the auditorium occupied by a fan, it almost felt like we were back at the Mosque Theater (Richmond, VA) on June 30, 1956. Here, the most memorable images in the exhibition were shot; here, the girls hung on window ledges trying to catch Elvis' eye during rehearsal, and here, Elvis stole away for a steamy, toungue-touching kiss in a back stairwell.

Some 56 years later, Alfred Wertheimer recalled that the fans screamed, "We want Elvis! We want Elvis!" I could hear echoes of those words again in the auditorium. It was truly the closest many of us would get to seeing Elvis live!

Special thanks to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for their fantastic programming in conjunction with "Elvis at 21, Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer." For more on the exhibition and discussions with other fans, visit the show on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

 

Test Your Astro-cabulary!

Do you know the difference between Nylon, Nomex, and Neoprene? What about the relationship  between a full-pressure suit and a rubber bladder? Gearing up for space means more than donning a special suit--you've got to learn some special lingo, too!

SITES' new Suited for Space exhibition is filled with stunning color photographs and x-rays of NASA spacesuits. But don't forget to read what's written next to the images, too--Suited helps skyrocket visitors' knowledge of astronaut argot with vocabulary lessons sprinkled throughout the show. So while you're stepping in Buzz Aldrin's iconic footprints, you can ask your friends what they know about the development of the Chromel-R covering Buzz's overshoes. Or while you're standing behind a replica suit for a photo-op, you can examine the way the convolute at the knees connects with the Beta cloth covering the legs, providing both mobility and protection from unpredictable dangers like micrometeoroids.

Suited for Space will be on tour for several years. There is also a Facebook page with tons of extras. The national tour of Suited for Space is generously sponsored by DuPont.

Conservation of Space Objects

During the first two Moon landings, astronauts did not have access to drinking water unless they returned to the lander. Starting with Apollo 13, however, spacesuits were equipped with a new accessory: an in-suit Teflon bag with a drinking tube. These drinking devices are the predecessor to today's CamelBak water bottles.

One of the most fragile and unique artifacts traveling with SITES' new Suited for Space exhibition is a rare example of these early drinking devices. Although the device has been stored in a climate-controlled environment since being acquired by the Smithsonian, it has deteriorated over the past 30 years. The object is so fragile, in fact, that conservators from the National Air and Space Museum expect it to have disintegrated almost entirely by the time the national tour of Suited is complete.

So, you might wonder, if the object is in such precarious condition, why is it traveling at all? Smithsonian conservators are closely monitoring this artifact to learn about its deterioration process. After the Suited tour, the artifact will be de-accessioned and studied in more detail. Conservators will take what they learn from the gradual deterioration of the drinking device and use it to improve their conservation of other artifacts made from similar materials. The visible deterioration of this device over time reinforces the importance of artifact conservation and helps visitors better understand why photographs and x-rays of spacesuits--rather than the fragile objects themselves--are included in the exhibition.

Suited for Space will be on tour for several years. There is also a facebook page with tons of extras. The national tour of Suited for Space is generously sponsored by DuPont.

--Robin Meyer, SITES publications intern

Smithsonian Staff Remember 9/11

In our everyday lives, 10 years is long, long time, and yet it seems like only yesterday that the 9/11 tragedies rocked our nation and the world. The memories are still eerily accessible in the not-so-far corners of our minds, perhaps as a result of the media blitz, the days and months of analysis, the movies, books, and water-cooler remembrances. A decade later, we can easily recount where we were, what we were doing, and how we responded when we first heard the horrific news.

Those of us who work for the Smithsonian are no exception. This week, we have gathered stories from our own hallways, detailing the events of 9/11 as seen, heard, and experienced from the staff at SITES. The following recollections are complete and unedited:

It was a sunny Tuesday morning, with unremarkable traffic, so my husband and I listened to the radio on the drive into town. Between songs came a report around 9 am that a plane had flown into the World Trade Building–with commentary about how odd that was, and that it must have been one of those tourist small planes. Not much to worry about, so I dropped my husband off at the Dept. of Agriculture, parked the car in the staff parking garage at Air & Space, and walked the few blocks back to SITES. On Tuesday mornings, we have staff meetings at 9:30, but colleagues had begun to hear about New York, so we gathered in the conference room early where our only TV in the office was tuned to the news. There we were, 3 floors underground, in the Ripley Center, watching as a group, completely stunned by the unfolding drama and horror.

Eventually, we each connected with loved ones nearby and scattered across the country and beyond, checked with car pools, weighed rumors about whether the Metro was running, whether to leave or stay, where it was safest, whether more was coming. When we emerged "above ground" to a sunny day in the Smithsonian Garden with perfect blue skies, we could see the smoke rising from the Pentagon across the river, and not a sound overhead. The landing approach to Reagan National Airport is right along the Potomac, but all the planes had been grounded. It was eerily quiet, and the crowds of people were quiet, too–stunned into silence. I met up with my husband, and we returned to Air & Space to fetch our car and drive home, listening to non-stop news, got home and watched more non-stop news for hours and hours (and then what seemed like days and days). We hung out our flag, called far-flung family members, wept. 　
--Andrea Stevens, Director of Strategic Communications

 

William H. Johnson Works: A Collection with an Intriguing History

SITES' upcoming fine art exhibition, William H. Johnson: An American Modern, features a jewel-like collection of 20 works encapsulating the artist's stylistic evolution and subjective experience of the world. Currently owned by Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, the story of how these paintings found their way to Morgan, and how they now come to travel with the Smithsonian, is dramatic.

William H. Johnson (1901-1970)--a wildly prolific artist who was lauded as a technical master and experimental genius at the height of his career--suddenly and permanently stopped painting at the age of 46 due to health concerns that persisted for the remainder of his life. By this point, Johnson was a childless widower, and his art was moved to a rented storage space in lower Manhattan for safekeeping.

In 1956, the William Harmon Foundation, an early Johnson patron, took ownership of the artist's collection of art, books, and personal effects, and agreed to use them to promote Johnson's reputation and to advance the achievements of other black American artists. The Foundation recognized the unique value in Johnson's work and put forth a great effort to conserve and exhibit the art they acquired.

Three years before Johnson's death in 1970, the Harmon Foundation closed its doors. Fortunately, its founders took bold steps to ensure that Johnson's work would continue to be seen and celebrated. The Foundation's collection of 1,154 paintings by Johnson was given to what is now the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The Harmon Foundation charged the Smithsonian with the task of reaching out "to the masses of our people" and "rais[ing] their sights and . . . feeling for art at the core of life," and specifically requested that selected Johnson works be distributed to several black colleges and universities, including Morgan State. The young and enthusiastic leaders of the art departments at these schools were committed, as the Harmon Foundation had been, to raising the profile of African American artists.

Morgan's art department chair, James E. Lewis, was first on the scene and carefully selected works from each stage of Johnson's career. The masterful paintings Mr. Lewis chose have remained at the university for the past 35 year, yet the collection has never been displayed in its entirety. Gabriel Tenabe, Mr. Lewis's successor as director of the Museum of Art at Morgan State University, knew of his institution's history with the Smithsonian and began exploring the possibility of collaborating on a traveling exhibition more than a decade ago. Mr. Tenabe called in Marquette Folley, a project director at SITES, to brainstorm for ideas, and Morgan's collection of Johnson paintings soon emerged as a strong prospect.

The resulting William H. Johnson exhibition and accompanying book of the same title are a true testament to the good that can come when cultural institutions stay true to their mission. The collaboration between SITES, Morgan State, and a small community of Johnson scholars has succeeded not only in bringing Johnson to the attention of museums and museum patrons around the country, but also in providing a fresh analysis of his work and his significance as a often overlooked genius of American modern art.

--Robin Meyer, SITES Publications Intern

American Work History Told in New Exhibit

Opening this September, The Way We Worked explores the causes and effects of the many changes to the American workforce and work environments over the past 150 years. 

Transforming a show comprised of 80 black-and-white archival photographs into a colorful, free-standing exhibition complete with objects, audio, and video is no easy task. But SITES' Museum on Main Street (MoMS) team has done it again! The Way We Worked began as an exhibition at the National Archives and then traveled with SITES in its original format for four years. Now the MoMS crew, together with the show's original curator and the folks at the Smithsonian Office of Exhibits Central (OEC), has created a spectacular new version of the show that hits the road this fall. The exhibition will travel to 180 communities in 30 states over its six years on the road.

The MoMS version of the show offers a fresh take on the exhibition content and a bold new experience for viewers. MoMS project director Robbie Davis said "moving away from framed photographs hanging on walls gave us a great deal of freedom to present the story in a new way." I recently visited OEC where the MoMS displays are created and assembled, and the photographs do indeed reveal new secrets when blown-up to life size, cropped to highlight small details, and presented as silhouetted forms. In addition, reproducing the photographs digitally allows for creative overlapping of images, juxtapositions, and comparisons with posters, murals, and advertisements. The new version of The Way We Worked has over twice as many photographs as the original--including color images of contemporary jobs--but the dynamic new display keeps the viewer's attention focused and engaged.


Bruce Bustard, the curator from the National Archives, was with me on my visit to OEC. As one
accustomed to working primarily with documents and photographs, he was especially impressed by the clever use of objects, noting that they "add texture to the exhibit while still keeping its original spirit." There are some objects which are familiar to viewers (a Blackberry smartPhone, for example), and others with which many will be unfamiliar. (Two I had never seen before were a secretary's shorthand practice book and computer punch cards.)

A special technology grant from the Smithsonian has allowed the MoMS team to transform the exhibition even more than they originally dreamed possible. Come September, the exhibition will have specially mounted video screens displaying archival video footage and fresh interviews documenting the role of work in Americans' lives. In addition, a cell phone-based audio guide, with information adapted to each state will be available to visitors, who will also be able to use their cell phones to add their own stories to an online oral history archive. 

For more information about MoMS, please visit the website. 

--Robin Meyer, SITES publications intern