Hello Museum Trade Folk, Susan shared a treasure trove of goodies with us, thank you Susan. There are five PDFs from the Small Museums Association Conference presentation about how mounting DIY exhibits for small museums. Let’s dive right in, the first PDF is the over arching plan for the presentation. I wonder if Susan took an pix from the workshop section, that would be a fantastic additio...[Read More]
Hi Everyone, MuseumTrade.org is committed to compiling all the tips, tricks, successes, and yes, failures from museum pros into one searchable database. But sometimes the answers just lie in a good book. A book that niches down hard and pulls out each detail. Books are a nice reference especially when you need to highlight or dogear a favorite section for later use in storage or in the gall...[Read More]
Those of us in the museum field love to engage our visitors. Be it through objects, stories, interactives, graphics, or little things they can take away with them so they can remember the experience. No need to reinvent the wheel, a photo booth, be it digital or actual, is always a crowd favorite. It’s hard to know what hardware will be right for your situation. I did the research and tried ...[Read More]
Guerrillas on the Moon Sacha Jafri was a man with a plan. He was an eccentric artist who was known for his bold and daring creations. He was determined to create a masterpiece that would inspire future generations and show the world the power of art. He had always been fascinated by the moon and its beauty, and he saw it as the perfect backdrop for his latest project. He had a new idea that would ...[Read More]
You’ve seen these I’m sure. Little keyed pieces of wood on the four corners of frames. They’re called splines, or splined miter joints. Just knowing what they are called is half the battle. Sometimes builders make the keyed in wood a radically different color so they stand out. They add a lot of strength to your corners and are easy to do. You will need to do a little pre-build f...[Read More]
In this article Sean outlines a fine method for making the most out of what gets shipped out. Along the way he introduces us to casket lock hardware (new to me), some fun ways to nest and pack in a crate, a cover use of gaffers tape, and how to use the to pull cloth taut and stay that way. Thanks Sean! In the early 2010s I was inspired to devise a pedestal that doubled as a crate. This idea came f...[Read More]
A regularly updated review of the Micca Speck video players. All of them, the G2, G3, and 4K versions reviewed, compared, and contrasted. Spoiler alert, I’ve been using the Micca G2 for YEARS(!) and these things are workhorses. They are affordable and dependable. They are small and simple to use. We use them to power small screens around the museum that help add context to certain pieces or ...[Read More]
I feel that this subject needs some attention. I’ve been focused on weird one-off solutions to everyday problems, but maybe a solid article on how to hang work in an art museum or art gallery. This is the future home of that article. A quick outline off the top of my head: How to design the layout Consider: Year, Theme, Color, Tone, texture, and Frame size or outer object dims Order you want...[Read More]
Label placement can be tough sometimes. Have you ever had to change its color or redesign the layout because you realized that there wasn’t room for the label or that it was just not in a logical spot? we had this instance where a nearby perpendicular wall was going to work ok for our new Betty Woodman installation. It was just slightly less than ideal. We have these bent pieces of plexiglas...[Read More]
In the summer of 2021 I was gifted a Arakawa art rail system from a Museum Trade reader give-away. At the same time I knew a friend wanted a stained glass “Steal Your Face” Grateful Dead window hung in her home without building in a special frame or structure in any window. So, I passed this set along to her and installed it as a Christmas gift. You can see it placed just above the blinds valence ...[Read More]