Seasons Change and So Do Galleries
The last few weeks have been a time of transition at Minnetrista. After the Smithsonian exhibition, Girlhood: It’s Complicated, closed on September 17th, we restricted access to the second floor of the Center Building. Because the exhibition filled all three galleries, this meant we had a large-scale deinstallation ahead of us. The Smithsonian team arrived on September 18th, and we worked together to return all of the cases, artifacts, panels, and audiovisual elements to their crates. This process went much quicker than installation, and the Smithsonian team was even able to fit in time to enjoy apple cider slushies and a walk around our beautiful gardens. The following week, our crew packed all 80+ crates onto five semi-trucks and sent Girlhood on its way to its next stop on the national tour – Cincinnati Museum Center.
Here is a behind-the-scenes look at the deinstallation process:
Katharine Klein, Museum Specialist for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, removes artifacts from a case.
Collections Intern Kathleen Donoho closes a crate of artifacts.
Juana Shadid, Registrar for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, oversees the packing of
the largest artifact in the exhibition – the 3,500-pound throstle twister.
Gallery 3 full of packed crates ready for shipping.
Me, Juana, and Katharine feeling very proud and accomplished at the end of the week
Olaf Larson, Timber Hatfield, Tim Smith, and Brian Peterson of our hard-working Grounds team bring pallets, crates, and cases down to the loading dock and secure them inside the semi-trailers.
On September 25th, our new Gallery 2 exhibition from Sciencenter was delivered. After a week of installation, Turtle Travels is now open to the public. This exhibition teaches visitors how they can protect turtles and their habitats through interactive elements, such as a life-size game board. This show runs from September 30th to December 31st.
Experience Designer Hannah Hopkins poses with the Turtle Travels exhibition.
Archivist Susan Smith, Collections Intern Kathleen Donoho, Experience Build Assistant Ethan Fairchild, and Museum Contractor Cathy Hamaker install the game board for Turtle Travels.
On October 2nd, our new Gallery 3 exhibition from Evergreen Exhibitions was delivered. Led by Exhibit Technician Amir Hasan, our crew has been working hard this week to install this dynamic experience. Through a variety of hands-on activities, visitors of all ages will learn more about the science, technology, and history associated with the brain and how it functions. This show runs from October 7th, 2023 to January 7th, 2024.
The Grounds team unpacks components for the exhibition, Brain: The World Inside Your Head.
Open Space: Art About the Land will open in Gallery 1 on November 4th and run through January 7th, 2024. This annual art competition is developed in partnership with Red-tail Land Conservancy to support their mission to preserve and restore East Central Indiana habitats where people and animals thrive. Reimagined this year as an art trail, Minnetrista and the Anderson Art Museum will be splitting the juror’s selections into two simultaneously running sister exhibitions.
