Author: algerst

For this review, I decided to shy away from the smaller, more local exhibits and shift my focus to the nationally recognized St. Louis Art Museum, with the goal of examining exhibit design from the perspective of a large institution, that has access to more resources and capabilities. Ultimately, I decided to conduct my examination on the Ancient American Arts exhibit on the lower floor of the museum.

I visited the art museum on Sunday, March 24th, and upon entry, decided to ask the guides for some of their favorite exhibits. They were extremely friendly and helpful in pointing out their favorites on the lower level, mentioning the Ancient American exhibit, and giving me a map to explore the museum.

As I walked down to the lower level, I was immediately confused as to which direction I should go to reach the exhibit. The rooms of various exhibits are numbered on the map, but in person, those numbers are very lightly labeled on the inside of doorways and are easily missed if don’t look for them. However, I soon realized that the room numbers were not necessary to find the exhibit. As I neared the end of the Oceanic Art exhibit, I had noticed that the paint on the walls had shifted to a deep blue, and after a quick glance at the museum map, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the wall paint corresponded with the map color of the exhibit.

This color coding allowed each exhibit to sharply contrast the other connecting exhibits, making it nearly impossible to not realize when you had moved from one regional exhibit to the next.

The Ancient American Art exhibit was split into four distinct rooms, two smaller, square shaped rooms (Rooms 111 & 112), and two longer rectangular rooms that ran parallel to one another (Rooms 113 & 114).

While there is no “entrance” to the exhibit, the information that you will see changes depending on whether you enter from the Oceanic Art exhibit to the south , or from the Islamic Art exhibit to the East.

If you enter into room 113 coming from the Islamic Art exhibit, you are immediately met with the art of North America, including the Mississippian culture, American Southwest culture group, and the Mesoamerican culture group. This theme expands heavily into the parallel room (114) that delves even deeper into Mesoamerican culture, likely due to the abundance of artifacts from this region.

Even though I have a bachelors degree in anthropology, I never felt like this exhibit was more accessible to me because I have that prior knowledge. Since the exhibit was ethnographic and not fine-art, it was filled with informational maps along the walls of each room. Each of these maps provided just enough summary information to indoctrinate visitors into the history of these regions. Preventing confusion, but also creating artificial barriers between sub-regions in the exhibit, allowing anyone to identify where one section ends and another begins.

However, not every informational poster was placed in the most ideal position. For example, in room 111, I was immediately met with many display cases, and hidden behind, along the back wall was the informational poster, notifying visitors that this room was dedicated to the Andes mountain region. While it is a minor complaint, I do think that relocating a few of these posters would easily allow visitors to visually organize the exhibit space based on region.

Which brings me to the most prominent aspect of the exhibit, the spacing. This is where I believe the exhibit really shines, all of the display cases are so well positioned that the room never felt cramped and I never felt overwhelmed with information. There is also a consistent alternation between multi-artifact display cases and single-artifact display cases. With every multi-artifact display being positioned in either the middle of the room, allowing for a 4-sided display, or being positioned along the wall of a room, giving multiple visitors plenty of space to examine comfortably without encroaching on anyone else.

Each part of the exhibit felt as if it had a distinct purpose, the color palette identified the exhibit, the spacing provided a comfortable experience, and even the bordering art (non-Ancient American) added to the experience. Along the long wall of room 113 there are multiple windows facing this massive artwork, titled, “The Stone Sea” by Andy Goldsworthy. Which expertly adds to the atmosphere of the room, while viewing Olmec stonework, you can look up and see these massive stone archways peering through shaded windows. Allowing the visitor to feel encapsulated in the deep blue walls, giving more shadowed presence to the stone arches. Almost transporting visitors into the ruins of an ancient city, providing this feeling of inquisitiveness yet also calming.

Starting with a rather small exhibit, I decided to visit my local historical museum in the City of Collinsville, Illinois. The Collinsville Historical Museum is a squat and compact colonial building, often overshadowed by the much larger City Library standing almost in-front of the museum. Despite this, the interior of the museum displays an excellent use of space, featuring rows of diverse display cases that fill the room, adorn the the walls of the stairway, and carry-on into an additional display room on the lower level. Filling all of their limited space, but never feeling too cramped or cluttered, it is an expertly organized experience.

However, my goal is not to review the entire museum, but instead, a specific exhibit. Tucked into the left-most corner upon entry to the museum, in a small square box-like space, you will find yourself standing before the “Founders’ Room”, the newest exhibit display created by the Collinsville Historical Museum. The founders room represents a successful development in exhibit design for local museums, hopefully pushing other local communities to rethink how they can display their objects and form a strong narrative that engages visitors and gives them a more memorable experience.

The Founders’ Room serves as a visual story-teller, guiding visitors through the infancy of the City of Collinsville, and how it came to be what it is today. From its very beginnings in the early 19th Century throughout its development into the 20th century and beyond. Serving as quaint little window into the early colonial days of the Midwest, showing the local community a glimpse of the why and how Collinsville grew into the city it is today.

Upon entry to the exhibit space, visitors will be greeted with a slew of objects and information cards. Although the most immediate visual guide in the Founders’ Room is the timeline stretched along each wall of the room in a panoramic style. Starting from the left and wrapping across the entire room. Orienting visitors to view the room in a clockwise rotation. Creating a very easy to follow narrative fitting perfectly within the densely packed exhibit space.

The room itself is beautifully organized with a plethora of objects from the relevant period, featuring muskets, land deeds, portraits, and even clothes. Each wall features objects overlaid with images and interpretive labels, giving visitors a more complete story as their eyes scan down the wall from the reference date above. Recounting the details and first hand accounts of the events described on the timeline, mainly following the Collins family through their acquisition and development of the land that eventually became the city.

Within a matter of thirty minutes, a visitor can skim over each of the informational documents, within an hour and a half, a visitor could become an expert historian on the founding of Collinsville. I even found myself quite interested as I was circling the room (more than once) learning the history. Regardless of how much time a visitor chooses to spend on this exhibit, it always feels like there is something you may have glanced over too quickly, adding a great amount of depth to an otherwise tiny arrangement.

While the scale is rather small, the Founders’ Room manages to outshine the rest of the museums displays in one major sense; theme. The Founders’ Room offers a special consistency that is hard to find in most other local historical museums through a cohesive narrative. Especially in the local setting, considering how most local historical museums are limited by funds and the volume and/or quality of items donated by local residents. Leading to a generalized layout, where their only displays consist of WWII memorabilia, sports memorabilia, national news clippings, and the spare historical document found in a local’s attic.

I do not mean to disregard the value of those items, in fact, the Collinsville historical museum features them prominently in the main display spaces. But it goes without saying that local museums should strive to experiment with their design and not offer the same experience a visitor would find in a neighboring township. I believe that a proper investment into the inclusion of unique exhibit experiences could transform the public’s perspective, and in an industry where public perspective influences everything from funding to popularity, these developments will become more and more necessary.

The Founders’ Room serves as a small, but compelling step in the right direction for the growth of local historical museums. Branching into alternative methods of design, spatial awareness, and the use of thematic storytelling. Allowing the Collinsville Historical Museum to set itself apart from the much to consistent layout of local historical museums. I hope to see more experimentation like this in how other local historical museums address the design of their new and upcoming exhibits.