the museum forum

T HE M USEUM F ORUM
A publication of Amber Soderholm, curator of The Clayton Museum of Ancient History featuring the Stanback Collection at York College
V o l um e 1 ,
I s s ue 1
LOCAL ARTIST CRAFTING ORIGINAL WORKS
FOR MUSEUM
More Inside:
Construction Continues
after Fire Marshal
approval
2
The Finer Details: the
little work that often
gets forgotten or
overlooked
2
Nebraska State History
Museum display case
setback and our DIY
solution
3
The Artifacts: Snug in
their boxes
3
Text Panels and
Graphics
3
A Note from Amber
4
Seeking Items
4
Katie Dibbern, a York native,
has been contracted to use her
artistic brain and knowledge to
create added elements of art
throughout the museum. Katie
holds a Bachelor’s in Studio Art
with focus hours in painting and
ceramics from Bethany College
in Lindsborg, Kansas.
Since September, she has been
busy rebuilding the replica onager (similar to a catapult) donated from Mr. Stanback in order
for it to fit within the museum
space and also for us to be able
to physically get it in Mackey’s
basement. The onager was
not complete so she needed
to construct a handful of pieces out of repurposed wood
(the throwing arm, crank, and
braces) and metal (the arm
lock and pulley.
In addition, she also built columns that imitate fallen ruins
to sit outside the main entrance of the museum. These
are constructed out of cement
and can take weight if someone were to sit on them.
Currently her projects include
creating a 7’ X 7’ mosaic that
will hang in the stairwell leading to the museum, and planning out how to replicate a
section of the Western Wall
located in Jerusalem onto one
of the larger walls of the exhibition area.
Katie cementing the column ruins
Work is ongoing for the mosaic
Katie will also be influential in
the hands-on area’s final construction.
Besides her artistic talents,
Katie has worked in the printing
industry, which will be a huge
asset in designing text panels
and in layering larger graphics
for exhibits.
ARCHAEOLOGY
AND THE BIBLE CLASS
ASSISTING WITH HANDS-ON AREA
This semester Dr. Wheeler’s Archaeology and the Bible class is in session and
to give them an idea of what all goes
into the planning of a museum, particularly an interactive area, they have been
invited to assist us.
Initial sketch of the archaeological dig area
The initial plans for the interactive area
are to replicate an archeological dig
section, a house (whether Roman, Israelite, Canaanite, etc.) section, and a
marketplace. Students have been
asked to help in developing specific
ideas for each space. For instance,
in the archeology dig what might
have been discovered? How can we
know how old objects are? How can
we recreate a dig for our space?
What kinds of tools do archaeologists use? Can we use the same
kinds of tools safely in a kid zone? If
not, what can we use? What is important for visitors (not just specifically kids) to understand?
It will be fun to see what ideas they
come up with.
P age 2
V o l u m e 1 , I s s ue 1
CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES
AFTER
FIRE MARSHAL
A P P R O VA L
From October through December
2014, the museum was closed
to occupation by order of the
Fire Marshal. This meant any
work—construction and office—
had to continue offsite until the
marshal gave his approval.
Unfortunately, this hit right as
we were nearing completion on
the portable walls—of the 30
4’x8’ sections we only had three
more corners to build. Since we
had been building in the handson area, we had to relocate all
construction and then transport
the completed sections back
down to the museum. Now, the
walls are in place, painted, leveled, and attached together.
“Thank you to
all those who
donated
paint—it
helped us save
close to $800.”
In December, once approval was
given by the Fire Marshal for us
to be back in the museum, paint
was flying up everywhere. In
The portable walls in the painting stage. Each section is now pushed together
to close the gap, leveled, and attached together for stability.
addition to our portable walls, the
hands-on area got a fresh color of
paint on two of its walls. The gallery hall got a darker paint color
where the Nineveh prints will line
the wall. The foyer area outside of
the museum’s main doors also
received a few coats of paint to
offset the walls in which a mural will
later be painted.
Next on the “construction” docket is
a refresher for the stairwell to invite
people to venture down to the basement.
THE
FINER DETAILS: THE LITTLE WORK THAT OFTEN
G E T S F O RG O T T EN O R OV E R L OOK E D
PAINT: In the fall we sent out a
campus email asking for donated interior paint that was still
useable. Our plan was to mix
our own paint to use for painting
walls, murals, and display case
pedestals. A large amount of
paint magically appeared and
then we picked up free gallons
from Under the Sink Recycling in
Omaha. In all, Katie mixed a
combined total of 35 gallons of
paint (and we still had extra)
trying to match five colors we
had decided upon for our color
scheme. After that, we only had
to purchase primer and one
gallon of paint that is on the
vibrant side of the color wheel.
Thank you to all those who donated paint—it helped us save
close to $800.
stabilizing it. The same will be
true at Clayton. Mounts are
made using brass, silver solder,
and plexi glass. To accomplish
this we constructed our own
plexi bender using the heat
source from an unwanted crockpot.
Emptied gallons of paint
CEMENT TECHNIQUES: Other fun
projects we had to figure out on our
way to completing bigger projects
were how to create custom rubber
molds to use in stamping cement
(not as simple as it sounds) and
welding a cement mixing paddle
together to use for vertical application cement (we could mix it by
hand, but it might get a little tiring).
OBJECT MOUNT MAKING:
Every object in a museum typically
has a mount holding it in place or
LIGHTING: Track lighting was
installed in the main exhibition
area during initial construction;
however, we are currently finding filters to direct the lights
more effectively. There are also
plans to install tracks in the
gallery hall and the foyer area.
FRONT ENTRANCE DOORS: To
create a soft barrier between
the museum and the foyer area
outside the main doors, the
glass has been “frosted” with a
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
T he M u s e u m F o r u m
P age 3
N E B R A S K A S TAT E H I S T O RY M U S E U M D I S P L AY C A S E
SETBACK AND OUR DIY SOLUTION
We had a minor hiccup with the
display cases. Originally, we
were planning to purchase display cases from the Nebraska
History Museum in Lincoln,
Nebraska and repurpose them
to our needs. Presently, the
museum is going through a twoyear renovation project and
because they anticipated being
limited on storage space they
were going to be putting a large
number of cases on auction.
Unfortunately, a few weeks
before the scheduled auction in
October, I was told the history
museum now planned to keep
the display cases since they
had found a storage solution
(truthfully I think they crunched
the numbers and came to the
realization that rebuilding or
purchasing all new was out of
the budget).
So, in October I went back to
the drawing board on display
cases. Typical display cases, if
ordered from an archival company can cost $600-$5,000
depending upon size and how
high-tech it is (lights, UV glass,
humidity control, etc.) Well,
when I need about 60 display
cases, ordering them is way
beyond my price range. With the
help of my retired father, Bob,
we’ve decided to build our own
using inert materials. However,
making the plexi-glass vitrine is
beyond our expertise, so we are
having those custom made
from H & H Plastics out of Lin-
T H E A R T I FAC T S : S N U G
IN THEIR
TEXT PANELS
coln. Bryan, from H & H Plastics
will have the plexi tops assembled
in two months. Then once we have
the vitrines, we can begin constructing the pedestal bases from
MDF and MDO. Once the pedestals
have been painted, they need to
off-gas for a month so trapped
fumes don’t affect the artifacts.
BOXES
tions don’t potentially leave an
impression or mark.
Since the artifacts arrived in
York each has been assigned
an Object ID number, fully inventoried, data input into the
museum’s PastPerfect catalogue software, and repackaged
into acid-free boxes with acidfree tissue paper and ethafoam
cushioning.
Specific objects required custom storage mounts for stability
or to insure that certain posi-
Our display case prototype
Plastic covered artifact storage
during fire line installation
One change ordered by the Fire
Marshal was an additional fire
sprinkler in the artifact storage
room and museum workroom. To
ensure artifact safety while the
new line was being installed, all
artifacts were bagged in polypropylene bags, moved to new shelves,
and then covered in 4 mil plastic
as an extra precaution.
AND GRAPHICS
The process of deciding what
will be on text panels is in the
middle stages—lots and lots of
research.
Also in the works is locating
graphics that will help in telling
the context from which the artifacts come from. Images and
large graphics can really make
or break an exhibit in how visitors see, understand, and remember it.
As mentioned already, Katie
has experience in working with
printing and applying large
graphics so she will be a great
help in designing these. We will
be working with York Printing
and challenging them in seeing
what they can accomplish for
us, as well as using FastSigns
for some of our more specialized ideas.
General ideas for signage and
attention grabbers for outside
Graphic inspiration. This is an exhibit currently at Ellis Island.
the building and along the hall outside the cafeteria are also being
tossed around so guests looking for
the museum can easily find us.
“Images and
large graphics
can make or
break an exhibit
in how visitors
see, understand,
and remember
it.”
T he M u s e u m F o r u m
Page 4
A Note from the curator, Amber:
WE ARE SEEKING:
The Clayton Museum is currently searching for a few
items:
For the hands-on area we need
any fake foods that would
have been common in ancient
times to be used in the marketplace. For example, pomegranates, onions, garlic, leeks,
apricots, almonds, fish, (no
fried chicken wings please).
A row boat or a canoe that we
can potentially destroy. Needless to say, it does not need to
float.
For the onager we are desperately trying to locate rope at
least 1/2” in diameter. We will
need feet upon feet. Worn and
used looking is great.
A Roman legionary or encampment tent. This will sit in the
main exhibition area and act
more as a backdrop for artifacts and reproductions while
still hinting at what a Roman
tent looked like.
WHERE
Well, I decided it was about time to update everybody what exactly has been happening down in the basement of Mackey. Since I’ve been asked a number of questions in recent weeks, I hope this update will serve
to answer a few of them. The most asked question is “are you going to be ready in April?” And the answer
since November is “no.” Mainly because of our display case setback and the Fire Marshal's mandate, but
also because Katie and I want to create a museum of quality, one that captivates visitors that come to wander the exhibits, and one that brings to life the time periods in which our faith is cemented. I am excited for
you all to see the transformation the museum space has already gone through, but there is also a long way to
go involving a lot of work.
And last but not least, I need to give a shout out to the YC Baseball team for their help delivering 4x8
sheets of wood into the museum for us via a small stairwell and also for maneuvering the bigger pieces of the
onager down as well. Those jobs went a lot faster with more hands. Thanks, guys.
If you have any questions, or if I can assist you in any way, feel free to contact me by either my email at
[email protected] or my cell at 402.366.2255. A phone line has yet to be installed in the museum
and cell signal is very spotty throughout the museum so please leave a message if prompted to do so.
THE
FINER DETAILS:
non-adhesive cling. The doors
now look etched, but it is not
permanent so if we should need
to remove the clings it would be
very simple.
“Frosted” windows in mid-process
CONT.
TEMPERATURE AND RELATIVE
HUMIDITY MONITORING: In
order to monitor the temperature and humidity in the museum, HOBO Data loggers were
purchased, launched, and
placed throughout the museum space—in the gallery hall,
several in the main exhibition
room, inside the workroom, and
the collection storage room.
These data loggers are constantly tracking the temperature and relative humidity so I
can pinpoint when outside factors are influencing the conditions inside the museum. Ideal-
W E STA RT E D … .A N D N OW
Initial work begins in March 2014
Large exhibition area in January 2015
Data logger showing very low RH
at the onset of winter before humidity control was established.
ly, the museum is at a cool 65
degrees and relative humidity
is between 42-47%. Fluctuation of +/- 5 is okay.