Repurposing Exhibit Pieces
Repurposing Exhibit Pieces
November 3, 2010 by Taylor Studios
Guest blog written by Libby Albers.
Forgotten or little-used materials and spaces can be inexpensively transformed into visitor hot-spots.
Earlier this year, I was faced with finding a home for seldom-used (and very bulky) material in the WATER Center’s storage room. The Center’s staff was preparing for the delivery of two new exhibit pieces that would have to fit, Tetris-like, between tables, chairs and the building’s mechanical workings before they could be assembled out on the museum floor.
The WATER Center’s permanent museum exhibits are being phased in, allowing for (or necessitating) temporary, home-made pieces during the interim. This gives Center staff flexibility to modify the museum space as needed.
Problem: One very large, gray, plastic horse tank used infrequently for aquarium specimens that is taking up a ridiculous amount of space in storage.
Solution: A “Reading Pond” in the children’s story-time area of the museum
A quick fix for the horse tank included a trip to the local big-box store for a mossy looking rug, some adhesive letters and a couple of step stools. We already had several large fish pillows that we use for our “Fish Tales” story-time program.
What I thought was a way to temporarily get the horse tank out of the back room has now become a destination stop for young museum visitors.
Now…about those vintage washing machines in storage…
Libby Albers is an Environmental Specialist with the in Wichita, KS. The Center opened in 2003 and was created to find a solution to groundwater contamination. The Center’s exhibits transport the visitor on a journey of discovery about water and its internal properties and unique presence in the biosphere.