Client: The Big Springs Museum
The Shaping a Community exhibit was the Big Springs Museum’s first major exhibit. Over a year of planning and two years of fundraising, I helped the museum staff understand the role of design, storytelling, and production standards to determine a budget and to produce an exhibit that would connect with their community.
The museum staff’s initial concept of focusing exclusively on service organizations was broaden to look at how all volunteers shape a community through individual projects, participation in service organizations, and military service.
A selection of 24 volunteer and service examples were chosen. I interviewed and photographed each person, where possible. I wrote the volunteer and service narratives and the introductory text for each section of the exhibit. Objects and graphics were selected for the volunteer stories, and then I completed panel layouts, exhibit design, and the final installation.
The exhibit is a testament to the museum’s voluntary staff, the board, and the many individuals who volunteered their time to raise money, work with me to select volunteers and objects, transcribe interviews, write object labels, edit the volunteer and service narratives and panel text, build the exhibit walls and furniture, paint, and prepare objects for installation.