In this special spotlight episode, exhibits staff Tamara Martz, Jonah Wright, and exhibits student Cindy Hickman install a new display of archaeology objects at the entrance to the museum’s Gallery of Alaska.
The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North, on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through collections, research, education, and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples.
In this special spotlight episode, exhibits staff Tamara Martz, Jonah Wright, and exhibits student Cindy Hickman install a new display of archaeology objects at the entrance to the museum’s Gallery of Alaska.
The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North, on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through collections, research, education, and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples.
Tamara Martz:
Jonah is looking for power. He is replugging in the light, so we can get this case lit.
Roger Topp:
Hello, and welcome to The More You Look: Up Close, a short, unscheduled stop on your behind-the-scenes journey into museum collections, research, exhibits, and public programming. I'm Roger Topp, Director of exhibits, design, and digital media at the UA Museum of the Morth, and today's host. Today, we catch up with UAMN exhibit staff Tamara Martz, Jonah Wright, and exhibits' student Cindy Hickman as they install a new display of objects at the entrance to the museum's Gallery of Alaska.
Tamara Martz:
So, the University of Alaska campus has multiple archaeological sites. And this case is showcasing a handful of objects from many of those. So, we're showing six sites that cover 1000s of years.--and put the labels back in, and then Cindy can add in objects and we should be done. We show the location of each site on campus. We have three objects here that have come from our museum site, the most recent being a glass bottle scraper, or a scraper made from bottle glass that is potentially 200 years to a hundred years old. Perfect.
Jonah Wright:
Alright.
Tamara Martz:
Yes, so the process has been over the last year. The selection of the objects started with a discussion with archaeology and choosing the sites that they could showcase. They have hundreds of objects found on campus. And so, they selected a few objects from each site that showed the different uses as well as different material to cover those sites. So, now we have a school tour coming through, you can probably hear that in the background.
Jonah Wright:
Any thoughts on what we're going to do with the TV here like, puit it across.
Roger Topp:
Have to refer to our earlier notes and discussion, because I know we've discussed both. I think a soffet makes sense there. But, I forget where we left it.
Tamara Martz:
I think we want it to be able to make it look like one continuous surface, space, so that it--so that we're not like--I don't know. So, one of the main difficulties with this case is that it's not just a square or a rectangle, we have a triangle with its sides chopped off. We have the six different sites that we're trying to showcase, and each site has a different amount of objects in it. The campus site having the most objects, which means trying to fit them all into a triangle
became a bit of a puzzle:
making sure they actually look good and it's clear to visitors which objects come from which site was really challenging.
Roger Topp:
They're not looking Cindy. You just put them where you want.
Tamara Martz:
So centered and stacked.
Roger Topp:
I do know that we're going to run it off a smaller computer like we have for the Visitor Services kiosk-- So we need power--
Jonah Wright:
Power's above, so that's not--
Tamara Martz:
So, since this is inside a case, we don't want to use vinyl or anything with adhesive, so the labels have been printed in-house and dry mounted so they don't off gas or cause any problems for the objects. And then we have low VOC paint, and then each object sits on archival suede. That protects it from the paint. And most objects thankfully sit flat, so we didn't have to create any additional mounts. About it inch top and bottom,--together and then centered on the back.
Cindy Hickman:
Is it centered?
Tamara Martz:
Should be yes.
Cindy Hickman:
A little bit, I think, to the--
Tamara Martz:
Well, it should be centered. So we can get Do you have any tape?
Cindy Hickman:
No.
Tamara Martz:
So, grab some tape and we will get a top corner to work from and then we can center it on the backboard. Cindy is changing light bulbs and making sure everything is going to fit. Cindy did a great job laying out the objects and then making sure everything had its felt. Jonah's gonna install the backboard, make sure--
Jonah Wright:
Extremely tight fitting--
Tamara Martz:
Very tight fitting wood.
Jonah Wright:
We had to get this in perfectly, at the right angle.
Tamara Martz:
Yep.
Jonah Wright:
Temperature, humidity.
Tamara Martz:
All just right. And then we have the final object--the label for the case and a historical photo of campus, an aerial photo, so you can see the different sites. And that will go in, and then Cindy's gonna bring out the objects and place those on the felt that we have, the suede. this is gonna look great. Please come see it.
Roger Topp:
The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dene people of the Lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through Collections, Research, education, and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples. Thank you for listening. Please subscribe and share and rate the program. This helps other listeners discover more about not only the work of this museum, but quite possibly other museums in their neighborhoods. The more you look, the more you find.