When I was growing up in the Chicago area, my father would often take me to the Field Museum (although I always wanted to go to the Museum of Science and Industry so I could push the buttons and watch the model train). I wasn't very artistic as a kid, but I did enjoy building models for my trains at home.
In my freshman year at college, I took a class called Behind the Scenes at Chicago's Museums. We visited all types of museums and galleries and studied the different jobs that people did there. At the Field Museum, we met the head of the exhibit department. He led us through the Sense of Wonder exhibit, one of the first exhibits in the country to be "designed." I thought it was beautiful and different from anything I had ever seen. I knew right then that I wanted to be part of exhibit design. He suggested I study industrial design or theatrical design (which I thought sounded like more fun). So, I worked really hard, took art courses, taught myself to draw, and transferred to the Goodman Theater School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago. There I studied stage design, set construction, rigging, scene painting, costume design, costume construction, and lighting design. I think it was the best training that I could have had. The theater teaches you how to do just about anything. Although I ended up working in movies and the theater for quite a few years, I eventually gave it up and came back to designing museum exhibits.
As an exhibit designer, I learn the story that a museum curator wishes to tell. Then I take the objects, images, and information he or she provides and arrange and present them in a way that protects the objects while easily communicating the story to museum visitors. To do my job, I use computers, drawing utensils, paper, and other equipment, but my real tools are light and shadow, color, form, shape, texture, taste, sound, smell, memory, and space. These are the basics of communication in an exhibit. These are the things to which people respond.
I love to learn new things, and in this job I never stop learning. In order to tell a story, I must completely understand it. So, I am constantly learning from curators and other sources about art, history, geology, anthropology, ecology, paleontology. And, with everything I learn, there is still much more that I do not know.
Designing
is all about making ideas come to life in three dimensions. You can't do that
if you can't first get an idea out of your head and onto a sheet of paper. Learn
the basics of drawing. Next, learn all you can about materials, architecture,
color, construction, lighting, graphics-everything! A designer is someone who
knows a little bit about a lot and finds all things fascinating. Also, visit
every museum and exhibit you can and analyze how other designers solved or didn't
solve their storytelling problems.
Exhibits Technician (Preparator)
When I was in the second grade, my father (who was a natural history buff) sent the kids to the Illinois State Museum on our vacation. I remember seeing the bear exhibit on the first floor, and when I got home I told my father that I was going to work at the Museum when I grew up! A few years later we moved to Springfield and I would often walk to the Museum. My neighbor later told me that I often talked about becoming an archaeologist and working at the Museum.
I went to college to study anthropology and art. While there, I worked at the college museum. I volunteered in the exhibits lab of the Illinois State Museum during the development of the Peoples of the Past exhibit and at the Research and Collections Center, where I entered data into a computer. I was hired in the exhibits department to fill in for someone who was ill, and it developed into a full-time position.
I do everything from making signs and painting walls to fabricating a sumac shrub and making casts of mountain lion's feet. You have to be ready for anything! It's not glamourous, but it can be fun.
My favorite job was making the plants for the Peoples of the Past exhibit because I amazed myself at what I could do. I also enjoy painting the large, 4'x 8' outdoor signs advertising the current exhibits. Doing this is creative and fun.
Definitely
get an advanced degree; it's very important. A valuable major is industrial
art. It teaches welding, silk-screening,
graphics, and computer skills. Volunteer in the summer at museums and sign shops
to get a taste for the work. Have a background in art and knowledge about science
or other subjects that museums interpret.
Check out exhibit departments of museums for advice. Do research to find out
where the jobs are and what the salaries are like. These can be important considerations
in the long run.
Exhibit Preparator (Dickson Mounds)
I came into the museum field because of a longtime interest in archaeology and the prehistory of the Dickson Mounds area. These interests began in 1974 when I started to collect prehistoric artifacts from the fields surrounding my home a few miles north of Dickson Mounds. Soon the collection grew and the number of discovered sites multiplied. I developed a burning desire to know everything there was to know about each item I found.
All of my free time, outside of family and professional responsibilities, was spent pursuing this interest. Before long I developed close relationships with archaeologists working in the area. Due to the economic climate of the area in the early to mid 1980s, I could devote more time to archaeology during periods of layoff from my "real" job as an industrial electrician. That was the moment that my "fun" job began to turn into my "real" job. In 1984, while working for the Museum as a contract archaeologist, I accepted a temporary contract position in the Exhibits Department at Dickson Mounds Museum. One contract led to another and eventually to a permanent position.
As Exhibit Preparator at Dickson Mounds Museum, I work with other Museum staff in the planning, production, installation, and maintenance of long-term and special exhibits and audio-visual programs. I also work with education staff in the production of elements relating to public programming, interpretive programs, and Discovery Center (hands-on) activities. Another of my tasks is to monitor and maintain the general appearance of all interior and exterior public spaces.
Having a wide range of responsibilities makes this job quite enjoyable. It provides opportunities to work on a variety of projects, interact with all other aspects of the museum field, and use many skills requiring past and present technologies, such as creating something with primitive tools or designing an exhibit using a computer. Each project is an adventure.
The job of Exhibit Preparator requires a wide range of skills that are not easily attained or offered in any single training program. Some come from life experiences and on-the-job training. A few of the qualifications include knowledge of graphic design and layout, ability in technical skills such as drafting, photography, carpentry, fabrication in specialized materials, finishing, lighting, audio-visual programs, handling and packing of artifacts and exhibits, and mountmaking. Essential today are strong computer-technology skills, especially those relating to graphic design and production. However, I believe you should not focus too heavily on any one skill, but instead remain flexible and have a good working knowledge of each. To succeed, diversify as much as possible, learn as much as you can about each of the related fields, and keep in touch with developments in materials, technology, and exhibit productions at other institutions. With this approach, each day the world will be your classroom.