Mythical Creatures

Peek into the atrium walkway window boxes to discover imaginative scenes showcasing the whimsical world of mythical creatures – artfully felted dragons, fairies, gnomes, mermaids and more, created by AmeriCorps members Filipa Estrela and Rachel Storey.

Filipa and Rachel gave a glimpse of how the delightful display came to be:

Rachel: “We wanted the boxes to be fun and imaginative. To do this, we combined my love of making tiny household objects with Filipa's fascination with mythology. Our inspiration was our mutual love of all things tiny and adorable. We wanted to create a theme that would engage all children and inspire play, and we decided that fairy tales were the best way.”

Filipa: “My fascination for mythical things is really more of a childhood obsession. I grew up reading folklore from various cultures.”

Rachel: “Filipa was in charge of the creatures and I made most of the scenery. Filipa used wool roving, polyester filling and pipe cleaners to create the creatures. The scenery pieces were made from a variety of materials – there was a lot of felt and fabric, papier mache (with paper towels), household odds and ends, tape and plastic drinking straws. One of the most interesting materials used for our design was the bamboo. I made them by placing strips of masking tape on a drinking straw and then covering them with green paint.”

Filipa: “My top five boxes are maybe the swamp, the gnome house, the desert, the bamboo forest, and the rainforest... and the castle. Wait that's six...”

Rachel: “I am especially proud of the Viking ship, canyon and tundra boxes. They are all so colorful and all of these boxes involved several hours of carving with an Exacto knife."

Take a look and discover which is your favorite!

Scenes of Spring

Following our recent robot invasion, two other new displays have sprouted up this spring!

Take a peek at playful puppets stomping in puddles, romping in the rain, and carrying colorful umbrellas in a display featuring the Museum’s collection of historic Betty Huestis marionettes.  AmeriCorps members Filipa Estrela and Rachel Storey started with a variety of different concepts, and a goal to find a theme that could incorporate some of the puppets that haven’t been used as often – especially their favorite, Little Red Riding Hood.  They decided upon a rainy day and went to work creating a vibrant vignette that included handcrafting beaded rain and clever umbrellas from wire wrapped with bright yarns.  Figuring out how to pose the puppets was particularly challenging, but important to their story – so Rachel modeled different poses to help them decide how to move the limbs in just the right ways!

“We wanted to inspire people to play in the rain,” said Filipa – and their engaging display does just that.


Also peer into the atrium walkway window boxes to discover sweet scenes of plants budding and animals reawakening as spring and its sunshine arrives.  Created by AmeriCorps members Leigh Holmes and Anna Strecker, each of the 17 boxes contains hand-sewn felt critters, beautiful painted backdrops, and a mix of other imaginative props.  The inspiration came from a book Leigh loved growing up, “The Story of the Root Children.”  “I remembered a part where they were painting the bugs, getting them ready for spring,” said Leigh.  “It was like the world waking up again.”

To determine the concept for each of the boxes, they had a brainstorming session about ideas related to spring, and that kids would like.  After they had an initial list of ideas, they eliminated some and refined others to make them more interactive.  Next, they made sketches to scale to help think about what components were needed, what the background should be, and how best to fill the space in each box.

The result is an utterly charming series that is a thoughtful tribute to the storybook that inspired it.  Get a glimpse and savor the season on your next visit!

Little Rhody

New at the Museum: peek into the atrium walkway window boxes to take a tiny tour of Little Rhody.   Follow a quahog on a playful journey to some of the greatest hits and highlights of the Ocean State – sampling frozen lemonade, strolling through WaterFire, taking a spin on a Looff Carousel, and more!

The imaginative excursion was created by AmeriCorps members Mary Burke and Ali Sandler with support from other members of the their team and exhibits department staff Robin Meisner and Jessica Neuwirth.

Mary spoke about the concept and process:

“We wanted to do something that would appeal to visitors and be fun for both kids and grown-ups and the idea of Rhode Island emerged.

The hardest part was figuring out what scenes they would be. We generated a list of ideas, then divided them up, drew sketches and gathered materials that would make good miniatures – though we didn’t always know what they were looking for!

Once we began assembling the scenes, it became clear what was needed and how to use materials – the process prompted me to look at materials in new ways and wonder, what could it be?

I’m curious to know which boxes will be visitor favorites. I hope they say, “Remember when we went there?” or “We should go there!” – that the boxes are a real conversation starter.”

Little Rhody will be on view through the fall so make a point to do some sightseeing on your next visit!

Mary's favorite scenes include the Rustic Drive-In, Del's Lemonade truck and Point Judith Lighthouse.

Game On!

This spring and summer, Museum visitors have taken a peek at Playful Pastimes in the atrium walkway window boxes – an assortment of silly scenes inspired by familiar games, from Go Fish to Twister, that invite visitors to think about their favorite ways to play. Created by AmeriCorps members Lucia Carroll and Savannah McMullen with guidance from Exhibits Director Robin Meisner and Exhibits Developer Jessica Neuwirth, the boxes are a mix of clever plays on names and visually appealing interpretations of popular games.

Savannah and Lucia's work in progress

On their process… 

Savannah: "Coming up with the games themselves wasn’t hard, it was more about what we could do with each game. We had a couple of misses where we ran into problems – we were planning on doing Candyland for a long time but we couldn’t get the textures right to make it look like candy."

Lucia: "Or even not just being able to think of an idea we felt was as successful or did the other boxes justice. We tried to be strategic about the games that we picked."

Savannah: "It took a lot of sketches to plan out the tiny space. We had to think spatially – how the whole box could be filled, front to back and top to bottom, without being too crowded. We did brainstorms on games and then sketches, and then different sketches and more brainstorms!"

Lucia: "For me, they were consistently in process, always being edited, until the due date. There’s always something more you can add to them, but I had to figure out what was feasible and go from there."

On materials…

Savannah: "It was mostly about what would work to make the game miniature – using astroturf for grass, wine toppers for tiny chairs, benches and thrones made out of popsicle sticks… We were really open to everything and the potential of materials."

Lucia: "I feel pretty proud that we made most of the stuff in the boxes – we made a concerted effort to make our miniatures and use found items."

“It’s fun to see parents and kids looking at them together,” Savannah concluded. “We wanted to make them straightforward enough to figure out but also enjoyable for everyone – something for the kids to look at that also amuse the parents as much as possible.”

They most certainly are – play along over the next few weeks and see many games you can figure out!

Metal Miniatures!

Come discover Metal Miniatures!, a charming collection of intricate miniatures located in the atrium walkway window boxes and handcrafted by talented metal artist Abraham Megerdichian (1923-1983).

From an elegant violin to an impressive set of trains, the delightful creations fashioned from solid blocks of metal are a testament to their maker's skill and humor.

The Megerdichian family is proud to share Abraham’s wonderful miniatures in museums around New England and loaned the collection for this display. “The miniatures made by my father are a tribute to the skill of a trained machinist combined with an artist’s eye and a generous man’s heart,” said his son, Robert Megerdichian.

Born in Franklin, MA to Armenian immigrants, Abraham lived and worked as a machinist for most of his life in Cambridge, MA. He often used his 20-minute lunch breaks to craft precious keepsakes as gifts for family and friends, including replicas of things that were special to kids – like his son Robert’s wagon. As his skills flourished, his creations became more complex, imaginative and humorous. Each of Abraham’s pieces is a unique and inspiring example of creativity and inventiveness.

Metal Miniatures! will be on display through April 27, so check them out on your next visit!

Flora and Fauna

On view this spring in the atrium walkway window boxes, discover a lovely light-filled collection of cut paper flowers and charming critters handcrafted by AmeriCorps members Hannah Thompson and Sarah Schnurr.

After initial brainstorming sessions to focus their concept, the pair took on different roles in the process. Hannah cut and layered transparent colored velum to form the flowers, which Sarah noted have “almost a stained glass effect.” Sarah created bugs from beads, found materials and florist tape, adding to a display that Hannah described as “whimsical yet scientific.”

Throughout the process, “We offered each other advice and critical feedback,” said Hannah. Sarah added, “Seeing it finally come together was rewarding. It ended up working really well.”

 

Flora and Fauna will be on display into July, so take a look on your next visit!

Winter-saurs!

Discover Winter-saurs!, playful scenes in the atrium walkway window boxes featuring curious dinosaurs enjoying a wealth of winter adventures – skiing, sledding, building snowmen and warming up with some cozy indoor activities as well.

Inspired by the hilarious Dinovember’s mischievous dinos and created by Natalie Hodson (a RISD work-study student graduating this year with a degree in Industrial Design), the display is packed with funny and charming details that also give a nod to the winter Olympics.

These daring dinos are on display through March, so don’t miss their adventurous antics!

Spot the Robot

Spot the Robot, a charming new display created by AmeriCorps Museum Educators Amanda Nico and Ryan Peters, invites visitors to peer into the atrium walkway window boxes to discover Robbie the Robot’s mischievous after-hours Museum explorations.

Ryan: We wanted to tell a simple story: we follow the robot on his adventure through the Museum at night, but kids also get to watch the Museum collections come to life and interact with one another.

Amanda: Creating the boxes was a lot of fun and I found myself really inspired by different exhibits when making my boxes. I'm also really happy that we found a way to display so many collections items that guests would otherwise never see.

Robbie masquerades as a marionette.

Ryan: I wanted to create scenes that conveyed movement and I also tried to pack tons of detail into each box, to give the sense that even after you've found the robot there are still little things that bring you back to the box and keep it fresh.

Robbie's hands-on exploration of art materials in Discovery Studio.

The boxes are paired with a hunt challenging visitors to follow the clues to spot the robot in each scene. They’ll be on display for a few months, so check them out on your next visit!

Image & Illusion

Image & Illusion, the most recent display in the Museum’s atrium walkway, invites visitors to peek into the 17 window boxes to discover a range of representations of different animals. Created by Museum intern Robin Hayashi (with guidance from the exhibits team), the boxes feature illusionary images that shift with perspective between photographs and graphic depictions.

Robin, who has worked at the Museum since January 2010 and is graduating from RISD this spring with a degree in graphic design, described her inspiration and process.

Each box has three different images of the same animal: one photograph, one graphic and one silhouette. Walking by each box, the image changes, providing an exciting and playful transformation that capitalizes on the ramp's natural use as a walkway.

As a graphic designer, I have always been inspired by different ways of representing the same idea. After figuring out how the folded paper illusion works, I collected images of animals, ranging from familiar farm animals to spectacular sea creatures. Then I created colorful graphics that correspond to each photograph but show the animal in an alternate view, perhaps just the animal's face if the photograph depicts the whole body, or vice versa. I also developed a very simple silhouette, much a logo, of each animal.

I wanted to show the ways different arrangements of shape and color can communicate the same thing. A photograph of five pigs in a barn, a simple pink pig nose and a the outline of a pig's shape all say, "Pig!" I hope that visitors are inspired by the simple magic of images on folded paper – perhaps even enough to make their own! 

Image & Illusion will be on display through June, so come see for yourselves!

Talking Back: How Many? How Much?

This winter, we hosted a delightful display of intriguing objects in our atrium walkway that challenged visitors to determine How Many? How Much? An accompanying talk-back board prompted them, “Do you wonder how many there are of something? What?”

Here's a selection of the clever, thoughtful, imaginative responses and ponderings they shared:

We were especially charmed by their curiosity and musings about the Museum itself!

Inspired by Nori, our rooftop dragon, we presume!

We bid farewell to the exhibit and welcome its replacement next week.

How Many? How Much?

We’re happy to welcome a clever new display created by Museum Exhibits Intern and Play Guide Sarah Oh, a junior in Industrial Design at RISD.  How Many? How Much? challenges visitors’ eyes and teases their brains as they count and estimate the quantities of intriguing objects stacked and packed in the Museum’s atrium walkway window boxes. Sarah reflected on her creative process and her work with Exhibits Director Robin Meisner.

How did you choose your materials and how to display them?

Robin and I wanted a combination of unusually shaped things and more commonplace objects that kids see at home or at school. We also wanted to combine manmade objects and natural objects. Then I thought of how to display them that would transform them from ordinary to something special.

What was your concept for the vibrant graphic panels you created to line the boxes?

I took inspiration from the colors I’ve seen around the Museum. I wanted a lot of variety, a lot of diversity in the shapes – some are radial, some are more linear and geometric, others are more curvy. I made all of the designs I could think of and matched them to displays. For objects I planned to display more radially, I matched them with tessellations.

I put mirrors on the sides of each box so the idea of spatial thinking and repetition of objects wasn’t confined to a box but could be extended into infinity, where the mirrors reflect one another.

What was the most challenging box? Your favorite box?

I think I spent more time on the boxes like the nuts and bolts and the clothespins and binder clips because those are very ordinary things. They were more fun, too – trying to display objects in a way that from far away they’re transformed into something else and then close up you get that “aha!” moment of recognizing what it is. My favorite was the animals – it was a lot of connecting to my inner child!

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Visitors have been quite engaged since the display debuted, eagerly peering into boxes to figure out what the objects are and guess their quantities. A grandfather with his grandson  commented, “You can see them on both sides – they really use the space beautifully!”

The boxes are paired with a hunt that challenges visitors to identify whole boxes based on a picture of part of their objects and a talk-back board that asks, “Do you wonder how many there are of something? What?”

Check back to see some of their wonderful responses, and thanks to Sarah for her beautiful work!

Philbert’s Travels

We recently welcomed a new display to our atrium walkway, created by AmeriCorps Museum Educators Sarah Bonawitz and Rebecca Gormley, who humorously shared their process and inspiration.

We designed and installed Philbert’s Travels: Around the World in 17 Scenes, the latest ramp box exhibit. Inspired by the Museum’s beautiful collections of glass penguins, antique tin toys, miniature architecture, and Victorian dollhouse furniture, we wanted to combine some of these pieces with our own handmade components. Using the wide variety of materials the Museum’s basement had to offer and the guidance of several Museum staff, we created a quirky story about a penguin named Philbert who travels the world. As we also love to travel, we felt it best that the real story – Philbert’s story – come from none other than Philbert himself.

“Everyone thinks that a penguin’s life is all fun and games. Sure, there’s the sledding on your stomach and playing a game of “Go Fish” around the fire, but sometimes you just want to get away from the everyday. That’s why I, Philbert the Penguin, decided to take the trip of a lifetime.

First I made a list of all the places I wanted to go. As it turns out, there were a fair few. I knew I wanted to lounge under the feathery branches of palm trees at the beach, to ride along cottony clouds in a multi-colored balloon, and perhaps above all, to float among the ribbon-like rings of Saturn and shiny satellites of the Final Frontier. Almost as important as the where, of course, was how I would get from place to place. During the average day, your average penguin does an average amount of waddling and sliding, but I had to keep reminding myself that this was to be the trip of a lifetime! From boarding mountain-bound trains to sailing the seven seas, a penguin needs to be ready for anything. “No more waddling for me,” I thought, “No siree – I am finally going to fly!”

And fly I did! From scaling mountains to touring the City of Love to making new friends, I have memories I’ll never forget. Sure, not everything went exactly as planned on my trip – there was the day I spent hours waiting for my bus to the beach. There was the agonizing time I lost my way in the desert. And I’m only just recovering from the time I stumbled upon an erupting volcano. But hey, that’s why they call it an adventure!”

Talking Back: Word Play

Inspired by the Word Play exhibit that we've been delighted to have in the atrium walkway for the past few months, we asked visitors to draw pictures that illustrate a word or a saying in a funny way.  Here's what some of them – kids and adults – shared:

A lovely representation of Nori, the Museum's rooftop dragon!