Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Museum Design: aka how to have too much fun with floor plans

This week's assignment grew far bigger than  it probably should have. But it did lead to some fun conversations with visitors at work who wondered why I was furiously drawing and sketching floor plans.
I apologize for the weird formatting this week. Not sure what happened, but the spacing is seriously out of whack and if there are random symbols, I promise I did not mean for them to be there.
For my museums plans, I used the objects and general concept of First Person Arts as we know it, including the number of objects. The big differences: unlimited quantities of money and an altered theme statement.  I threw in some influences of my park interp training, and pulled some aspects of Interpretive Service Plans to organize the first step.


Step #1: Mission Statement, Take-Home Messages, and Storyline

Theme Statement: Objects serve practical functions in our lives. They also represent memories and feelings upon which we organize our homes, relationships and cultural understanding. Due to the meanings we find in and ascribe upon objects, each represents a story. 

Goals: What you hope to accomplish with the presentation
  • Present an understanding that we organize our lives with objects
  • To describe what purposes objects fill in our lives.
  • To inform people of the origins of every day objects
  • To gain a deeper understanding of our culture as one of materials and objects

Objectives: Measurable accomplishments
At the end of the program the visitor will be able to:
  • Name Three stories they heard
  • Identity two  modes of organization of objects
  • Explain the function and production of one of the objects and the importance there of.
  • Tell us about an object they organize their lives around 

    Step #2: "Galleries of Thought"/Step #3: Inventory & Facts

    So, with those goals and themes in mind, I separated the objects into spaces, or modes of organization: Objects of Home, Objects of Comfort, Objects of Memory and Objects of Adventure (in that order for a specific reason).  I am aware that these categories are extremely flexible but go with me here. The objects in these categories are:
    Home: Birth Certificate, Pan, Wall Hanging and Painting.
    Comfort: Tiger, Rhino, Shawl, Dolls
    Memory: sock, wedding ring, boxers, wedding ring
    Adventure: Passport, map, fishing license, pen.


    Steps #4: Motivate & Engage Visitors
    Main concerns for set up: Traffic Flow and access to objects and story at same time without too much reading. I did not want the objects to sit in a made up trying-hard-to-look-like home atmosphere, rather aspects that hinted at context without pretending they were there.
    Getting the Stories: Visitors get headphones at the front desk to listen to stories, with numbers at each object to prompt story. 
    Understanding the spaces: Longer text panel introduces the whole exhibit, giving people an object such as a hair brush or other ordinary thing to look at and asking them to think of what they do with it, where it sits in their house and then delving into a short discussion of the theme. Each room would have a short introductory panel.


    Step #5 Create the Look & Feel
    Engaging the objects: Each room has four objects and one more interactive experience, either something to touch (a sample of fabric from one of the objects), a short film about production of the object, or how people use it in other cultures. Each object would have a short description a la what we are doing (got to make us relevant in this experience). Each object would be on display in some sort of case that allows the visitor to see the object from all around. On the walls there would be pictures of the object in the context of its story potentially with its owner, then a picture of it in another context (manufacture, store, another culture) and proper signage. Visitors can more fully understand the origins, purpose AND emotional meaning of the object from the mixed approaches of visual, text, photos, and tactile interaction.  Visitors retain much more when they they observe and touch, than when they read and are spoken to.
    Engaging the Space: There would be plenty of places to sit (including a rocking chair in the 'home' section and a bean bag chair in the 'comfort' section). Other small things include obviously placed bathrooms and offices for the staff so they don't mutiny. If I was better with the program, I would have changed the colors of the rooms (Home: yellow, Comfort: beige, Memory: blue, Adventure: green) because people associate colors with feelings, places and objects. And making every room white is just boring. Lights would be of a lower, softer voltage, set on walls rather than the ceiling to avoid the feeling of being in a hospital.There would be a more interactive section at the end where people could share their own stories, react to other objects, try making objects. Revenue could be made off of a catalog, photos, or discs of the stories. Limited, straight forward merchandise.  
    And after wrestling with Floorplanner for a few hours, this is what I came up with for the set up of the museum. I have put a variety of objects in place of display cases (lamps, book cases) and info panels (screens) and it seems my walls have some trouble. 

    Not the best screen shot, but you get the point.  The squiggly things are intro panels. Imagine the square, round and multi colored things are varying types of display cases which can either hold just the object, or the object and pictures. The triangular objects would be more interactive displays with videos, touchable objects, other questions.
    Before class tomorrow I will include a mock up drawing of a display. However, technology is not cooperating at the moment and I wish to put this out before midnight.


    Tuesday, September 21, 2010

    Cultural and Social Context

    First off, a note of celebration. I have a picture of my object! whoo. However, I do not yet have clearance to post the photos and I was not bored enough at work this weekend to draw a picture. Granted, now that I have a picture I must re-do my first and sort of re-do my second blog post. Alas. But what is grad school without challenges? So in this week's installment of let's talk about a stuffed tiger, we discuss cultural and societal context. This particular tiger, admittedly, has little social or cultural context. In fact, if most people saw him they wouldn't think very much, or would construct a story about who it belonged to (probably a small child) and what its purpose was (comfort). They'd be sort of right. In order to actually get something out of this post, I will once again be broadening the subject to stuffed animals in general, and point of some specific tigers in the process.

    Cultural Social Context of Stuffed Tigers/Animals:

    Original design Tigger at left.
    America, surprisingly enough, has a handful of stuffed tigers that function as pervasive cultural references. Two feature prominently in my blog title: Tigger and Hobbes. Tigger is the rambunctious pal of Winnie the Pooh (who much to my five year old self's annoyance is a constantly plague to Eeyore). Tigger in plush form takes two styles, that of the original A.A. Milne design and the more cultural pervasive image produced by Disney. Tigger is well known in America and England among both children and adults, even if they have not read the Winnie the Pooh stories or seen the television show.

    Hobbes is in some ways, arguably less well known. Since  Bill Watterson's comic strip ended in 1995, Calvin and his anthropomorphized  tiger pal Hobbes are increasing less recognized by people under the age of 12.* Hobbes, who appears as a stuffed animal to all other characters, comes to life when accompanied by his owner Calvin. He serves often as Calvin's voice of reason and is up to frighten Calvin with a good pounce. Hobbes often waxes lyrical about humanity, life and other philosophical subjects. Both tigers who are stuffed animals to one set of viewers but talking, responsive characters to others allow the creators to play with understanding of childhood versus adulthood, the role of toys in a persons life and influences of ones imagination. In an interview with Honk Magazine in 1987 Watterson noted "'When Hobbes is a stuffed toy in one panel and alive in the next, I'm juxtaposing the 'grown-up' version of reality with Calvin's version, and inviting the reader to decide which is truer'", noting the flexibility of signifiers of  age.

    Stuffed animals in general also function as a shared experience in society. As exhibited by the popularity of and emotional response illicited across the population by the story The Velveteen Rabit  and the Toy Story movies, stuffed animals play an important and recognizable role in our society, whether we are willing to admit it or not (returning to the conflict of childhood vs. adulthood). They symbolize traumatic events (the Oklahoma City bombings, the death of Princess Diana, for example), comfort and a myriad of other emotions, demonstrated by the ability to buy a stuffed animal for any event, their display smartly placed right next to the greeting cards in most drug stores. In other cultures, specifically in China and India, stuffed tigers can be representations of gods, faith and power and are presented as ceremonial and celebratory gifts.

    For the rest of this post, I am going to indulge myself and post some Calvin and Hobbes strips.




    *Cultural understanding gauged on an oh-so-scientific study done on the poor visitors at work who are increasingly my public history guinea pigs. 







    Tuesday, September 14, 2010

    Object History: Stuffed Animals

    Once again, this post comes with a preface: I (still) have not seen my object in any way. So, we will be continuing this experiment with the tiger described in the last post, India, the 2001 Ty Beanie Buddy.

    It has been surprisingly difficult compiling the history of the 'stuffed animal'. Semantic issues caused a lot of searches to end in detailed descriptions of taxiderm-ied wildlife. Most commonly, my attempts at determining the history of 'stuffed animals' (as opposed to stuffed toys, which could mean dolls, puppets, plant life, etc) have led to histories of the teddy bear. Changing my search terms to include 'plush animals' helped greatly. This blog will essentially have two parts. First the history of this particular tiger, then a longer history of stuffed animals after the jump.

    History of "India" the Tiger:
    India began its life in China as one of hundreds of hand/machine sewn, synthetic fabric construction Beanie Buddies marketed towards children in 2001. India is a part of the Ty Beanie Baby empire which began producing small, bean and fiber-filled stuffed animals in the late 1980s. India's sub category was never quite so popular as the original Beanie Baby, and almost entirely purchased by or for children and adolescents as a comforting toy, not as a collector's item. India was then shipped to the United States and sold in a variety of stores including drug stores, toy stores and gift shops. The stuffed animal could have sat in a variety of warehouses and shelves between the time of production and time of purchase. India the tiger is a not a rare stuffed animal, but is very important to Leyla.
    This particular tiger stuffed animal was purchased in the United States in 2001 and given to Leyla in the same year by her Aunt and Uncle to serve as source of comfort in a complicated transitional time in her life. She was 16 at the time.  While I am not positive, Leyla seems to be the tiger's first and only owner. The tiger has been re-moniker-ed as Mr. Pugsley, gendered male and been attributed meaning by Leyla, who now sees him as a type of companion. He  has traveled across the globe over the last nine years, going to LA, Philly and Ireland.  He occasionally takes some jaunts through the washing machine, and sometimes finds himself as a pillow for he 'lives' in Leyla's bed. He has had the life of a favorite stuffed animal and Leyla describes him as somewhat mis-shapen and smushed due to his occasional use as a pillow.  Mr. Pugsley could probably tell a pretty specific and substantial story of Leyla's life for he seems to have followed her everywhere throughout the last nine years of her life.

    Ultimately, stuffed/plush animals are children's toys meant to comfort and with which to play. Where they were produced, what they are made out of or the number produced weighs little on the security (and anxiety when lost) they can provide to a child. Many of these toys given or purchased in childhood, much like Mr. Pugsley, follow us into adulthood, sit in our rooms at college, and continue to serve as sources of comfort, security and a reminder of specific moments in our lives. 

    Follow the link for History of Plush Animals: 

    Tuesday, September 7, 2010

    Leyla's stuffed tiger.

    I must preface this assignment. I have not seen this object in any way shape or form-not in person, not  a picture. I have a very short description of the circumstances surrounding the 'life' of this plush tiger from which I can extract when it was purchased and potentially the city in which it was bought. In order to complete this first assignment, I have located a plush tiger which was purchasable in 2001 throughout the United States. This tiger has been a friend to a woman for the last nine years, a gift from relatives when Leyla moved in with them at the age of 16. Best described as her 'favorite' stuffed animal, this tiger has traveled the country and serves the purpose of a well loved companion. 

    After searches through Google, Amazon and E-bay, the most commonly available tiger in 2001 seems to be the Ty Beanie Buddies Tiger named India. This is the plush animal I will be describing for the purposes of this assignment, and which most fits the 'small and round' description I have of the tiger. Of course, this is simply an assumption. Having been the recipient of many a stuffed animal over my life time, I know that the most 'commonly available' item is not what is given as a sentimental gift.



    "India" is a plush tiger toy produced by Ty Inc, the maker of Beanie Babies, in 2001. First produced in April 2001, the design was subsequently "retired" (Ty's euphemism for ending production) at the end of the year.  It was made in China and cost approximately $11.00 to purchase in 2001. Today the average price on Amazon.com is $15.00, according to this listing. This plush tiger measures 15 inches long, excluding the tail, and about 5 inches wide.  It weighs approximately 11 ounces and is made of man-made materials including a very soft, fuzzy tylon/nylon pelt, polyester stuffing and P.E. pellets acting at the 'beanie' part of the toy, as stated on the toy's fabric tag. For lack of a better term, this animal is 'smushy', having some ability to hold a sitting position, but is still floppy.* The toy has standard tiger coloration and pattern, with an orange pelt with black vertical stripes and white underbelly, muzzle and inner ears. Its eyes and nose are hard plastic. It appears to be a mix of machine and hand stitching.

    Like all Ty produced animals, India has a red heart shaped cardboard hang tag from the right ear, which states the animals given name, production details/style number (09406), age recommendation and a small descriptive poem. India's poem states, according to Stashmatic.com, a collecting website, "India the Beanie Baby/is one of only three tiger styles/ever created".

    *Fabric and 'feel' descriptions based on the blog writer's  similarly sized Beanie Buddy cat stuffed animal purchased around 2003.

    Friday, September 3, 2010

    Switching things around, once again

    A new semester seems to mean a new subject for this dear blog.

    Philadelphia has been quite hot this summer and limited how much I have baked and cooked. The most exciting thing I concocted was some tomato sauce with my some tomatoes from my garden and some peppers from my neighbor's. Soon it will also be pflaumkuchen season, but that will have to wait.

    For the next few months this blog and I will spend some quality time getting to know a plush tiger.

    I am quite taken with this project for my Studies in American Material Culture for my graduate work at Temple University. We are doing  project with First Person Arts (link to the left) through the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia. People from the area are providing an object-something loved, something with a story, something perhaps old, new or unfinished, and providing the stories that go with them. Our job is to provide the history of that object, cultural, political or otherwise.  After spending the summer picking the brains of the archeologists behind Washington's Headquarters, I have found the art of finding out what that 'thing' is to be quite intriguing. Less academically minded, the idea of spending an entire semester talking about a stuffed tiger warms my plush animal loving heart.

    So whether the semester brings me a Tigger, a Hobbes or any other variety of less well known tigers, I am sure I'll enjoy it in one way or another.