Reports of Education, Museum, and Scholarly Services 



43 



Office of Exhibits Central 



Michael Headley, Director 



The Office of Exhibits Central (OEC) is one of the Smithson- 

 ian's largest and most comprehensive exhibit producers, 

 providing high-quality products and services to nearly 

 every museum, research institute, and office at the Institu- 

 tion. This year, OEC performed consulting, design, editing, 

 graphics, modelmaking, fabrication, object handling, crat- 

 ing, and installation and deinstallation services for more 

 than two dozen Smithsonian clients and affiliates. Assisting 

 staff in the execution of these responsibilities is OEC's Ad- 

 ministrative Unit, which offers management oversight and 

 administrative and computer support. 



Consultation 



Consulring services are a growing and important component 

 of OEC's work. Sharing their expertise with Smithsonian 

 clients, Smithsonian Affiliates, and outside organizations, 

 OEC staff have helped define the content, execution, and 

 even feasibility of several proposed exhibitions over the pasr 

 year. Among these are "Mammals on the Move" for the 

 National Museum of Natural History (NMNH); "Looking 

 Both Ways: Heritage and Identity for the Alutiiq People" 

 for NMNH's Arcric Srudies Center; "Piano 300" for the 

 National Museum of American History (NMAH) and Inter- 

 narional Gallery (IG); "Make the Dirt Fly: Building the 

 Panama Canal" for Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL); 

 "Corridos sin fronteras: A New World Ballad Tradition," 

 "Hannelore Baron: Works from 1969-1987," and "Explor- 

 ing Garden Transformarions, 1900-2000" for the 

 Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service 

 (SITES); and a planned exhibition at Wyoming's Cheyenne 

 Cultural Center, a Smithsonian Affiliate. 



Design, Editing, and Graphics 



Among the SITES exhibition projects in which the Design, 

 Editing, and Graphics Unit participated are "On Miniarure 

 Wings: Model Aircraft from the National Air and Space 

 Museum," "Creativity and Resistance: Maroon Cultures in 

 the Americas," "This Land Is Your Land: The Life and Legacy 

 of Woody Guthrie," and the refurbishment of "Full Deck Art 

 Quilt," "Barn Again," and "Women in Flight." The Unit also 

 worked on "Microbes: Invisible Invaders, Amazing Allies" for 

 IG; and "Vanishing Amphibians" (Spanish-language version) 

 for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Insritute (STRI). 



Staff prepared presentation sketches for a proposed new 

 exhibit on farming at the National Zoo, and provided edit- 

 ing services associared with the refurbishment of the Star- 

 Spangled Banner for NMAH. 



The Unit provided long-term design consultation fot 

 Smithsonian senior management. Working with SI organiza- 

 tions and an outside architecture-engineering team, an 

 OEC-designer-led team developed interior and exterior sig- 

 nage for the Arts and Industries Building. The Unit also 



implemented a donation box program for the National Air 

 and Space Museum (NASM). The Unit furthered Secretary 

 Heyman's Web site and digitization initiatives by offering 

 consulting, editing, or content development expertise on 

 several projects, including a proposed Web site for The Mil- 

 lennium Project, which would have demonstrated the range 

 of the Smithsonian's holdings using the latest technologies; 

 "Digilab: Digitizing at the Smithsonian," an NMAH exhibi- 

 tion that opened in fall 1999; and a series of building 

 evaluation reports posted on the SI intranet (Prism) for the 

 Office of Physical Plant. 



Modelmaking 



OECs Modelmaking Unit continued its work on the life-size 

 recreation of an Ainu traditional house (cbise) and several fig- 

 ures for the "Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People" exhibition at 

 NMNH. The renovation of the Rotunda was another high- 

 profile NMNH project with the Unit's work comprising a 

 new elephant diorama, taxidermy support, specimen collec- 

 tion from the African savanna, and sculpted bronze 

 identification medallions for species and objects included in 

 the diorama. "Communiries in a Changing Nation: The 

 Promise of I9rh-Century America," a new permanenr exhi- 

 bition at NMAH, was a third major project, requiring 

 mannequins, diorama work, and rhe creation of artificial 

 fruits and vegetables. 



During the year, the Modelmaking Unit also was respon- 

 sible for design and fabrication of art deco metalwork for 

 "The Jazz Age in Paris, 1914-1940," a SITES exhibition; 

 recreated animals for a 505-million-year-old scene in the 

 Canadian Rockies for "The Burgess Shale: Evolution's Big 

 Bang," also for SITES; a full-size replica of the Good Broth- 

 ers' "Guff," the world's first successful radio-conrrolled 

 flying model, for "On Miniature Wings: Model Aircraft 

 from the National Air and Space Museum"; 16 painted-foam 

 microcrobe "critters" for "Microbes: Invisible Invaders, 

 Amazing Allies"; and full-size interactives recreating the 

 keys, striking mechanisms, and strings for the harpsichord, 

 clavichord, and four pianos featured in "Piano 300." 



Fabrication 



The Fabrication Unit's skilled craftspeople provided compre- 

 hensive services encompassing fine cabinetry, crating, object 

 handling and packing, and exhibition installation and de- 

 insrallarion. Highlights of its work this year included ex- 

 hibit vitrines for "Insrrument of Change: James Schoppert 

 Retrospective," which opened at the George Gustav Heye 

 Center of the National Museum of the American Indian 

 (NMAI); extensive casework for "This Land Is Your Land: 

 The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie" and "Ainu: Spirit 

 of a Northern People"; construction of the OEC-designed 

 VIARC information desk at the Arts and Industries Build- 

 ing; installation of "Microbes: Invisible Invaders, Amazing 

 Allies"; and faux finishing for a peddler's house and a Sourh- 

 ern marker in the "Communities for a Changing Nation" 

 exhibition at NMAH. 



