The NIC website review

I chose to review the website of the NIC, short for the Nicolaysen Art Museum & Discovery Center, located in Casper, Wyoming. Here is a little background of why I chose to review the NIC website.

Background: During the mid-1980s my mother-in-law organized a few of the children’s exhibits which included hands-on art activities. Many of her exhibits brought in families, as well as donations from these families which assisted with the funds to build the current building the NIC resides today.

Review: The NIC website communicates the necessary information to draw in visitors. Even though the NIC website doesn’t show photos of the displayed art in the museum, it doesn’t shy web-viewers from retrieving information about the museum. The website focuses on posting information on future events and exhibitions, past exhibitions, and educational opportunities in the museum.

As stated on the website, the NIC is split into two parts; the art museum which displays contemporary works of art of the Rocky Mountain Region from artists around the nation, and the discovery center for visitors to get a hands-on art experience. The museum’s mission statement is one sentence but covers the museum’s purpose. The statement reads, “The Nicolaysen Art Museum educates and enriches the community through engaging experiences in contemporary art.”

After browsing the NIC website, I noticed the NIC seems to be highly involved with the community. Upcoming events are posted for the entire year which not only includes new art exhibitions but new classes, educational programs, and community art events. The NIC also rent available space for events, such as, weddings, receptions, and other events needing space. Even though renting out the NIC for non art events has nothing to do with the mission of the museum, it may be one way for the NIC to raise money to keep the museum going and to advertize the museum to those who may not have a reason to visit in the hope they will visit in the future.

What’s nice about museum websites is the additional information visitors may not see, or even care to see, in the museum when they go to visit, for example, information about past museum exhibitions or the museum collections not on display.

The discovery center link of the website invites all visitors, if they visit the NIC and they become inspired by the art they see, to be creative too. Visitors can start their work of art right in the museum. The website uses photos to give web-viewers an idea about the area where they might be able spill some creative juices out on a piece of paper. The website advertises the discovery center for users of all ages but I think kids would love it more than adults.

The NIC website gives just enough information to intrigue one to visit and/or get one to attend one of the museum’s free events. The NIC website highlights and expands the mission statement by using a website but a web-viewer needs to physical visit the museum to know if the mission statement is consistent with the practices. Almost all museum websites are advertisements to draw in visitors.

More information is available at http://www.thenic.org/.

A Palouse Horse

When I was growing up my family owned an Appaloosa horse. His name was Red because he had red hair with white spots on his behind. I thought he was a great horse and now that I live in an area that has a museum dedicated to the Appaloosa I thought I would visit. Over the weekend I decided to visit the Appaloosa Museum & Heritage Center in Moscow, ID. I never knew that the name of the Appaloosa originated in the very region I live in today, called the Palouse region. The Palouse region has many rolling hills in which wheat and legumes are grown. Non-Native American people called the Appaloosa horse “a Palouse horse” because the horse was mainly in the Palouse region and were bred by the Nez Perce Native American tribe. It was also called “a Paloosey horse” so eventually people combined the words and the name evolved to be Appaloosa. The spotted horse is found all over the world but it was the Native Americans of the Nez Perce tribe that bred them to be unique in this region of the world.

The museum is split into three sections. The west side of the museum is dedicated to the heritage aspect of the Palouse region, including displays of the Native American tribe of the Nez Perce and cowboy getup, like saddles and tools needed for travel. The east side is all about the Appaloosa competitions and history of the horse in the last 60 year or so. It also includes a kid’s corner. Lastly, the gift shop is in between both sides of the museum.

A museum guest book is available for visitor to sign and above the book is a donation box. Visiting the museum is free to the guests, but a sign encourages visitors to make a small donation if they enjoy the museum. In front of the gift shop, a wooden life-size carved and painted Appaloosa stands with a saddle on its back and a bridle on its head.

The museum offers a short 10 minute video available in a viewing area. From the video viewing area the wall curves around into the heritage part of the museum. On the wall hang painted art of the old west cowboys and Indians and, of course, the Appaloosa. The curved wall ends at a corner where the art became a mural of the Palouse rolling hills. Displays of tools for working on horses are laid out like an image from an old cowboy’s working shop. In the middle of the room stand many glass cases filled with items handmade from the Native Americans such as bags and dresses. Other cases have items that were used on horses before cars were around. For example, lead ropes, bridles, and horse blankets. According to one museum staff member the Native American headdress on display was recently added to the museum in the last year. The headdress is made with several eagle feathers and is at least 5 feet in length.

Many Americans learn about Chief Joseph in school. Well, if you didn’t know,Chief Joseph was a part of the Nez Perce tribe. The Nez Perce ran to fight General Howard’s cavalry through Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. The trail they followed was long and brutal. In the museum is a trail map display and information about the battle and Chief Joseph’s famous words said during his surrender.

"Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”

Over on the east side of the museum a visitor could access recent history of the Appaloosa. There are exhibits of old horse journals from the early 1960’s and many photos of the Appaloosa’s various hide patterns of spots. The museum also focused on the horse club with a hall of fame for outstanding Appaloosas.

The fun part of the museum for children is the kid’s corner because it is the only region of the museum designed to be hands-on. All throughout the museum I wanted to touch things, like the old saddles. Finally, something you can play with! The kid’s corner has a coloring table and the seats are saddles. All different types of saddles, even a lady’s saddle which ladies would ride with both legs on one side of the horse. There’s different size horseshoes connected to a rope that’s tied down the ledge, real horse hair and directions how to braid, and ropes with directions on how to tie different knots that would be used on a horse. Kids can dress up in cowboy boots, a hat, and vest while riding around on a stick horse. Children’s books about horses were also available for kids to be read to or to read themselves. Very fun!

Behind the museum is a fenced in area with a couple of Appaloosa horses. There is also a picnic area with three different plaques with information about the Chief Joseph Trail.
Like any museum that has its own themed gift shop, visitors can take home Appaloosa memorabilia. They have play-sized Appaloosa horses, t-shirts, and shot glasses. Since part of the museum is dedicated to the Nez Perce tribe, handmade jewelry and beaded bags are available for purchase.

Not to forget about those who help to keep the museum going, there are two areas in the museum where donor names are displayed.

Overall, the museum displays interesting history and focuses on the uniqueness of the Appaloosa.

New York Times Museum Review

The New York Times article on February 26, 2010 titled “A Burial Ground And Its Dead Are Given Life,” is a museum review about the African Burial Ground Memorial and its newly constructed visitor center. The location of the memorial and visitor center is in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Reviewer Edward Rothstein begins by giving background information about the discovery of the burial site and the significance to American history of the North’s involvement in slavery. An archaeological dig was done on the site where the remains of 419 humans were extracted and studied. The bones were of African descent and thought to be slaves of the north. The studies are inconclusive of whether the bones of the bodies were slaves at the time they were buried or freed slaves. The new visitor center opened last month to include additional information about the historical significance with exhibits which give content to the memorial site. The burial site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In the review, Rothstein talks about the main display in the visitor’s center in which a family is displayed as if preparing to bury an infant and an adult and voice recordings are played. I believe that this is an important display to those who walk into the center. It would be daunting to realize that at that location, the middle of New York City, hundreds of people were buried by their family members and forgotten. The National Parks Services webpage for the African Burial Ground explains that the large black granite just outside the visitor center is carved with this passage:
For all those who were lost
For all those who were stolen
For all those who were left behind
For all those who were not forgotten
These graves could have been forgotten forever, and would have been, if not for new construction in the area. It is funny how what might have been important at the time to some people, that other people with power and resources (e.g. money) can make things less important. How could something like this be lost in history, just paved over like nothing was ever there? It is interesting to see how our country has learned to grow to respect one other or at least have laws to protect historical places.

The author also stated the center has a short film, classroom space, and a bookstore. The classroom space must be ideal for guest lecturers and school field trips.

The review focuses a lot on the archaeological findings about the bones than on the museum itself. I believe this museum needs that type of review of the site background in order to review the museum for its content. Because the author focused on the archaeological findings he did explain that one exhibit seemed out of place in which the museum displayed African made items that were not found in any of the grave sites but were of African design. This could give the wrong idea about the content in the graves to the visitors.

Overall the review about the African Burial Ground Memorial and Visitor Center was positive but like many museums, the museum interprets the displayed items as they see fit and informative to the public.

What makes a museum a good one?

S. E. Weil states in Making Museums Matter (2002), that people recognize a “good” museum under four evaluative criteria: purposiveness, capability, effectiveness, and efficiency; and of these various criteria effectiveness is the most difficult to evaluate and seems to many the only thing that really matters. The only way to measure effectiveness is to know the purpose for which the museum exists. If the effectiveness is thought to be achieved by a naïve visitor, the purpose (mission statement), and possibly capability and efficiency, is most likely thought to be achieved and appear seamless.

A few years back I went to the OMSI in Portland, and experienced great fun. We spent the whole day exploring, playing, and learning. This experience, in my opinion, would be a great example of a successful museum. I want to focus qualitatively on the effectiveness of the OMSI. To do this, I decided to write down a list of items I thought I would find in the OMSI mission statement before reading the mission statement online. The OMSI was educational at various age levels in regards to understanding science and technology, it engaged problem solving and included self –driven investigation in the discovery of how science works. These are the overarching themes I remember; and now, I can compare these themes with those of the OMSI mission statement in order to evaluate its effectiveness. The OMSI mission statement at www.omsi.edu reads:

“OMSI seeks to inspire wonder.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is a scientific, educational, and cultural resource center dedicated to improving the public's understanding of science and technology. OMSI makes science exciting and relevant through exhibits, programs, and experiences that are presented in an entertaining and participatory fashion.”

Overall, yes, the museum was successful: the experience I remember at the OMSI coincides with its mission statement. The only problem with this evaluation is that I measured this after visiting the museum without knowing what to evaluate. I could have read the mission statement before entering the OMSI, and then, evaluate the museum, but I think this retrospective approach was more realistic because most visitors are unaware of the formal goals of the museum. Naïve visitors, like myself, can help gauge the effectiveness of a museum by not knowing the purpose. The museum staff can take advantage of this situation to evaluate visitors’ perspectives of the museum and compare it to the mission statement. If they do not coincide, the museum should take a step back and start from the top with the museum’s purpose.

Museums Contextual Approach

In the book Museums, Objects, and Collections (1992, p. 110), Susan Pearce wrote about a “contextual approach to understanding” as a way of displaying objects in museums. She explains the way museums would tell a story by using contextual arrangements. For example, I visited a museum in Banff, Alberta that offers a display of the First Nations garments on mannequins and wax figures in poses such as talking to each other and gathering wood. The backdrop had painted landscapes and other tools the people many have used. The museum uses other objects to display the garments in a context they want the viewer to see.

Yes, all items are taken out of their original context but placed into a viewer’s context. Museums must be careful with the contextual approach because viewers may see a connection in a display when there is not one. For example, the paintings I saw in the Banff museum many have been painted by local artist but the viewer many think the paintings were painted by the people of the First Nations. These may be small misunderstanding but may skew the viewers’ thoughts and they leave the museum with the wrong information.

This approach can be helpful to complete a story in a history museum as well as create a story for a simple idea. For example, how would you display a moon rock? One way would be to place it in a glass case with a label. This approach would be descriptive. Second, place it in a case with a space outfit and a photo of a spaceship cutting across the moon. This approach would be contextual. Third, place it in a case with other rocks such as earth rocks. This approach would be classificatory. All of these approaches could be used and each provides insight, but the contextual approach offers added value.

The contextual approach is probably used more with history museum rather than science and art and is successful in completing a story as many history museums do.

A way of seeing...

Museums give a person a heighten sense of awareness of what can be represented. Many Americans have access to endless information and photos online but a photo with text on a computer doesn’t do justice in comparison to a museum exhibit. For example, pottery designs made by the Native Americans; stuffed endangered animals; or dinosaur fossils. Museums can change the way one sees an object. It’s something about the actual object that gives one a deeper insight, seeing the item to scale, so to speak. Sometimes even the smell of a museum sets one in the mood to learn and desire a deeper understanding of what’s on display. Some of my favorite museums are dinosaur museums. To be next to the actual fossilized bones of an animal that once lived and dominated the planet long before humans is a feeling of ah and wonder. In addition, that brings up a point that museums, in many cases, display objects removed from their original context. Going back to the Native American pottery designs, we don’t see how the object was used or made. The object sits there behind glass or a roped off area with a tag that states what it is and what it may have been used for. One must still have an imagination in order to see the full picture and sometimes creating that image by use the museum’s exhibit. Museums may set the exhibit as a way they want one to feel when one sees an object. For example, in the Connor museum most of the animals on display are stuffed and mounted in lifelike poses. The majority of people that see this exhibit many never be close to the living animal, for this reason, viewers want to see objects lifelike and not road kill. Museums provide an experience beyond an online photo with text, which may not be true in its context, but it may be safe and more cost effective than traveling to the other side of the world, for example, to see a live tiger in its actual habitat.

Spiral Jetty

Does Spiral Jetty make the Great Salt Lake a Museum?

No. In Susan M. Pearce’s book, Museums, Objects and Collection: A Cultural Study, “a museum is an institution which collects, document, preserves, exhibits and interprets material evidence and associated information for the public benefit”(Pearce, page 2). Spiral Jetty is, more or less, a point of interest for public viewing, much like the clock tower on Bryan Hall at Washington State University. Both things are human made but neither make its location a museum. If one could move Spiral Jetty to a location in a building, or area, outside its original location the building might be considered a museum. One could take pictures of Spiral Jetty and display the photos in an art gallery, or even a museum of art. Utah could name the site as a point of interest. I think it would be interesting to see the changes made naturally by the salt water and weather over a period of time. In this case, someone would take photos of the work of art over time. If Spiral Jetty were to be maintained or altered in anyway the artist should be notified. If the artist is deceased, only by private donation and the vote of locate officials should there be any changes made to the art piece. Again, Spiral Jetty could be listed as a point of interest so people all around can see its beauty, and also to protect it from destruction or alterations of any kind. Once more, Spiral Jetty does not make Salt Lake a museum.