You Heard It Here First – Page 49 – Smithsonian Affiliations

In Plane View at Kansas Cosmosphere

February 23, 2009/in General, Road Reports, Uncategorized, You Heard It Here First /by Elizabeth Bugbee

The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, our Smithsonian Affiliate in Hutchinson, Kansas, served as the perfect backdrop for the opening stop of the national tour of In Plane View/Abstractions of Flight, a traveling exhibit from the National Air and Space Museum, featuring the remarkable photographs of Smithsonian photographer, Carolyn Russo. As a guest attendee on January 30, I found myself in awe of the creativity that surrounded me. The Cosmosphere is a tribute to the educational creativity of Patricia Brooks Carey, who in 1962 started a small planetarium on the grounds of the Kansas State Fair, in what was described to me as “an old chicken coop.” The chicken coop became the Cosmosphere in 1980, and has since grown into the second largest collection of US space artifacts in the world, and the largest collection of Soviet space artifacts outside of Moscow. More than 125 objects on loan from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum help tell the story, among them the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft and Apollo 13 command module.

Russo’s creativity comes from an unmatched gift for seeing designs and patterns in airplanes and spacecraft and for translating them into alluring and thought-provoking photographic images. In Plane View consists of 56 large-format photographs that remind us that machines of flight are more than hunks of riveted metal attached to large engines, and flown only by the fearless. They are, through Russo’s artistry, artifacts imbued with mystical geometries, strange symmetry, sensuous curves, and bold colorations. What Amelia Earhart called “the aesthetic appeal of flying” comes through in unusual and unexpected bursts in Russo’s photographs. Chris Orwell, director of the Cosmosphere, and his staff did a terrific job of mounting the exhibition and hosting the opening reception. The photographs were hung with exceptional care, and stood out wonderfully under the newly installed lighting system. With a soft harp playing in the background, guests including Alan Shepherd’s daughter, Laura Churchley, enjoyed conversing with Russo, who also signed copies of the book that accompanies the exhibit.

Nearby, I couldn’t help but notice a lone exhibit case housing a battered old star-making device, recently recovered from a local school that turned out to be the original projector from the first planetarium shows at the “old chicken coop.” Though a bit rusty and worn, it too spoke of creative impulses – the kind that start at the edges of our universe and reach deep down into the curiosity within each of us. Carolyn, the Cosmosphere, and the chicken coop brought us together that night in a memorable and inspiring way. Isn’t that what museums are supposed to do?

Smithsonian Affiliates will continue to enjoy In Plane View/Abstractions of Flight when it visits The Air Zoo (Kalamazoo, MI), Frontiers of Flight (Dallas, TX), The Works: Ohio Center for History, Art & Technology (Newark, OH), College Park Aviation Museum (College Park, MD), Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences (Peoria, IL), and Challenger Space Center (Peoria, AZ). I hope you’ll have a chance to soar with it.

Jewish Museum “Steels” Spotlight

February 12, 2009/in Affiliate Guest Authors, General, Road Reports, Uncategorized, You Heard It Here First /by Jennifer Brundage

Thanks to Ilana Blumenthal, Public Relations Associate at NMAJH for this guest blog post.

With the sun in our eyes, frostbite nearly setting in, and huge grins on our faces, the staff and board members of the National Museum of American Jewish History watched as the final 31-foot steel beam was placed on the northwest corner of the 121-foot and six-inch high, 100,000-square-foot, five story new Museum building. This traditional steel workers “topping off” ceremony took place on a 20-degree day on January 21, completing a significant milestone for the building being constructed on Independence Mall in Philadelphia that will serve as a cornerstone of the modern-day Jewish community.

Designed by Polshek Partnership Architects of New York, the new Museum will be in the heart of historic Philadelphia and will join Independence Hall, the National Constitution Center, the Liberty Bell and other landmarks at the site of America’s birth. The new Museum will open in 2010.

Prior to being hoisted with banners from the Museum, Ironworkers Local Union 401, and INTECH Construction Inc., the Museum’s contractor, ironworkers, staff, board, and INTECH employees signed their names on the beam as a sign of pride, accomplishment, and ownership. Atop the beam sits an American flag and evergreen tree (not to be confused with a Christmas tree), traditional symbols of the ironworkers’ceremony.

With the steel structure finished, the next steps for the building will be pouring its concrete floors and the construction of the north and west walls. The west wall facing Independence Mall will be a glass prism, expressing the accessibility of the museum and the openness of America, as well as the perennial fragility of democracy. The north wall will be constructed of terra cotta, expressing the strength of Jewish survival and the protective shelter of American freedom.

“With this phase of the construction complete, and as the Museum takes shape on Independence Mall, I think it becomes clear that there could not be a more fitting place for a museum that will explore the promise and challenges of liberty through the lens of the American Jewish experience,” said Gwen Goodman, the NMAJH’s Executive Director/CEO.

The new National Museum of American Jewish History will be the first and only major museum dedicated to chronicling the American Jewish experience. It will explore the challenges of identity and assimilation they faced and celebrate the contributions they have made to every facet of American life. The Museum is dedicated to telling the still unfolding story of Jews in America – who embraced freedom with its choices and challenges as they shaped, and were shaped by, our nation. The Museum envisions its new home as a place that welcomes all people, inviting them to discover what they have in common with the Jewish experience in America, and to explore the features that make this history distinctive.

American Indian launches its “4th Museum”

February 6, 2009/in General, Uncategorized, You Heard It Here First /by Jennifer Brundage

This week, the National Museum of the American Indian launched a new site for searching its collections. This new resource includes over 5000 objects from its 800,000-plus collection, and will continue to grow. Eventually, it will be one of the largest Native American collections online. You can visit this site at www.AmericanIndian.si.edu/searchcollections. The launch is a milestone in the museum’s “Fourth Museum” project to bring the collections to those who may not have the opportunity to visit the museum’s three buildings in New York City, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. According to museum director Kevin Gover, “As the museum on the National Mall approaches its fifth anniversary, our promise to reach out to tribal communities, schools, libraries, museums… throughout the world is being realized. Though we have a long way to go before completing this project, I am pleased to offer the first phase of our fourth museum–our museum without walls.”

2.0 and you

January 26, 2009/in General, Uncategorized, You Heard It Here First /by Jennifer Brundage

As the Washington Post put it this morning, “The subject: dragging the world’s greatest museum complex into the current century.” And of particular interest: “Of the Smithsonian’s 137 million artifacts, however, not only is less than 1 percent on display, but most of that is in Washington. You have to come to the Smithsonian. It doesn’t much come to you.” The writer must not know about Affiliates.

Nonetheless, one of the earliest initiatives of Secretary Clough was to brilliantly ask advice on this topic from 31 luminaries of the digital realm – digerati – in town this past weekend for days-long brainstorming and idea sharing with Smithsonian staff. The result was some of the most stimulating dialog I’ve heard, and so many ideas about navigating this whole new world of 2.0. Ideas applicable to all, not just the Smithsonian.

(You can participate too – check out smithsonian20.si.edu/ and the Post article about the gathering.)

Case in point – the kickoff keynoter, Bran Ferren of Applied Minds, threw out this idea – give away your collection to the American people. The concept? Give one item from our collection to each citizen. The Smithsonian would retain the stewardship of the item, but that citizen would accept the responsibility for the online dialogue about that object. They would, in a new sense, perhaps a 21st century sense (?), “own” it.

So which object would you choose?

The Smithsonian names a new Secretary

March 17, 2008/in General, Uncategorized, You Heard It Here First /by Jennifer Brundage

On Saturday, the Regents of the Smithsonian voted unanimously for the 12th Secretary, Dr. G. Wayne Clough. (pronounced cluff) With a PhD in civil engineering, Clough comes to SI from his post as president of Georgia Tech University. While there, he has increased enrollment and research expenditures dramatically, overseen the expansion of campuses all over the world, and led two major capital campaigns. Georgia Tech is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 10 public research universities. Read more of his bio in this press release.

This experience will relate well to the breadth and complexity of the Smithsonian, as Clough mentioned in his press conference following the announcement.

Clough will start at the Smithsonian on July 1. We so look forward to introducing him to Affiliates!

Butterflies

March 11, 2008/4 Comments/in Conference Ideas, General, Uncategorized, You Heard It Here First /by Jennifer Brundage

Smithsonian staff are all aflutter (pun intended) about the new Butterfly Pavilion at the National Museum of Natural History. We’re really excited about sharing this amazing new space with Affiliates this summer at the conference.

Officially titled “Butterflies and Plants: Partners in Evolution,” the accompanying exhibition on co-evolution paves the way for the lush tropical experience that is the pavilion itself. Museum staff provide a handy pictorial guide to the butterflies inside, and it’s very easy for visitors to get up close and personal… often, a butterfly will land on a shoulder or hand! More importantly, visitors can see the interrelationship between the insects and plants, observing butterflies’ & their long tongues (proboscis) sucking out nectar or juice from the pieces of fruit available, before going on to pollinate other plants.

The butterflies arrive in Washington in their cocoons (sorry, chrysalides) from farms around the world, and are displayed in a case inside the pavilion. Watching them emerge is another cool part of the experience, as is the inspection all visitors go through upon leaving, to make sure no “hitchhikers” leave the space. It’s sure to be a not-to-be-missed Washington experience, so sign up now! or, click here for more pics. Enjoy!