polynesia americana museum of polynesian pop. exhibit design project

I want a blow up Moai to jump on at my party! I think it will fit in my backyard.
Ive been wanting to update everyone on the museum, Things will be really picking up in the next two months, I started the last quarter of school a couple of weeks ago. Exhibit Design, Yea!, Ive been waiting all yr for this clAss. In two weeks I will have the map of the exhibit space, so I will know what size room I will need. I also started a business class that will teach me how to write a bussiness plan and then I get to present it to investors. So by te time Im scheduled to give my first talk ablut the museum in June at the vancover event I will be ready to s go. More later. dawn

Hi Tiki fans.
I just finished my last class, successfully completed my final projects, and now I'm Done! Whew, what alot of work for one year of school. now I'm all officially edumacated about how museums work.
Here's the final plan. I'm forming a LLC that will develop and launch traveling Exhibitions about mid -century pop. The first blockbuster exhibit will be Polynesia Americana. I'm looking at booking this exhibit into major US Museums within the next two years.
When I get my final project back from my exhibit teacher I will post all of the designs I have. The floor plan is sooooooo cool.
I have also just created a myspace page for the museum.
http://ww.myspace.com/polynesiamericana

Now that I have it figured out, things will really start to get interesting.
Dawn

WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!
Congratulations!!!!!
Can't wait to see what all ya come up with!
Pea

UW ~ GO HUSKIES! Congradulations on your Certification! Knowledge is Good

Toga! Toga! or should that be Tonga! Tonga!

Just visited MySpace and URL is http://www.myspace.com/polynesiaamericana :)

I hope you accept my friend request!

Different, I know, but interesting approach to interpretation of artifacts...

Pasifika Styles: http://www.pasifikastyles.org.uk/
A fusion of contemporary style and technological innovation with
ancient traditions, Pasifika Styles unites the new wave of
contemporary Pacific art and culture with extraordinary historical
collections.

It's currently on at my local museum:
University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
http://museum.archanth.cam.ac.uk/index.htm
The Museum's Anthropology section holds large and unparallelled
Pacific collections (over 30,000 artefacts), including 18th-century
material from Captain James Cook's voyages of exploration. There are
particularly fine 19th- and 20th-century collections from Fiji,
Vanuatu, New Guinea and the Torres Strait.

Hope you can get them to host the touring show!

Liz

The Stevenson Wedding Mug by Cheekytiki, 2006

[ Edited by: 54 house of bamboo 2007-06-18 10:24 ]

Nice work Dawn! Big congrats to ya!

Chongolio

54 house of bamboo, Thanks for the excellent links. I cant wait to take a look. Dawn

and big thanks for the congratulations from everyone. Now that there is no more studying and homework projects I almost feel a little lost. I'm sure that will go away by tomorrow and I will be working on my presentation for the Vancouver event!
Dawn

On 2006-11-07 07:20, Sophista-tiki wrote:
Good point about choosing an existing historic site. But...... what I know about building codes and such is that often times it is much ceaper to build new as opposed to trying to bring an older building up to code. And Im sure that in reference to a public facility there are even more stringent codes. Maybe the solution is to copy the plans for one or more of the best estabishments be it restaurant, or hotel. Location is very key, because we want to make sure visitors can actually visit. Part of me is with Dogbytes, Seattle(only because we live here) then it would be easy for me to go to work att the museum everyday and still keep my mid-century modern house that I love so much. Dawn

I know of about 12.5 acres of former Tiki Glory thats now a paking lot in a subtropical paradise... I hate to think what the cost per acre is though...

Congratulations Dawn.....what a great accomplishment. A year well spent!!! Keep us posted. :)

WAYTAGO Dawn!
Congrats on all your accomplishments lately! You're one smart cookie!
Keep it up and Rock Vancouver! :)

Tiki Gardener,
My day job is in Real Estate, I bet I could look into the property and get all the information. If the museum suddenly comes up with piles of cash, It could buy itself a home.

CONGRATS, Dawn!!! for a job well done-your hard work has served you well. Reminds me of a time when I was......well.......errrr....ambitious?
Great luck to you!
Brad

There are a number of organizations that market and tour exhibitions. They'll take a cut of your profits but they take on the organization (tour) and marketing of the exhibit. You might check into the logistics of such a partnership. No need to reinvent the wheel.

Ive been in a posting frenzy this morning. Here is one last tidbit. Last weekend I gave my first lectre about Polynesia Americana. Im not used to speaking infront of groups, especially with a microphone.! But it wasnt too bad. anyway. just a few days before the event I finally tracked down my exhibit design teacher and got my term project back. I did several panels that lay out the polynesia Americana traveling exhibit. Included are the floor plan, materials board, samles of the murals, and the introductory text panel. There were several other elements to the project that describe the case elevations and induvidual object labels etc.
My teacher Tim Detweiler is the director of the James Washington Foundation here in Seattle, and has been designing and executing exhibits for most of his career. He gave me great reviews, statng that this is a very sophisticated and well developed exhibit plan that would make anyone want to see it. He even said that my floor plan was beautiful, and was very impressed by the concept of an imersive environment.
here are the panels. Thanks for looking. Dawn

this is the introductory text panel and graphic

this is the expamples of the large murals, 30ft x 15 ft.
examles of the kinds of smaller photomurals panels that can be inbetween the cases and the large murals.

this is the floor plan, Its designed for a verylarge room with high ceilings to accomodate the full size hut/bar in the middle.andthe tall fake palms.

this is the materials board, this elps flesh out the feel of the exhibit .

this is my case design. Most exhibits have several cases of various sizes. I have designed 4 ten foot cases , each one is a quarter circle. so that all 4 cases could be put togeather with palms coming out of the center, to make a smaller more condensed vesion of the exhibit.

this is the drawing of the hut that will be in the middle of the exhibit space. On one side of the hut will be a bar with all of the tiki mugs displayed on the back wall. the other side will be set up with rattan furniture examples and decked out with all of the standard classic tiki bar decorations. ( floats, tapa, woven mat, bamboo, masks, etc)
the side of the hut /bar space with the rattan furnishings will have a half wall looking out over the gardens of tiki carvings and the outrigger canoe with a veiw of the Matson Line style mural.

thanks for looking. Dawn

[ Edited by: Sophista-tiki 2007-07-23 13:04 ]

The curved cases are cool, but I wonder if they could be made. Glass, no, but maybe plexiglass. Sounds challenging.

Dawn, that's beautiful, I love the floor plan. I wonder if there is a "How to get a foot in the door in the exhibition circuit"-book out. You should be able to use these for a serious proposal.

Maybe my upcoming book could be of use for you, too. It approaches Tiki more in the context of art history and the evolution of 20th Century design, and that angle might be more palatable to directors of academic institutions like museums and art venues. If they hear "Tiki Bars" and "Cocktail mugs" their anti-trivia guard might go up and make them fearful of loss of image. Not the innovative ones, of course, but one should always adjust a request to the consciousness of the addressee.

Swanky, the cases will be moderatly difficult to make, I just have to build the lower part, and the top part is called a vitrine, they are made of plexi and I can order them custom made from a manufacturer.

Big Bro, Thanks , I personally cant wait to get my hands on the new book. Not only could it be refrenced fop the traveling exhibit but I think that Tiki Modern may prompt people to have a beter understanding of my own art.
Im currentlly working on my tiki vacation rental and when that s finished I will start building parts of this exhibit.
The very next step is to get a web site up. Dawn

The design is lovely but you should bear in mind the huge cost of touring an exhibition with massive components - damages the marketability. Fine art shipping is a black hole.

[ Edited by: BettyBleu 2007-07-23 23:36 ]

I didn't respond to your last negative Nancy comment because I didn't want to open a can of worms. But it appears that I need to address this. First off I just graduated from the University of Washington's Museum Studies Program. This is one of the only programs in the US that completely educates students in every aspect of working in museums. Including, administrative issues, collections management, education, non profit, building systems and security, and what is involved in sending exhibits to other museums. As I was developing this concept over the course of the year I had access to consult with Joanna Sikes, who curates Chihuly"s traveling exhibits. Chihuly exhibits travel all over the world and cost about 2 million a pop. I'm taking her word that this is an attainable goal, in her expert opinion this exhibit is a gold mine and there isnt any reason why I cant be the sole owner of Polynesia Americana.
Do you honesty think that I dont have a clue about what I'm doing????
I have also just completed a business class where I developed the business model for this SPECIFIC project. I didn't think that it was necessary to share that information with people who are not going to be making an investment.

Here's the reality about the genius of traveling exhibits:
The museums that book the exhibit are the ones responsible for raising the money to have my exhibit travel to them. This includes the money to develop and build the exhibit, insurance, transportation, and set-up and installation. then the next museum does the same.
I get paid for renting out my creation. The museums get all the take of the door.
If I book 4 museums in one year, I get paid 4 times my fee, and I divide the cost of development by 4 and each of those 4 museums pays their portion, and thats how the cost gets distributed. I have gotten my information from people who actually work in museums and have years of experience with exhibits, traveling or otherwise.

So, unless you have some actual facts or credentials, I wont be taking your word for it. Thanks for looking though. Dawn

On 2007-07-23 13:37, bigbrotiki wrote:
Dawn, that's beautiful, I love the floor plan.

Totally!

It's been great to read this progress from a vision to touring proposition!

Wishing you lots of luck...

Sophista,

I love your model and Ideas. Keep up the great work. Nevermind the nay syayers either.......theres always someone wanting to crush a person's ideas and dreams.

Sophista-Tiki

That's a beautiful design. I would go to that exibit more than once. I'll bet money that you could get that shown somewhere here in LA,

Great stuff.

Great Job Dawn!
You have definetely captured a subject that Needs a travelling exhibit to reach those far corners of the world that have a small idea of PolyPop,but not the whole picture.BigBro's book/books started the ball rolling in terms of validity as an art form and aesthetic,and your well-thought out sketches,boards, and presentation are sure to entice more than a few museums into the lure of the movement!
GO DAWN!

ayeeeeeee, Thanks for showing me the boards in person last night!!! That was so cool! I hope I can be part of your plan, I'd love to volunteer or whatever ya need!!!
Wish I was LOADED so I could give ya $$$ for it.
Good luck, and keep us posted!
PEa

I actually, honestly, thought I was being helpful. Will change my name appropriately in the future, give proper back pats, and/or simply op out of the conversation.

-Nancy

[ Edited by: bettybleu 2007-07-25 13:07 ]

BettyBleu

Your comments have been the hot topic of discussion around here lately.
The conclusion that i came to is That unless one is involved in how museums operate, then there is just no way of knowing how it works. One of the first things my teacher told me was that museums operate completely different from regular businesses.
Once I learned the big secret of how the money gets raised to make an exhibit happen, I thought " this is GENIUS" there's no way I'm not doing this. and the Polynesia Americana Exhibit is just the beginning.
Major museums book 2 yrs out, that gives me plenty of time to build it and crate it. Getting a web site up with all of the information and visuals, including accompaning education programs, etc, is the very first place to start. I'm not saying that it wont be a ton of work, most really cool things are a ton of work.
Now Ive got the credentials and will be taken seriously when I am ready to present this for booking. The other great part is that if I impliment my business plan correctly, I get paid to develop the exhibit as well. and this is standard in the museum field. It really is the ultimate job for someone like me. Its a great combination of all of the things I love to do and the skills I already have.
I hope that you have a better understanding of how this could work.
Dawn

Hi Dawn, great project you're cooking here, I'm very glad for you (and for tiki culture in general) You are taking this with commitment and intelligence, that's great! I think we all dream of this sort of project but really materializing it is a different story... I'm very proud of you!
So what's happening now in sophita-tiki land?
Best wishes!!

Clarita. Thanks for positive comments. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE
the power of Encouragement. To answer the question of whats next in Sophista-tiki land. First thing is to finish my vacation rental. Ive been doing drywall for weeks now. argghh!!!Once I have that completed, then I can concentrate of working on this exhibit. I really need a web designer. But for now Im using a myspace page for Polynesia Americana. Since Im already self employed. I can work at home over the winter, building my models. and painting the murals. I would also like to polish my lecture and presentation materials so that I can travel around and tell people about the exhibit.
It would be cool to get a warehouse space to set all of this up and do a test run before crating it up. Good thing I have alot of time to do all of this.
I started out with this imaginary idea for a tiki museum, and now I just going for it! I like the chalenge and problem solving of a big project.

So? What happened? Where can I buy some tickets?

Dawn, I think your project is great. Please keep us up to date on your progress...with pictures. Make sure you include some ukuleles in your project. Regards, Ukutiki

Dawn!
Helllloooooooooooo!
Last post 2007?
quit bein such a slacker!
How's the progress?
:)