Visions of Stately India
24 Pages from a Ragamala Series
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, May 2023
This is a design for an exhibition of a set of 24 paintings called "ragamala" from a private collection. They are pictorial depictions of Indian musical structures called "ragas", arranged into a series poetically called a garland (mala). The design features metallic-finish wall graphics, that play on the idea of a garland expanding along the gallery walls, and take their form from the stylized floral shapes in the gold-on-red matting surrounding the pictures. The metallic finish on the graphic has the effect of "moving" the bright section of the garland, brightening, hiding and darkening parts of the graphic as the viewer moves within the gallery.
Concept Design elevations
Study model top view
View from study model interior
The Art of Classical Guitar
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL, 2016
This exhibition of 18 historic classical guitars from one collection brought a set of special challenges. Having had no previous experience with instrument display, I reached out and am indebted to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ for their advice. Another challenge was that some of the guitars were going to be used in a supporting series of concerts in the museum's auditorium. Some display cases would see constant re-opening, so conservation and functionality had to be balanced in designing them. For the room design, I was inspired by the melodiousness , shape and materiality of the instruments themselves, and created waveform wall panels and floor display cases that allude to flow and movement. The exhibition also included recordings from each guitar accessible on i-pads, and ambient classical guitar music, with a very calming and contemplative effect..
Images of the Floating World and Beyond
Japanese Woodblock Prints
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL 2015
This one room exhibition featured a collection of Japanese prints from the Edo period to contemporary printmaking. I was responsible for creating the overall gallery design, which I gave an post and beam motif, inspired by Japanese architecture depicted on the prints themselves. I especially enjoyed the challenge of designing displays for a double sided print and an important vintage publication on the subject.
Monet to Matisse, On the French Coast
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL 2015
For this dual exhibition (the other part was Martin Parr, Life is a Beach) I designed the gallery walls, introduction wall and the curving wall transitioning to the Parr exhibition. The Parr graphics were part of that exhibition package and the museum's graphic designer created the exhibition's logo and graphic identity.
Intro wall design and execution for the dual exhibition
One of the considered color combinations
Another considered color combination
The winning combination
5 Decades of Photography
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL 2015
This exhibition was part of the museum's 50th anniversary celebrations, photography being one of the collection's earliest and most extensive areas of focus. I was tasked with exhibition and introduction wall design. Although I did not create the graphic logo or exhibition banner, I adapted those to the intro wall, and produced the vinyl print in house. For the exhibition galleries I used horizontal color bands to create more intimate spaces for the groupings of relatively small photographs, and vertical bands or built-out components at the wall text locations for easy identification.
The Open Road
Photography and the American Road Trip
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL 2016
This traveling show came with its own graphic identity and branding as part of the contract. I was part of the team that adjusted the given graphic elements to the specific museum space. I researched and proposed design elements such as wall color placement, ambient vinyl lettering and a red-orange accent line in select locations.
A Feast for the Eyes
European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL 2019
For this deligthful exhibition of gorgeous European still-life paintings, I created intimate spaces out of a very long gallery, aiming for the domestic environment in which the collection owners like to enjoy the works.
Display case design for Bameleke Elephant mask
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL 2017
Having designed many displays for the museum's galleries, I was tasked with re-designing the display of one of the museum's most striking objects, the Elephant Mask. Wanting as little visual interference as possible, I opted for a transparent "body" on which the mask would be fitted. The result is a custom 2" acrylic sheet that fits inside a slot on a wooden base, enclosed by an acrylic bonnet. A special challenge was holding the ears upright, which was solved by custom made metal clips attached to the acrylic body.
