Beginning in January, we formed a core team to review the content and design of the History Gallery with particular attention to a dynamic and innovative visitor experience. Kathy McLean, a nationally recognized exhibit consultant, was brought in to work with the team as well as the extended History Department staff. As Kathy is also the principal consultant on the Irvine Artistic Innovation Fund grant for the Art Gallery, we have been able to benefit from the research that is happening through that initiative as well.
As we neared the end of the review process in June, we made the decision to shift of our design process as we recognize that we have different needs and goals at this stage of the project. Gallagher & Associates have done very good work in the overall gallery design to date, including completing Design Development for the Art Gallery, assisting in the approval of our plans by the City’s Landmarks Preservation Board, and helping us think in a new way about the presentation of our collections. At this stage, the team agreed that we want to take a more in-house approach, bringing on designers to work in a much closer and more integrated way with the curators and educators, and creating a product that we really “own” and can sustain once the designers and consultants have left the project. We also hope to build our internal capacity for exhibit development and production and to bring on other contributors, such as fabricators, that are local and can work in partnership with us to create the best possible product. In addition, this new process will allow us to meet the tight deadlines established and put more resources into the actual exhibit fabrication.
Therefore, we have contracted with two designers – Gordon Chun and Dirk Dieter – to design the gallery, together with Kathy McLean who will continue to serve as creative director. Of course, many of you know Gordon from his many exhibitions here, including the Gold Rush show, and – like Kathy – he actually began his career at the Oakland Museum. Dirk is an independent designer who has worked with institutions such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Cal Academy, The Tech Museum of Innovation, and the San Francisco Maritime Museum Visitor Center. Kathy, Gordon, and Dirk have worked together on projects over the years and are thrilled to be joining us in really transforming the Gallery with a new vision of California history. We are resuming active design of the gallery and are targeting late October for 50% Design Development completion. We remain on track for the History Gallery to re-open with the Art Gallery in Fall 2009.
The team from Gallagher & Associates has been most gracious about this change and is working with us on a smooth transfer of information and background. We certainly appreciate all of their hard work and efforts to date.
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