The snails are coming!
So many snails!
I missed writing a post last week, and thought I owe (both) of my readers an explanation. In part it's because October is when we prepare the next's year's budget. But it's mainly because our snail exhibit, Life in the Slow Lane, opens in just over a week. And there are...so...many...snails!
In many respects this is one of the most complex and ambitious exhibits we've done at WSC. There are hundreds of specimens included. Each one has to be identified, label information written and verified, and assigned to a particular place in the exhibit to enhance the story told in that area. ("Do we put this snail in the land snails because it's terrestrial? Or human use because it's a food source? Or in the invasive species section?") These are my primary responsibilities in the exhibit.
Meanwhile we have other staff actually designing the text panels, selecting images, selecting and positioning cases (ensuring routes for people flow, including wheelchair access). This exhibit includes a lot of interactives for kids, which all have to be designed and built, while ensuring that they can survive children for the 7 month exhibit run.
We're including a lot of video, some of which we're shooting, but others require obtaining permission and all of which requires editing. For the first time in a WSC exhibit we're including live animals; that means a whole additional round of cabinet construction, and confirmation of power and of proper environmental conditions. We also have developed a snail-themed lab activity for field trips that visit the museum during the exhibit run. The exhibit hall has to have the old exhibit removed, then the wall need to be repainted and the floors polished.
And all of this is going on while we're still open to the public, and still running our off-site exhibit program (in fact, Max's Mobile Museum has a school visit tomorrow).
Preparing and opening a new exhibit is always a frenzy of activity that builds to a peak a day or so before the opening. We do this four times a year at WSC. It's exhausting, but we always end up with an exhibit to be proud of.
Life in the Slow Lane opens to the public on Saturday, October 25 at 10:00 am.
If you like what you're reading, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or leaving a tip. All proceeds go to cover the cost of maintaining the site and supporting research and education at the Western Science Center.
