Cool Online Tool: Mostly Public Domain Image Search

Mostly Public Domain Image Search is a simple website put together by Mark Frauenfelder that creates direct search links to major institutional collections on a single page. 

Enter a search term like "dinosaurs" or "coin" and get one-click access to results from places like the Smithsonian, Rijksmuseum, Library of Congress, and more.

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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2 Little Words

I learned a new word the other day -- Jugaad. 

(Pronounced Joo - gahd in English.)

It turns out that "Jugaad" is a Hindi word that describes an improvised or makeshift solution using scarce resources.  Jugaad puts an emphasis on creatively solving problems with the resources available.  

Jugaad seems like the conceptual Indian cousin of the Bulgarian word Можело (pronounced Mo -zhuh - low in English) which roughly translates to the concept of "this can be done" or "I can do this."  Можело is definitely the antidote to the (often) automatic Bulgarian response of, "This is not possible!" ("Това не е възможно!")

Jugaad and Можело are two little words that hold big concepts, namely, they focus on what CAN be done instead of what CAN'T be done.

Imagine how we can shift our "work mindset" if we couple the concepts of Jugaad and Можело with two additional little words -- "I can" or better yet, "We can!"

 

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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Public Work -- A Cool Museum/Exhibit/Design Tool

Public Work is a search engine for public domain content -- especially images (like the ones shown in this post.) 

You can explore over 100,000 copyright-free images from The Met, The New York Public Library, and many other sources.

Public Work is a great resource for museum/exhibit/design folks.

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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Ringing In The New Year With "Museum Spirit"

Although he could have lived anywhere in the world, Louis Armstrong lived in a modest brick house on 107th Street in Corona, Queens, from 1943 until he died in his sleep there in 1971.  I could have ferreted out that information on the Web, but instead, I learned about Louis Armstrong by actually visiting his house, which is now a museum and National Historic Landmark. With bar none, the coolest kitchen (below) I've ever seen.

There's something interesting in visiting a place and feeling, if not precisely the "ghosts" of the past, at least the "spirit" of the people who passed that way before you.  I have felt that way when visiting Graceland and the Mark Twain House, but also in particular outdoor locations like The Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts.  There was something very evocative in all of those spots  --- almost as if each one of those spaces had a "personality."

One of the best things I've ever heard said about the original Exploratorium was that it felt like you'd walked into Frank Oppenheimer's workshop after he had just stepped outside for a minute.  The feeling that real people with real interests and foibles have created something for you to experience is one of the most potent and authentic museum experiences.

This authentic museum "spirit" is not something that just casually occurs or manifests itself through some sort of formulaic exhibit development process.  But when all the elements of such a museum experience come together, they form something that really cannot occur in any other medium.

Here's wishing you a "spirited" start to thinking about the museum spaces you will work in this year!

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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Snapshot vs. Movie

SNAPSHOT VERSUS MOVIE

If you had to graph a creative lull or a tricky part of a project, it might look something like the picture at the top of this post.

And at that particular moment in time, it might feel awful -- even hopeless. You might even feel like quitting. And that's the "snapshot." A moment in time.

When you are in that snapshot moment, it can be hard to have the proper perspective on the path of a project, which, often, if you take a moment to step back or evaluate afterward, looks more like this:

Let's be honest, there are crappy movies. And maybe your project is one of those "Rotten Tomatoes." Or maybe the scene you're in right now just needs to be rewritten or reworked a little bit. You might need to force yourself to step out of the snapshot to find out.   

Here's hoping that 2025 will give you lots of interesting work that offers you a chance to evaluate both the "snapshots" and the "movies." 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

Don't miss out on any ExhibiTricks posts! It's easy to get updates via email or your favorite news reader. Just click the "Sign up for Free ExhibiTricks Blog Updates" link on the upper right side of the blog.

Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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Looking Back to Move Forward

A retired school superintendent named George was one of my all-time favorite Board Members, and he would often remind us of something during tense meetings when we would be talking (or arguing!) about things that needed to be improved in, or added to, our museum.  

George would say, "Yes, these are things we need to improve or programs we need to add, but let's stop and take a look back at some of the things we have accomplished in the past few months or the past year.  What can we take away from looking at how we made those things happen?"

It was a very wise strategy because it shifted the focus away from the often contentious present and the uncertain future.  We would be reminded that in the past few months or past year, we had accomplished many positive things together. And that we could add and improve more new things together if we used our past experiences to guide us forward.

Years later, I realized that George's approach was very much in the spirit of Sankofa.  

As mentioned in this Wikipedia article about Sankofa, the notion of "looking back to move forward" is used by the Akan people of Ghana. They often use an adinkra symbol of a bird with its head turned backward to symbolically capture an egg depicted above its back to represent the same concept. It symbolizes taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present to make positive progress. 

So, as we come to the end of another year,  I hope you will be able to look back at 2024 to move forward with learnings for the New Year and beyond.

P.S. You know that tricky project you finished this year? It is AWESOME!

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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