You have a theme, whether it be a piece of furniture, artwork, or accessory, and you want to show it off. So you look around the room, decide where the main focal point is, place the item there, and work outward. (Or if it's an item in your home you measure to see where it would fit!). I've been thinking about exhibits quite a bit since last week.
For our anniversary, one of the things we did was visit a furniture exhibit at the History Museum I've been wanting to see. Called Behind the Veneer, it is samples of work from Master Cabinetmaker Thomas Day, a freed slave in the early 1800's. The first half of the exhibit was a little disappointing/bit of a surprise. I guess I expected the entire exhibit to be his furniture. Instead, the first half was items related to the time period he lived (but not his stuff), as well as tools and displays of the woodworking trade itself. All of that in and of itself was interesting, and certainly set the stage. After all, when you write a story, the setting is one of the main things you have to include in the first two pages. So it makes sense that the first part of the exhibit did that.
But if I had been in charge, I honestly think I would have knocked a lot of that first section out, and taken the last half and spread it out over the entire hall. The tools were neat, but it might have been even more impressive to have seen a few of the tools next to the completed piece of furniture.
And the historical panels detailing what was happening when? The information might not have been attainable, but info on Day's life from that year, corresponding with the historical facts, laid out in a more readable format might have been more comprehensive than the mass listings with dates. Of course, this is merely the perspective of a non-history buff. I know there were some people who read the entire thing, unlike me who just skimmed half of it.
And the discussion of how it took a legislative act for Day's wife to live in NC? It would have been exceptionally cool to have actually had a mock of the legislature minutes framed in addition to the petition signed by all his white neighbors requesting the exemption to the law in his favor.
The same goes for one of the most disturbing tidbits at the end...the causes of his bankruptcy. Instead of just reading that whites could sue their debtors, forcing them to pay their bills, have a court docket with that very information, followed by a mock-up of the law that prohibited Day from doing the same thing. I find that seeing items makes something seem more severe and real, whereas reading it merely makes it appalling.
If you're interested in woodwork, civil rights, or history in general, this is a temporary exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History that you don't want to miss.
For our anniversary, one of the things we did was visit a furniture exhibit at the History Museum I've been wanting to see. Called Behind the Veneer, it is samples of work from Master Cabinetmaker Thomas Day, a freed slave in the early 1800's. The first half of the exhibit was a little disappointing/bit of a surprise. I guess I expected the entire exhibit to be his furniture. Instead, the first half was items related to the time period he lived (but not his stuff), as well as tools and displays of the woodworking trade itself. All of that in and of itself was interesting, and certainly set the stage. After all, when you write a story, the setting is one of the main things you have to include in the first two pages. So it makes sense that the first part of the exhibit did that.
But if I had been in charge, I honestly think I would have knocked a lot of that first section out, and taken the last half and spread it out over the entire hall. The tools were neat, but it might have been even more impressive to have seen a few of the tools next to the completed piece of furniture.
And the historical panels detailing what was happening when? The information might not have been attainable, but info on Day's life from that year, corresponding with the historical facts, laid out in a more readable format might have been more comprehensive than the mass listings with dates. Of course, this is merely the perspective of a non-history buff. I know there were some people who read the entire thing, unlike me who just skimmed half of it.
And the discussion of how it took a legislative act for Day's wife to live in NC? It would have been exceptionally cool to have actually had a mock of the legislature minutes framed in addition to the petition signed by all his white neighbors requesting the exemption to the law in his favor.
The same goes for one of the most disturbing tidbits at the end...the causes of his bankruptcy. Instead of just reading that whites could sue their debtors, forcing them to pay their bills, have a court docket with that very information, followed by a mock-up of the law that prohibited Day from doing the same thing. I find that seeing items makes something seem more severe and real, whereas reading it merely makes it appalling.
If you're interested in woodwork, civil rights, or history in general, this is a temporary exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History that you don't want to miss.
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