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And really an exhibit serves its best purpose work stimulates my profession to do research work further in and in a given subject. The second largest craft in America today is said to be rock counting with all of its branches of interest some of which are Jim cutting making jewelry and the collection of gem stones and rocks minerals and fossils. This universal hobby has grown to astonishing proportions in the last 25 years and shows signs of even more rapid growth as the need develops for more people to pursue more leisure time activities due to the fact that they are working fewer hours have more days off and get more vacation time. Rocks and minerals of specimens are extreme importance to the rock. Most people do not realize the importance of rocks and minerals play in everyday living.
For example your right used in toothpaste and clothing. This series of programs is designed to give an overall picture of the rock. Offer encouragement to the newcomer in this hobby and present information of general interest to everyone. All of this will be examined as we explore the world of the rock. Today's programme is entitled The Art of the display. The narrator is Len folk the art of display is the art of communication. And every rock has his own method of communicating his intense feelings of pride and affection for the specimens he has collected these objects may be shown in the more serious academic surroundings of the museum. Our rock and mineral show they may be displayed in the informal atmosphere of the home where they might be found in an antique china cabinet with glass front and sides. Or in a hobby room
or even in the living room where shelves have been constructed to cover whole walls and to hold specimens of uniform size set on wooden bases with neat gold labels the rockhound might choose to collect then cut his mineral specimens in such a way that he can set the pieces in mortar to make a barbecue fireplace poised in my patio. Or you might even make his patio floor from slabs of various minerals. Many collectors express themselves by creating a table centerpieces or Mantle decorations combining rocks with flowers either real or artificial. Some rocks are even made into flowers and so on display it in the form of maps in the picture in picture farm portraits where they used as bases for lamps. And even as decorated clocks. Another example of the
display is the micro mount type. This is especially convenient if space is limited to give the artist point of view concerning this art of display and to give some valuable suggestions for rock hands with display questions. We present Mr. Allen Monroe exhibit artist with the Children's Museum Nashville Tennessee. Mr. Monroe is a native of New York having spent three years as artist with the Department of Arts and exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Prior to that he was with the Shelbourne Museum of early Americana in Shelburne Vermont. According to Mr. Monroe as in any other type of display lighting background texture and selectivity are all extremely important factors in communicating by means of a rock mineral. Our fossil collection. But before discussing these essential oils We asked Mr. Monroe if an
exhibitor should endeavor to please himself or attempt to please those who will be looking at his display. Oh I I don't think there's any question in my mind about that I think. Right person does anything about nature to please himself I think first and foremost. If so if another person finds a pleasing way that's fine but that's frosting on the cake. I think you're the one who has to live with it. And by all means do it to suit yourself. I mean I think you would be you would be less than honest with yourself if you did otherwise. Big I might look at something and have an entirely different attitude. Oh of course well of course what we're getting into here now is the. Sort of philosophy of a statics I think you know what is beautiful. And what is art and what is you know what is tastefully presented what is taste. For instance we could go on all afternoon on that alone. What you consider in good taste I'm a not a toff and vice versa.
So no I feel that whatever one does in the way of exhibiting either in his home or in a museum. Depends on the person who is doing it must first First's satisfy himself. And. If he is a sensitive person. And. Is. He's aware of. There are certain principles and exhibit work and display work of any type which can be used but then again these principles. You can take liberties with his principles none was ever made to be broken you can take all sorts of liberties and this is what makes exciting. Exhibit work anyway is taking liberties with the with the norm. The norm is sort of. Not terribly exciting as it is in that state but not terribly exciting and this may be the difference between a very fine exam and one that is simply you know fair.
Passable. In the art where we people are people are very. Very. Cognizant of this problem of. Trying to define. What taste is you know and what good art is going to be measured. It comes under the heading and has a very fancy title known as a phenomenological aesthetics. This is something which is. Being explored today there's a lot of excitement being generated and the idea that aesthetic quality can be measured. And there is a criteria. For what is good and what is bad. Here Again. They haven't reached any conclusions that that are acceptable because of the human element of course. People immediately when they're viewing something become very subjective.
And. I say this I suppose as a definition of what taste is. We become very subjective about our feelings towards something we see visually or feel or hear. And. So it's very hard I don't know perhaps one day there will be a break through in and. Glass of ice that acts. And we will be able to measure what is good. And. And know. By a scientific measure. But at this time we do not know. So here again we must be tolerant of other people's. Tastes even if they would we feel it does not conform to what we happen to like. We must be very tolerant of what they happen to live because they feel very strongly about what they have. It has to do with the empirical knowledge I think too. Of one's. Association and how long he has been
associated with. Things have aesthetic quality. But here again we're getting into something which is absolutely. Profound. Really needs and needs to be debated rather than and then discuss this in this mime one sided manner I think it needs to be debated to be really interesting. One of the problems facing an exhibitor at a rock show is that of limited space. We asked Mr Monroe how an artist in this situation would display his materials to suit his own taste in steel and here to artistic principles where you have a lot of similar items that have a similar relationship. Will you have a similar relationship why. First of all with any endeavor of us of this nature you must organize you
know very very quickly you must organize things into related areas as it were. Now this is not. Not meaning that they must be related in us in their. Taxonomic way but related in size and color and so forth and how they will be what I call my appeal. To have an aesthetic appeal to two to yourself. The one who is doing it this way of course is the most important thing. Where you have the problem of having to use a lot of similar items. In a confined space. Well. Right off the bat you're going to have a less. Than. Desirable of facts. I think you have to make up your mind of that right away unless you can have the space. Now you have to be severely critical in deleting.
Everything you possibly can. I think this is where you have to be honest with yourself. You know you say well no I or do I really need that or you know or don't I you know or can I. Can I drop it. I mean would it really would be with the message not get across if I didn't use six of these would one of them just do it just as well and I want you once you've. Been honest with yourself. And you've decided that well now I've got it down where you know I really do have to use all these things. And I have to do it in such and such a space. Well then it becomes a problem of what shapes will fit this area that you have you know the confines of your exhibit space. If they finally after all after all was preparation and all as truthful stretching as Diana. If you still find that you're you've got too much. More than than you have to go ahead with it that's all but I mean the results may be less than
desirable I don't think there's any there's no. Cure all. For that kind of a situation I think. Well there is of course but you would have to. Start off again by saying Well now the space is not big enough. You know making you realising and same when I have a larger space I'm going to have to show you as. If you are. You have no choice but to show it in a space where then you have to accept the consequences that may very much very well look pinched and cluttered. Cause there are all variations of how cluttered it might look depending on how how. How clever the exhibitor is in presenting the items in the best possible way under the situation. Cleverness of the individual and his ability to communicate can be developed with no IQ some of the fundamentals of display are explained here by Alan Munro. I think in any exhibit work display work of any type.
The important thing to remember is that we are. Endeavoring to communicate. A message. We I think primarily people. Who have a collection of any sort or object that is of particular interest to them at one time or another. They would want to show what either in their home or in a more serious. Academic way such as a museum presents its collections. Primarily to. Share. Their enthusiasm or their appreciation for the objects which they have collected and also of course in a very general way in a very. Purposeful way for it for education. To educate people and there again this comes under the heading of communications I would say. Again that exhibition work is primarily that one of communication to
communicate a certain bit of knowledge or appreciation of an object or objects. And this is done primarily in a visual way. That is to say that we. When we're setting up an exhibit. It is normally sat behind glass. Ultimately and therefore it becomes visual entirely. And this has many drawbacks but it is the way that we do exhibit work at this time. Our philosophy is always changing especially in our museum where we are becoming more concerned with a multifaceted concept as far as involving a person's entire sensorium at work. Where he was able to feel as well as see and hear as well as see. So it is not quite so single minded. In sight alone. We become highly sophisticated and in our ability to.
To abstract ideas visually and I think perhaps. Time is fast approaching when we must. Also be why we must also reap the benefits of. Tactile experience and. Audio visual experiences as well as simply visual anyway. What I want to talk about is the visual presentation because that is what is normally used now. In other words exhibit which is set up behind glass. I think got approach consideration is the subject which you have to exhibit. It doesn't make any difference what it is. Our first consideration is the subject. And of course getting back to the idea of telling something about it. Which is your message. This being. Information printed information that you want to say about I think what we must keep in mind here is to keep this
keep this information very concise. To do a great deal of researching before hand. And structure Well your your idea. And then make it as concise as possible by editing out all extraneous material and getting down to a key phrase a key paragraph or better yet a key sentence and even better than that. Just one word which will get across your message. The very minimum amount the minimal amount of. Labeling is a definite asset if you're thinking of a strictly visual impact in getting across your message because people seem to count heavily upon the first impression site impression and. Literally what we don't want to do I think and what often happens in museums is liking to talk about museum exhibitions. Is that they
tend to want to be illustrated text books. And really an exhibit serves its best purpose where it stimulates a person to do research work rather in and in a given subject. And. Many exhibits however and museums don't do NOT do this they tend to become Illustrated textbooks with voluminous amounts of information in the form of written material which. For the most part is not used because people will not take the time to read it. This they can do by going to the library and getting a reference book. Once they have been stimulated so I think I see the museum exhibit primarily as being a stimulator one which will stimulate one to go and to create an interesting awareness of what is being presented. Whether it be rocks or whether it be birds or what have you. In line with the thinking of keeping printed material at a minimum.
This is also important to remember when you're. Considering the number of objects in one's collection. Here again whether it be rocks or whether it be stamps or what have you. One should be very selective in what they show. They should not simply show all that they have for the sake of showing it through pride and what they have because it should. They should show objects which will point out key ideas and concepts in their story. And being careful not to be redundant unless it's absolutely necessary. Serve a purpose. Point out something is needed is needed in the story. Don't you think this is one of the most difficult thing. In deciding what to you. It probably is very hard for the for the. Collector to do this because everything they have in their collection is meaningful to them or they wouldn't have it
quite obviously. But there is a danger of course in the morning to show everything. I think it is hard cause to be selective. However I think there are certain. Objects which are fine examples of a certain prototypes if you will of a certain. Family of object I think they I think you have to be careful to get them into families and then to have. A representative of the life of the family not the whole family. I think this is probably a good example. Because. Objects which are very closely related tend to become monotonous if they're presented in this manner I think they can and exhibit a can do more harm. As far as the viewer's interest is concerned by showing a whole collection of similar objects which didn't need to be there in the first place. You see one would have done the job very nicely and created a great deal of interest in the viewer.
Saw that keeping in mind that who your viewer is going to be is going to be a person who is not necessarily knowledgeable about what you're saying and therefore keep it keeping it concise and and as fundamental as possible is often often good and throwing in here and there references to further study for those who are serious students. One putting up an exam but one should be very much aware of what his subject is in order that it to complement the exam but the subject matter by presenting. It in presenting it with a theme which is similar in feeling to the subject never works with one putting up an exhibit one should be concerned with a theme. An overall theme try to see the whole picture rather than getting involved in the little you know the small parts of the exhibit and try and develop the entire exhibit as a whole. Keeping in mind and you it's
very very basic to have a theme you should have a theme which can either be complimentary to the subject or it can be contrast and depending on which way you want to approach it and the things that would come under the heading of theme would would cause depend on what you're talking about. You could use the example here again rocks showing a collection of rocks. It would be well to have a theme which ties in with rocks. Now this theme that I'm talking about is made up of several different components would be color. And shape shapes are in very important spatial relationships. And texture. There's a very important to Rockstar for the most part hard. Have a hard texture. You can either compliment this or contrast it by using background textures which are either. For instance. Granted it might be very nicely contracted with cloth or something which is soft.
He speaks of something entirely foreign to the rock which would set it off. Or conversely speaking you might display it on rough boards or something like that which would be complimentary. A great deal of restraint and sensitivity has to be exercised here by the exhibitor. In knowing what textures will complement what textures will contrast. It doesn't want to look gimmicky. Or contrived at all. It wants to seem to blend harmoniously But if you want to contrast it it must not seem to contrast except subconsciously. So yes it is a very sensitive thing that one must do when he is putting up an exhibit. You must be aware of all these things you must be aware of texture as I said colors. And shapes of these objects. So for instance if one is showing a lot of small objects that are similar in shape and
size and volume. It's well to remember that they might be grouped in interesting interesting groups and not all strung out in a line in a monotonous line or even spacing and so forth. This immediately would turn someone off who was viewing it because it is uninteresting. If one has a large bulky shape to exhibit this might be a contrast of the size and shape of this object might be contrast it with a good bright color or strong color on one side of the exhibit which will counterbalance it doesn't have to be another bulky shape which would counterbalance it. In other words we would not necessarily have to go to symmetry. But we can contrast by color. Actual shapes and volume can be contracted with us with a two dimensional color via visual balancing. We can take small objects and build up the surface of the exhibit with common household items like bricks. Make a
nice platform to present things. Rico blocks or glass blocks wood blocks sand gravel any of these things can be used effectively and building up one's display surface to give a variation of height so that in all the exhibit is not all the same level this as interesting. So. For colors using rocks we seem to be using this as an example. Urson colors might be used. Or a color might be picked out of one of the accent colors might be picked out of the one of the rocks in this mix to match and use this as a background color. This might be a contrast in color it might be one of the recess of colors in the rock which could be the important thing to remember here again and doing one very important thing I left out in exhibit work
is cause as a lighting. This can either be very strong light which will cast ball shadows or it can be. Soft concentrated light in the form of a spot I saw waters. This would be good for small objects which are gathered together in a small group of strong Con. Contracting light would be good for a large boned object which would cast interesting shadows the shadows themselves in the exhibit are important. One must watch those because they can form a very interesting composition using the shadow as part of the composition. Often very important for these I would screw over again in one thinking of putting up an exhibit to be very very much aware of what their subject is if it rocks or if it's a carving collection. Think about what these things are made of. What do they mean what do they represent. They're manmade objects when I think of it in this sense also to
make sure that you give a. Feeling of warm human endeavor. If there are stones why this you know. Dictates an entirely different approach. So blame is important for what you're displaying and under the under the heading of theme would come texture color shapes spatial relationships lighting. These are awfully important and I would say. Finally that I remember also and probably most important that you're communicating. What you're endeavoring to do is to get across your idea or your concepts your thoughts to the person who was doing it if you don't do this then the exhibit is not a success. You know organizing and exhibiting his materials the rock band must first satisfy himself by showing in a manner which is pleasing to him.
Then he must consider his viewer and make his material meaningful to him. If his space is limited he was do the best he can. In any event it will be helpful to him if you can incorporate some of the fundamentals in the art of display such as the basic theme texture colors lighting especially shadows and spatial relationships which have been reviewed here by Mr. Allen Monroe exhibit artist at the children's museum in Nashville Tennessee. This has been another in the series of programs exploring the world of the rock. The narrator this series is produced by the service of the public library of Davidson County in Nashville Tennessee.
Next week Mrs. folk will discuss the fascinating aspects of this hobby on a program entitled a many faceted subject. This is Charles Mitchell. This is the National Education o Radio Network.
Series
World of the Rockhound
Episode Number
10
Producing Organization
WPLN
Contributing Organization
University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/500-vh5chg4c
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Description
Series Description
World of the Rockhound is a twenty-four part program about rock collecting produced by WPLN, the service of the public library of Nashville and Davidson County, and Nashville, Tennessee. Episodes focus on topics specific to rock hounding, like collecting, cutting, displaying, and creating artwork from rocks, gemstones, and fossils. The program also discusses broader topics related to geology, like earth science, consumer interests, and professional uses of rocks and minerals.
Date
1969-02-14
Genres
Documentary
Topics
Education
Nature
Science
Antiques and Collectibles
Media type
Sound
Duration
00:28:52
Embed Code
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Credits
Producing Organization: WPLN
AAPB Contributor Holdings
University of Maryland
Identifier: 69-4-10 (National Association of Educational Broadcasters)
Format: 1/4 inch audio tape
Duration: 00:29:04
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Citations
Chicago: “World of the Rockhound; 10,” 1969-02-14, University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 29, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-vh5chg4c.
MLA: “World of the Rockhound; 10.” 1969-02-14. University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 29, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-vh5chg4c>.
APA: World of the Rockhound; 10. Boston, MA: University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-vh5chg4c