As I noted in other recent blog entries, I’ve been working with Whim Museum on St. Croix, Virgin Islands, on a community storytelling project. Our goal was to build a YouTube channel together based on their central mission: preserving the stories of people who have lived and worked on the island. And I’m happy to say we’ve surpassed expectation, with dozens of stories coming online, connecting with many themes of the...

I’ve been hanging out at Artisan’s Asylum, largest makerspace on the East Coast, off and on for the last eight months or so. 40,000 square feet of tools, studios and workshops, including woodworking, electronics, metalsmithing, 3D printing…the amazing list of upcoming classes here. I was drawn there for access to woodworking tools in my quest to create my own Shintaido boh staff. Along the way, there were some unexpected...

Last summer Amy Walsh and I tried an experiment in Providence, booking our “Museum Puppet Throwdown” at the popular restaurant/bar and nonprofit arts center AS220. We had a fun thinking about some museum-like popups in non-traditional venues. The idea: “Let’s go where people like to have fun.”  (The more serious idea: let’s look for ways of bridging museum exhibit themes out to community venues). The idea was...

Relaxing now after a busy two days in the exhibit hall at ASTC in Albuquerque.  There’s been a lot to talk about: our Popup Maker Kit on “Illusion and Observation”, our Popup Art Kit on puppet-making, cloud-based review server, tablet version for festivals and other events, and post-visit learning activities. It took me a couple days to gather the courage to wear a cape and tophat for our “illusion” theme, but...

We’re primed to be co-hosting a puppetmaking/social media storytelling event at AS220, the gallery/bar/nonprofit art center in Providence. We’ll have puppets participating from three of Providence’s major museums: Providence Children’s Museum, RISD Museum, and Roger Williams Park Zoo, and will be drawing in staff and friends from the greater Providence/Boston museum community. The event is part of our Popup ArtSpace...

We’ve been working on a children’s television prototype app, drawing on rich materials developed by Iris Smith and team at Once Upon a Time Productions. Reminds me that in many ways, children’s television has intersected with museum exhibits over decades. Mister Rogers’ influence is still felt at The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh.  Connections between WGBH and Boston Children’s Museum are seen in Arthur and...