A trip to the Reading Public Museum!
During the spring break, I had the opportunity to visit the Reading Public Museum as a primary source for my blog! I have visited this museum multiple times for various field trips since it is only 5 minutes from my house! However, this time when I visited I had a different mindset of what I was looking at. I wanted to view it from an outsider perspective like how many of you might be, someone who has never analyzed or viewed art and objects in a deeper way.
I first started on the first floor, heading to the right, which is the Latin American, North American Indian, and Animal Habitats of the floor. This section is highly popular with children due to interactive activities and fun displays of the animals. I found the display newly updated since I had last been there with even more animals from different areas of the world. However, if I were trying to engage an audience more within this area, I would switch the animal portion to come first before the Native American artifacts and Latin American. I feel as if this would engage the audience, especially young kids, to come into the display more and then I would connect those artifacts to the surrounding animals to bring it all together to be more interactive and grasp interests.
The next part of the museum I visited was the left side, which held more of a modern art aspect to the museum. The first part included photographs of a temporary exhibit of “Re-Discovering Native America: Stories in Motion with the Red Road Project.” I really liked this presentation because it takes past stories of those who have not been able to express themselves and brings it to the public eye by Native American artists. According to the description, the display explores the impact of “resilience, resistance, and revitalization” of those who currently and have previously faced cultural genocide within our country and the importance of sticking together as a community through love and positivity. I think the photographs were perfectly put together at this exhibit and should be shown first within a display, because in today’s world where similar events are still happening to these communities, it should be recognized.
Then, the floor encapsulates the history of Egypt and Ancient Civilizations. Some of the earliest artifacts from the 8th Century are located in this area as well as Nefrina who is a mummy! I loved the design of this floor because as you walk through Nefrina is almost hiding behind an Egyptian building, fully immersing you into a scene. I think from the perspective of a museum designer, having the artifacts come first and then a real life mummy allows the audience to be excited for what’s to come. The interactive screen “shadow” of Nefrina tells her story in a basic way for those to easily understand without having any previous knowledge. It tells her cultural story as well as how the mummy process begins. Overall, I really liked the way this area was laid out and I wouldn’t change anything to make it easier for viewers to understand since it already covers most of it!
As I continued to walk through, the American Pennsylvania German and the Arms and Armor Gallery were displayed next. Both of these displays are fairly interesting to see compared to the modern technology we now have today. If I was a curator, I think that would be an interesting comparison to add for the audience to view. Many of the objects, like weapons and furniture have evolved in a different way and it would be fascinating to learn about how that came about. As for the Pennsylvanian German part, I really liked the 18th and 19th Century artifacts that are from Berks County specifically. From an audience perspective, I find it really interesting to see what ancestors of this area were producing and living with. I think it is placed very well due to being next to the armor gallery because it is all objects we as humans physically use!
Finally, I made my way up to the third floor, ultimately my most favorite floor. As you go up the main stairwell, you are immediately hit with stunning paintings from Europe and America. Many of these paintings are oil paints in various themes of landscapes and portraits. One of the most famous paintings located here is a painting of George Washington, and I will cover this in a later blog post. If you turn to the left side of this floor, it continues to more galleries of widespan paintings from the 15th Century to today’s modern world. I found paintings to be separated by theme, like religion, food, people, and modern art which is a smart design choice in allowing audience members to follow subjects clearly and bring all the paintings together. I like how the walls are different colors indicating different eras, as well as the dark lighting to capture the details on the paintings. As for the more modern art, it is filled with colorful scenes and provides descriptions on how the museum acquired those pieces! Overall, this section is captivating and gorgeously laid out to keep the audience intrigued and interested in what they’re looking at!
The right side of this floor holds the moving temporary exhibit, currently it is a Lego “Towers of Tomorrow” exhibit. Mainly for children, it provides large Lego structures of famous skyscrapers as well as a play area for children to make their own!
My trip at the Reading Museum allowed me to examine art displays through the perspective of how curators lay them out. Many of the exhibits were executed well and provide a simple understanding for visitors to gain knowledge of what they’re looking at. While some of the exhibits, possibly could be rearranged differently, I think that anyone who decides to come here would enjoy a quick and fun trip without the chance of getting bored!
Background images all taken by me!
