Museum Assessment

The Museum I chose to visit was the Orlando Museum of Art on North Mills Avenue. This museum boasts permanent major collections of Art of the Ancient Americas and African art, Contemporary American Art, Portraits and Landscapes plus 18th and 19th Century American art all which has local, regional, national and international significance. From my visit I recognized a few key design elements which enhanced my experience. The use of artificial and natural light in conjunction with open space had a variety of effects on the way I perceived the exhibits. Furthermore, The placement of certain art pieces had the magnetic affect of drawing you through each exhibit as if an invisible guide was leading the way.

When you walk into the main gallery you are bombarded by a tower glass piece entitled “Citron and Cobalt Tower”. This glass tower is comprised of hundreds of blown glass tubes in various shades of blue and yellow all arranged in a tower that rockets twenty feet into the air. The gallery designers do and excellent job of utilizing the museums sky light to intensify the presence of this multifaceted piece. Once I tore my eyes away from this sculpture I became aware of how much open floor space there was in each gallery. As a producer this design aspect is critical in enticing the patron to experiment with a variety of view points in which to admire the exhibits whether it be sculpture, painting or photograph. In some of the galleries which used artificial light entirely I noticed that all the floors sculptures in theses galleries had at least two sources of light directed towards them. This illuminates the sculptures to accentuate each and every detail. Plus, this also cast shadows off the art piece which in turn adds a new design element too the piece itself. More often than not artists who work in three-dimensional sculpture always consider how light and shadow add to the piece as a whole.

In the paragraph above I spoke briefly on the role of open space and its relationship in viewing individual pieces. Now I will delve into the role of open space as it pertains to moving in-between galleries. In The Orlando Museum of Art there are very few dead ends. Almost every gallery has at least two ways to enter or exit. When you are in any exhibition room the archway or hallway into the next gallery always has an interesting piece positioned in sight. This provokes the visitor to move through each individual gallery. Also, this can create an elevated level of excitement or anticipation by leaving the visitor thinking, “Well that looks intriguing, but I wonder what else over there?”

When creating a museum environment it is important to give thought to the way in which the patron views each exhibit. It is imperative that the correct mood is conveyed by means of lighting and art placement. Finally, one should not be afraid to experiment with the use of open space and its relationship to how a patron moves through the museum.