SRS is on the air!
As part of their President’s Day coverage, ABC affiliate KSTP came to Split Rock Studios to learn how the Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership was designed and built here in Minnesota. The video includes interviews with SRS staff and some great shots of our work at Ford’s Theatre.
Also, NPR’s Morning Edition interviewed Paul Tetreault, director of Ford’s Theatre, about the book tower designed and built by Split Rock Studios.
You can read the interview on NPR’s website or listen below.
Center for Education and Leadership is Unveiled
After nearly five years in the making, the Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership held a ribbon cutting ceremony last week and will be open to the public on February 21. The opening has attracted the attention of major news outlets across the country, including the New York Times and the Washington Post .
Fox News Sunday interviewed presidential historian Richard Norton Smith about Lincoln’s legacy and the new center. The video below features a tour of the Center and exhibits, which were designed and built by Split Rock Studios.
News Flash: SRS exhibits in the news
Some Split Rock Studios projects have been in the news lately. Jacqueline Trescott, at the Washington Post Arts Post blog, got a sneak peek of the Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership book tower. The tower, made of aluminum book replicas, will be 34 feet tall and feature more than 200 books about Abraham Lincoln. Also, The New York Times published a review of the new Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center. “Only one building from the camp remains…So the impact must come from the exhibition itself…It is meant to honor those whose lives were so overturned, explain how the internment happened, give some sense of camp life and suggest lessons for the future.”
SRS Welcomes John Gunning
We are pleased to welcome John Gunning to the Split Rock Studios team. John will be serving as the new Vice President of Sales for the Eastern Region.
John brings years of exceptional experience in major museum exhibit production to SRS. You can reach John through the contact information page.
Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center Opens
The Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center opened it’s doors on August 20, with 500 former internees and a crowd of 1,400 making the journey to Powell, WY. Some prominent guests were in attendance and participated in the Center’s opening ceremony, including Tom Brokaw, Judge Lance Ito, former Secratary of Commerce and Transportation Norman Mineta, and Senator Daniel Inouye.
The opening of the Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center has received a great deal of press coverage from media outlets all across the country. Follow the collection of links below to read about the opening, exhibits, and the internee experience at Heart Mountain.
Links
Tom Ashbrook, of Boston NPR affiliate 90.9 WBUR ,interviewed Heart Mountain Foundation board members Eric Muller, Shirley Ann Higuchi, and Toshi Ito.
Rafu Shimpo, a Japanese-American newspaper out of Los Angeles, has provided a detailed account of the opening ceremony and the years of hard work that went into making the Center a reality. They also published the recollections of Bacon Sakatini, a former Heart Mountain internee.
KULR in Billings, MT, has video of the opening and tells the story of a couple who were married at Heart Mountain returning to see the museum.
You can read more at Reuters, Capser Star-Tribune, and Cody Enterprise.
Loess Is More: SRS Installs New Exhibits at Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center and Others
Just in time for the summer travel season, Split Rock Studios has just completed multiple exhibits across the Midwest.
The Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center in Sioux City, Iowa, opened its doors to the public on April 9th. Split Rock Studios designed, built, and installed 50 new components throughout the 2,500 square foot exhibit space. The centerpiece of the new exhibit, titled “Exploring Fragile Giants,” is a walkthrough diorama of the Loess Hills that allows visitors see the world from an animal’s point of view.
Dawn Snyder, DPNC’s Educational Programs Director, said the exhibit opening “was a great experience for us all and the exhibits are well-received!”
Split Rock Studios Launches New Identity and Website
For over ten years you have known us as the “museum outfitters”. We outfitted all manner of clients with dioramas, murals, sculptures, and interactives to tell a story, commemorate persons and events, and celebrate both the smallest and largest elements and phenomena of nature.
Our developers, designers, artists, and woodworkers do what they do–quite simply–because they love it. What do you get when you combine that kind of enthusiasm with a challenge to meet a budget and create something worth coming to year after year? Delighted visitors, proud clients, and a confirmation we are on the right track.
We are celebrating our next ten years by refreshing our logo and website. We looked to the geode to represent that sense of discovery that we have been cultivating for the last ten years, and will continue to foster in the next ten.
New Exhibits at Salt Pond Visitor Center
Split Rock Studios has recently completed the installation of new exhibits at Salt Pond Visitor Center at Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. Kurt Repanshek wrote this article for National Parks Traveler, a site dedicated to NPS news. The article features an interview with park superintendent George Price, as well as pictures and descriptions of the new exhibits.
The Cape Cod times wrote a story about the exhibit’s new map. Made by Split Rock Studios, the circular map measures 8 feet across.
Ice House Museum Nears Completion
Excitement is building as the Ice House Museum in Cedar Falls, Iowa, nears completion. The WCF Courier published a story about the renovations and new exhibits. It also features interviews with historical society president Don Redfern, Ice House chairman Sid Morris, and board member Carolyn Hamrock.
Closed since 2008 because of flood damage, Split Rock Studios designed and built sculptures, interactive exhibits, and casework for the new museum. They will be installed this spring.
CMSD In the News
As the first children’s museum in the state, The Children’s Museum of South Dakota has been getting a lot of press. The museum opening received coverage from NBC affiliate KDLT and CBS affiliate KELO. Meghann Rise wrote this story for The Post, a South Dakota based news blog, describing exhibits and community reactions to the new museum.
Split Rock Studios built and installed many of the exhibits at the museum, including sculptures, murals, graphic panels, and interactives.