Contributions to galleries and exhibitions at the Royal Alberta Museum

Museums' Choice: Fossil Favorites from Across Canada

• External travelling exhibition: November 1 2019 to February 2 2020. Natural History Hall. 1500 SF
• In-house curatorial contact and spokesperson.
• Featured specimens, mostly casts, of significant fossils from Canada's major natural history museums.
• Part of the development team, Alliance of Natural History Museums of Canada, 2015-2017.
• A collaborative project, the exhibition travelled to museums across Canada, between 2017-2020. The Royal Alberta Museum was the last stop on the tour.

Natural History Hall

• Development of new galleries and displays for new downtown museum, 2015-2018
• Content lead or contributor to many of the new displays in the four new galleries.
• Contributions included: content development, selection of specimens, sourcing and acquiring additional display material (e.g., casts), facilitating loans, providing input on specimen mounting, sourcing and aquisition of images, sourcing and providing base material for graphics and maps, text and label writing, proofreading.
• Story author or content lead for 20 stories: Ancient Alberta and Ice Age Alberta 18, Wild Alberta 1, Gems and Minerals 1

Children's Gallery

• New gallery for new downtown museum, 2015-2018
• Content lead: Pachyrhinosaurus display, adult and juvenile cast skeleton mounts

Lobby displays

• Displays for lobby area of the new downtown museum, 2015-2018
• Museum Zone
• Display case and graphics showcasing collections at the museum.
• Content co-lead. Concept development, content co-ordination for the Natural History section.
• Included a large table-top map of Alberta.
• Content lead: Albertosaurus display, cast skeleton mount

Seeds in Disguise: The Biology and Lore of Ornamental Seeds

• External travelling exhibition. November 16 2013 to February 16 2014. Spotlight Gallery, 960 SF.
• In-house curatorial spokesperson.
• An exhibition of ornamental seeds, mostly from tropical or subtropical plants, that are used in cultural objects, including necklaces and rattles. Included information on seed biology and dispersal mechanisms. Six four-sided cases and panels.
• Media and promotion. Led gallery tours.

20 Years of Time Travellers

• In-house exhibition. September 21 to November 7 2013. Orientation Gallery, 88 LF.
• Curator.
• Celebrated the long-running public lecture series. An exhibition of posters from all twenty years of the series, accompanied by text panels and images of most speakers.

Cold Recall: Roald Amundsen's Reflections from the Northwest Passage

• External travelling exhibition. January 19 to April 28 2013. Orientation Gallery, 88 LF.
• In-house curatorial spokesperson.
• An exhibition of enlarged reproductions of hand-coloured lantern-slides that Amundsen took during his transit of the Northwest Passage (1903-1906).
• Media and promotion. Toured dignitaries through the exhibition.

Echoes in the Ice: History, Mystery, and Frozen Corpses

• External travelling exhibition. February 16 to May 20 2013. Feature Gallery, 2,000 SF.
• In-house co-curator.
• Focussed on the Franklin Expedition (1843-1848) and modern research on the burials found on Beechy Island. Included some artworks by a contemporary artist dealing with arctic exploration, and some discussion of ongoing climate change research in the Arctic.
• Media and promotion. Toured dignitaries through the exhibition.

River's Edge Petrified Tree Stump

• In-house exhibition. December 7 2012 to May 5 2013. Feature Gallery, 800 SF, specimen occupying 49 SF.
• Member of curatorial team.
• A short-term display of a recently-recovered specimen, an exceptionally large petrified tree stump.
• Participated in a media event to mark this exhibition's opening.

Composed Exposures

• In-house exhibition. July 4 to November 28 2011. Orientation Gallery, 88 LF.
• Contributed two images of flowers.
• An exhibition of 24 photographs by Museum staff.

Natural Selections: Our Q&A About Alberta Nature

• In-house exhibition. February 13 2010 to January 23 2011. Feature Gallery, 2,500 SF
• Lead Curator.
• Eight modules that explored research in Life Science and Earth Sciences at the Museum. One module focussed on research at the Wood Bog site.
• Media and promotion. Led tours and toured dignitaries through the exhibition.
• Videos for the exhibition, produced by DynacorMedia of Edmonton, gained two Bronze Awards in the 31st annual Telly Awards, announced June 25 2010 in New York. The videos were given awards for outstanding achievement in the education and use of HD (high definition) categories for non-broadcast media.
• Here is one of the videos, describing palaeoecological and palaeontological research:

40 Fabulous Finds!

• In-house exhibition. December 1 2007 to December 6 2015. Throughout the permanent galleries and public areas.
• Member of curatorial team. Contributed ideas, images, and text.
• Small panels that highlight forty especially noteworthy specimens or artifacts on display, or draw attention to interesting aspects of the Museum, such as artworks in public spaces. Part of the Museum's 40th Anniversary celebration activities.

Museum by Numbers

• In-house exhibition. December 1 2007 to January 31 2008, Orientation Gallery, 88 LF.
• Lead Curator. Compiled images and facts about the Museum to celebrate the institution's 40th Anniversary.
• Some of this information was used in the following video which celebrates the Museum's history:

Small Wonder: The Miniscule Magnified

• In-house exhibition. May 19 to September 16 2007, Orientation Gallery, 88 LF.
• Curator, January - May 2007.
• Selected images, wrote text. Media and promotion.
• Comprised 28 large format SEM images of seeds and shells. Included a "Guess the specimen" activity for visitors.

Cool and Collected

• In-house exhibition. March 24 to September 3 2007, Feature Gallery
• Member of curatorial team.
• Selected specimens and images, and wrote accompanying text.
• Exhibition highlighted collections from different curatorial programs.

Project Renewal - Building a Museum for Alberta

• In-house exhibition. November 23 2006 to September 3 2007. Feature Gallery
• Member of curatorial team.
• Selected specimens and images representing the Earth Science programs, and wrote accompanying text.

More than Meets the Eye... at the Museum!

• In-house exhibition. Summer 2004 to February 14 2005. Lobby.
• Contributed specimens and text.

Wild Alberta

• In-house exhibition. September 20 2003 to December 6 2015. Long-term gallery, Natural History Habitat Gallery, 10,000 SF
• Member of Curatorial Team, November 2001 - September 2003
• Contributions included concept development, input to curatorial component and education component, text assembly, and selection and acquisition of images and other display materials.
• Continued involvement in exhibition upgrades and development of additional educational programs, November 2003 - June 2005.
• The Gallery received a Bronze Premier's Award of Excellence in May 2004.
• The Wild Alberta gallery continued to be a huge hit with Museum visitors.

Syncrude Gallery of Aboriginal Culture (SGAC)

• In-house exhibition. October 21 1997 to December 6 2015. Long-term gallery, 10,000 SF.
• Member of Curatorial Team, 1993-1997
• Contributions included concept and storyline development, selection and acquisition of display materials, input to the design of a diorama on the Fletcher site, selection of landscape setting for diorama of Anthony Henday's meeting with the Archithinue, and text review.
• The Gallery received a Gold Award in the 1998 Premier's Awards of Excellence.

Here's more information about the history of the Royal Alberta Museum.

Contributions to exhibitions and interpretive displays at other venues

Planet Ice: Mysteries of the Ice Ages

• Exhibition at Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Ontario, on display October 2 - December 23 2020.
• Arranged for Beringia interactive to be made available. Featured in the Lost Lands section of the exhibition.
• Had input to Shaped by Ice, a section on early postglacial human occupation in North America.

Hokkaido Museum, Sapporo, Japan

• Assisted in developing content for a display case celebrating the relationship between Hokkaido Museum and Royal Alberta Museum, 2015.
• Edited text.

Telus World of Science, Edmonton, Alberta

• Environment Gallery, opened October 16 2012.
• Provided some background information and an image used in the Ice Detectives component.

Uncovering Secrets: Archaeology in Southern Alberta

• Galt Museum, Lethbridge, Alberta. October 6 2012 to January 13 2013.
• Contributed specimens from the Fletcher Site (DjOw-1), images, and text.

"Rock That Ran"

• Roadside interpretive signage for a glacial erratic, 2008.
• Provided input to text. Sign is located near Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Interpretive Centre.

Big Rock / Okotoks Erratic Interpretive Panels, Alberta

• Assisted with two versions: about 2005, and January-June 2011.
• Reviewed text and graphics, sourced and obtained an image for the main panel.

Visitor Centre, Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, Elkwater, Alberta

• Opened summer 2009.
• Provided backround information, images, and input to text for several panels, and pollen slides for display.

McDougall Centre, Calgary, Alberta

• Summer-fall 2006. Case display in lobby area.
• Alberta Government Centre for southern Alberta.
• Selected specimens and images representing programs in Earth Sciences, wrote accompanying text labels.

Icefields Interpretive Centre, Columbia Icefield, Jasper National Park, Alberta

• 1996-1997, and also 2010-2011.
• Provided images and background information for text and illustrations for one panel ("10,000 years/10,000 années").

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Interpretive Centre, Fort Macleod, Alberta

• Summer 1986-1987. Centre opened summer 1987.
• Assisted in writing text for display panels in the Natural Environment section.