The huge blue whale hanging from the museum’s ceiling captivated the seven-year-old boy. It was amazing, unlike anything he had ever seen before.
“I literally will never forget that,” says Field Museum exhibit designer John Dalton, recalling his first visit to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. “If I can make that same impression on a child or visitor, then I’m happy.”
After moving from New York to Evanston, Dalton graduated from Northwestern’s School of Speech in 1991 and worked as a theater set designer before he saw an Internet posting for a job as an exhibit designer at the Field Museum.
“Considering that I love to tell stories, that I’m a designer and that I’ve always been interested in museums, there was no question that I was going to pursue this job,” he says. “It was like a dream come true.”
Now 34 years old, Dalton has spent the past three and a half years working for the Field Museum. His most recent project, “Eternal Egypt,” which showcases a collection of 144 artifacts from the British Museum, examines Egypt from an art history perspective.
Dalton’s job involved the overall visual and experiential aspects of the show. He decided where to place the artifacts, how much lighting should be in each room and even what music should be playing in the background. He says one of the most important jobs is to organize the show in a way that makes the information comprehensible.
“All of these pieces are placed in order to help tell the story,” he says. “We thought very hard about what are going to be the first pieces you see when you come in and why those pieces will be important.”
Organization is essential to an exhibit that follows the history of Egyptian art over a period of more than 3,000 years. The exhibit’s team had the task of making the exhibit and its information accessible to the Field museum’s audience
“The show was curated by an art historian and many of the other venues on the tour are art museums,” says Dalton. “We are a very uncommon venue for this show.”
Dalton and the other members of the exhibit’s team needed to find a way to help visitors learn from the artifacts and information presented. For example, they pulled out basic messages from the curator’s text and created bullet points on the wall to easily explain important themes of the exhibit.
“When we went through this exhibit, we felt it was one of our jobs here to not only present this stuff as beautiful, but to tell its story as well,” says Dalton. “Something that we tried to do is create things that give the average visitor a window into why something was made.”
The team created “translation stations,” small booths throughout the hall where visitors can listen to a translation of hieroglyphics. The museum’s replication shop created replicas of a few of the artifacts in the exhibit and placed lights behind the writing. While an audio recording plays, the writing lights up and visitors can follow along with the voice.
One of “Eternal Egypt’s” important messages is that what may be considered art today, was not art to the Egyptians. Everything they created served some purpose. Many of the examples of writings at the translation stations were once placed in tombs and the Egyptians hoped they would help aid the dead in their voyage to the afterlife.
“One of the main messages of the show is that although it appears to be art, it was really people’s jobs to create this,” says production supervisor Nel Fetherling, who works with Dalton to turn his designs into physical reality.
A centerpiece of “Eternal Egypt” is the often-misunderstood Book of the Dead. The funerary papyrus, whose name translated from Egyptian actually means the “Chapters of Coming Forth by Day,” includes spells and incantations to help its owner travel from the mortal world to the afterlife. Visitors can see one of the most famous of these writings, belonging to a scribe named Ani. His papyrus is extremely elaborate and the entire scroll measures more than 78 feet.
Other artifacts show how ancient Egyptians used artwork for political purposes. One statue portrays a top official, Senenmut, holding the Princess Neferure on his lap. The piece is a status symbol. Not only did Senenmut have enormous wealth to be able to have this staTuesday, plus about 20 others like it, made for him, but the fact that the piece shows him with a royal child proves he also had a great deal of power and influence.
“This is something that serves a function,” says Dalton. “In this case, it was something that glorified this guy.”
Some artwork was propaganda helping foreign invaders establish their authority. Statues and paintings show Greeks and Kushites portrayed in the traditional Egyptian style. The conquerors spread these works throughout Egypt to convince their new subjects that they were the true divine rulers.
Following the study of Egyptian art, one of the main components of the show is a case of unfinished work and practice pieces. Behind the glass are numerous slabs, covered with poorly drawn hands and practice sketches of ducks. A few of the pieces still have red grid lines drawn out in order to give figures correct proportions. All Egyptian artisans followed the Canon of Proportions, which dictated the basic rules for drawing any picture.
“The rules for the Canon of Proportions were established way back in the Old Kingdom, so they stuck with that throughout their entire history,” says Dalton. “That’s why things look so similar. It’s not by accident.”
When he first began his job at the Field Museum, Dalton had a basic understanding of Egyptian history. Now, however, he can expound the historical significance of numerous objects in “Eternal Egypt.” He says what he enjoys most about his job is constantly learning new information from the museums many researchers.
Later, while making his way back to his cubicle through the labyrinth of research labs and workshops, Dalton pointed to a group of scientists peering through microscopes.
“They’re changing the world,” he says. “And what’s exciting is I get to play a small part and take what they know and tell everybody else.” nyou
