Illustration, words, and design by SV, as part of a larger publication to be released in 2023. Art direction, editing, font selection by Bike Durham (Carmen Kuan & Justin Laidlaw).






Illustration, words, and design by SV, as part of a larger publication to be released in 2023. Art direction, editing, font selection by Bike Durham (Carmen Kuan & Justin Laidlaw).
The exhibit was in-progress when I finished my mural…more photos to come!
As of May 2021 I’m posting progress photos to instagram, and will be adding full-exhibit photos as they’re available…
Huge thank you to Marlene Chen and Alan Maskin of Olson Kundig for the opportunity to contribute, and to Elizabeth Friedrich of BADM and Alex Meyer for coordinating the install!
Mural design and install by Steven
Exhibit design by Olson Kundig
Project management by Alex Meyer of Meyer Technical
Exhibit Production and Install by Pacific Studios. Special thanks to Morgan Womble-Dahl for his implementation ideas.
Final thanks to Mark Sabatino & Gizmo Art Production for commissioning the little mural that inspire this big one!
Approximately 8×12 feet size, this mural depicts a few of the sculptures that Gizmo Art Production has built and installed in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Other fun stuff scattered throughout: a playful jab at the CEO’s music habit, Janis Joplin’s house, Miss Doubtfire’s house, 3 bikes, moustaches, a very prominent paintbrush, and grafitti by Barry McGee.
Medium: India Ink
Take a stack of exhibit ideas dreamt up by the Education staff, and turn them into an exhibit in one year, on a tight budget. The exhibit must be movable so that the exhibit hall can be used for large rental events.
Science & Main is one of the most popular exhibits at the Museum, and was achieved at a fraction of the cost of most other exhibits in the museum. See the captioned photos below for details and process photos…
View these projects in more detail:
The Drop Tower enables visitors to repeatably drop a racquetball 20 feet onto an angled surface. The angle and material of the surface can be changed, enabling users to experiment with the 2 variables and discover how they affect the trajectory and bounce height of the ball. The targets provide a goal for visitors to aim for, though many simply experiment on their own.
We built and tested several prototypes to determine whether or not our plans were visitor-friendly, the reliability of the ‘dropper’ mechanism, and the feasibility of the chain conveyor. See images below for more details…
Below are examples of construction drawings I created with Solidworks. They were given to a commercial welding company, who fabricated and delivered the pieces.
Design and build portable activities that demonstrate hydraulics in action
This dinosaur exhibit refurbishment consisted mainly of graphic work, with the exception of a fossil-replacement project.
The documentation on the 12-year-old exhibit was sparse, and the original builder would not return our calls, so we had to conduct experiments to determine the concrete formulas that would best match the existing concrete.
The structures could not be moved, so we built a dust containment structure and worked on the concrete in the gallery.
We cut out the old pieces using a large angle grinder, hammer drill, reciprocating saw, hammer, and cold chisel.
We supported the new pieces with concrete, and made future replacement easier by adding a layer of plastic between the new fossil and the concrete below. The fossils are secured by the concrete around the perimeter.
Above: a new fossil, ready for exploration