Exhibition Design, Development, and Curation Services

Tom and Barbara can provide bespoke exhibit design and related services. These can be done in person (Lower Mainland or Vancouver Island, BC, Canada), or remotely. We specialise in exquisite and compelling visual design, engaging and interactive activities, and relevant calls-to-action.

Take a look below at some of the exhibitions we have worked on together.

Tall Ship, Big Dreams: The Story of the R. Tucker Thompson at Mangawhai Museum, 2023.

Tom and Barbara worked together on an exhibition in Zealand for the Mangawhai Museum. This special exhibition celebrated the work of the R. Tucker Thompson Foundation, which uses a historic replica sailing ship to create transformative experiences for Northland youth. The “Tucker” was the dream project of a few locals and had launched forty years earlier in the community.

The feature artifact was a miniature model of the ship itself, which we set against a beautiful photo backdrop of the Pacific. Other exhibits included a video of its launch in Mangawhai, a selfie-station with a ship’s wheel, and a sticky-note interactive that invited guests to put up their own dream projects. Youth who sailed on the ship made braided bracelets as keepsakes, so we created a station where visitors could braid their own.

Richmond Boat Builder’s at Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site, 2021

In 2021, Tom and Barbara worked together on an exhibition for the Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site in Richmond, BC, Canada. The location was a historic boatbuilder’s building belonging to a Japanese family of shipwrights. Our chosen theme was “Diverse Communities Build Better Boats.”

This exhibition used panels, video, and activities to explore the world of early 20th century boat building, while taking full advantage of the building, boats, and tools.

The following are exhibitions that Barbara has curated, coordinated, or designed in the past.

Nekenekehia tukua: Puke Ariki Museum, New Plymouth, Aotearoa/New Zealand, 2022

Barbara worked with Puke Ariki museum in New Zealand and Māori artist WharehokaSmith.The title is a joyful command: Nekenekehia (move!) and an exclamation: Tukua (send it out!). The exhibition explored elements of design, space, tradition, and challenged expectations about what Toi Māori is, was, and can be.

In Flew Enza: The Spanish Flu Comes to Alberta for Borealis Gallery, 2019

To acknowledge the centenary of the “Spanish Flu” pandemic, Barbara designed and curated an exhibition for Edmonton’s Borealis Gallery. The show wove contemporary art with archival research and hands-on activities to engage visitors with a unique and far-removed tragedy which, in 2019, was unfathomable.

Fur: The Fabric of Our Nation at Borealis Gallery, 2018

Fur: The Fabric of Our Nation explored the relationship between fur, industry, and fashion. Tracing western Canada’s historic fur-trade industry to the commercial use of fur as a material for warmth, to an expression of wealth and status, to problematised and contentious cruelty, this exhibition shared space with a number of perspectives. Barbara curated this exhibition in partnership with the Costume Museum of Canada, designing the infrastructure and collaborating with Indigenous artists and historians to represent a range of historical and contemporary perspectives.

Alberta & The Great War at Borealis Gallery, 2017

Alberta & the Great War was a partnership with the Provincial Archives of Alberta, who curated the text panels and provided supporting archival images to present a story of Albertans’ experience of the Great War, both at home and abroad. Barbara co-designed the infrastructure and curated objects that would help elaborate the story and connect young Albertans to a far-distant experience.

Alberta & the Great War Exhibit

The Dream We Form By Being Together at Borealis Gallery, 2017

Wary of the colonial tenor of Canada’s sesquicentennial celebrations, Barbara worked with a Metis artist and curator to create an exhibition that would explore Canada’s longer history. The resulting show included contemporary artists; interviews with Indigenous students, artists, and elders; and a variety of activities that would help engage audiences with the topic of reconciliation in a positive and non-threatening way.