We at the Museum of the San Rafael wanted to capture the memory of the mammoth discovery that is in the minds of those who were there. To achieve this goal, we did the following:

1.    Apply for a grant to help fund our project.

2.    Once the funding came into play, we wanted a mural of what the Mammoth would have looked like before his death.

3.    After the Mural would be finished, we wanted the exhibit to show the excavation process.

We applied for a grant with the Utah Division of Arts and Museum, which we received. This grant helped us to continue with our dream to recreate a scene so that others could share in this memory. We were able to begin plans to start the project and get an idea of what we actually wanted. Cliff Oviatt painted a mural of what the Mammoth may have looked like. Through his interpretation and wonderful talent, he has given us a wonderful, artistic mural.

Once the mural was finished, we needed to make a plan of what we wanted to do next to achieve our third and final goal. We decided to get a Mammoth skull replicated to show how it would have looked in 1988 when they dug it up. We brainstormed some more, and rather than having it look like it did when the archaeologists were digging it up, we decided to get a Mammoth skull and tusks replicated. Looking at our funds left over from building a stage and from the mural, we didn't have the sufficient funds for the cost of a Mammoth skull and tusks. I began to worry that this project that we had talked about to be this wonderful asset was beginning to fall apart due to our lack of funds. We talked about having just the tusks. Because lets face it the tusks themselves are very impressive! But, deep down, we all wanted a mammoth skull and tusks but how were we going to raise money to be able to afford both?

We began to run out of time for new ideas. We had to do something, so I contacted the Museum Board members to discuss what the next action should be. Cliff Oviatt, who had painted our wonderful mural, volunteered to carve a Mammoth Skull and tusks out of Styrofoam. When he said Styrofoam, I thought of the little squares we get in packages, and I hoped that it would work. The day it came to reality was when Cliff called me at work and asked me to come outside of the museum. I walked out to see a giant piece of Styrofoam 3 ft tall and about 5 ft wide. Once I saw the block of Styrofoam, I knew I had nothing to worry about!  Cliff was off to work carving carefully, sketching and studying the Mammoth and what the skull would look like. Months later Cliff had finished the Mammoth skull and tusks and brought them to the museum to finish the exhibit.

This Mammoth exhibit is our newest at the Museum of the San Rafael. We couldn't have done it without our grant from the state, which gave us the sufficient funds to make our ideas and dreams come true. In addition to the grant, the countless hours of our staff, board members and volunteers helped make this dream a reality. We learned that with exhibit projects and moving things around to prepare for the projects, that delegation is a proper way to get help and get your projects done on time and in an organized way. We learned that our community is a big support to us, with local businesses who donated time, supplies, and support to us to help us succeed in our projects.

The opening for the Mammoth Exhibit was Friday January 16, 2015 at 6:30pm. The Mammoth Exhibit is located at the Museum of the San Rafael in Castle Dale Utah. Come see the Mammoth Exhibit!

Maegan Wilberg is the  Director of the Museum of the San Rafael and Pioneer Museum in Castle Dale, Utah.

.

After decades of racial prejudice, followed by the bombing of Pearl Harbor that initiated America into the Second World War, the United States government ordered all persons of Japanese ancestry living along the West Coast to leave their homes to ten confinement centers scattered throughout the country. Often located in sparse and desolate regions, Utah was home to the Topaz War Relocation Authority Center. At its peak, the camp had a population of 8,300, making it Utah’s fifth largest city.  In 1984, a federal commission ruled that the camps were a product of “racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, and failure of political leadership.”

As an art historian, I’ve been working as an adjunct instructor and freelance curator since 2011. When the opportunity to curate the Topaz Museum’s inaugural art exhibition came about, I jumped at the chance to be involved in the project.

The parameters for the show were simple: mine the museum’s permanent collection of artworks and create an exhibition showcasing the art made during internment. The art show is intended to spark interest in the Topaz Museum in anticipation of the large-scale permanent exhibition of historical artifacts that will open in the fall of 2015.  

The curatorial process was thrilling and informative. I started by thoroughly analyzing the museum’s collection. My goal is always to use the art as my guide, a vehicle by which to discern a larger theme for the exhibition.

Relatively early the process, I made the decision to limit the scope included art to ‘works on paper.’ This classification is by no means exclusionary: as it allows for the incorporation of multiple mediums such as watercolor, ink wash painting, woodblock printing, gouache and color casein. The selected works on paper display the unparalleled creativity of artists, whose talents could not be stifled, even in the most difficult of circumstances. I saw this as a wonderful opportunity to educate our audience about various artistic processes. Even in the art historical realm, many of us are unfamiliar with the technical details involved in gouache, for example. Moreover, it became our mission to expand viewers’ awareness of various tenants of the artistic landscape at Topaz: the artists themselves and the techniques, subjects and styles associated with their work.

The Topaz Museum’s inaugural art exhibition, When Words Weren’t Enough: Works on Paper from Topaz, 1942-1945 opens January 13, 2015 and runs until September 30, 2015. The Topaz Museum is located 55 West Main, Delta, Utah and is open Monday-Saturday from 1:00-5:00 pm. Visit the museum online at topazmuseum.org or call (435) 864-2514 for more information.

Scotti Hill is art historian specializing in modern and contemporary art. In addition to working as a freelance curator, she is an art critic for 15 Bytes: Utah’s Art Magazine and has been teaching at Westminster College and the University of Utah since 2011.