REW & Co

For 127 years and counting, Henry Street Settlement has been fighting poverty and its impact, guided by an enduring vision of a more just society. To celebrate its 125th anniversary, this Lower East Side social service agency wanted to create onsite and web exhibits. I served as curator/writer, and wrote a related book—due out as of June 2020. (Keith Ragone Studio/Bluecadet, designers)

The challenge: reimagine decades-old exhibits in an architecturally-protected building; humanize Orville and Wilbur Wright; and make the brothers’ historic achievement of flight relevant to the site’s myriad visitors. Working with the Portland, Oregon design firm Formations Inc. and the National Park Service team, I served as the exhibits’ developer and writer.

Mounted to commemorate the “Annual Reminder,” the first recurring protest (1961–5) against the discrimination faced by the LGBTQ community, Speaking Out for Equality used court cases, objects, media, and personal stories to chronicle the decades-long debate over gay rights. Working with the William Way Center, partner NCC, and designer Keith Ragone, I developed and wrote the exhibition.

County of San Diego Parks & Recreation had a goal: make their new nature center a springboard to get visitors outside. As exhibit developer/writer, I created one-to-one connections between the preserve’s key features and the exhibit elements to help achieve the goal. One of those elements, a towering oak tree that changes with the seasons, is the centerpiece. (Formations Inc., designer)

The team at the visitor center wanted their second floor to be a lively, flexible, playful, community-centered combination of classroom/exhibit/artist studio/performance space. Working with the NPS and designer Formations Inc., I developed the concept of a makerspace/exhibit hybrid and curated/wrote its various elements.

Exhibits here explore the great human drama that unfolded in the far north as thousands from around the world sought gold and chased dreams in 1898/99. Exhibits also orient visitors, who in the spring and summer arrive in the hundreds of thousands, to the vast park. I was the exhibit developer and writer for this project, which especially prioritized accessibility. (Formations Inc., designer)

The National Park Service wanted to create self-guided experiences at two of its sites on Governors Island—the 1811 fort Castle Williams, built to protect New York City from British naval attack, and Dock 102, the pier where the NYC/island passenger ferry docked. Simple, durable, interactives connect visitors with key scenes and stories. (Formations Inc., designer)

Visitors compare historical views of the past with the present by peering through a scope.

Toni Morrison, Thomas Edison, Larry Doby, Bruce Springsteen: visitors “meet” these and other luminaries in the NJ Hall of Fame's interactive mobile museum. Stories, objects, oral histories, film, and engaging text invite visitors to explore how they can “make a difference”—the theme of this rolling museum. (Ralph Appelbaum Associates and Michael Graves & Associates, designers)

As co-writer with curator Tukufu Zuberi, we developed a first-person voice to encourage empathy.

For this core exhibit, USAHEC wanted to connect visitors with real soldiers, past and present—and tell the story of the Army from the perspective of those who lived it. Drawing on USAHEC’s collection of images, objects, and oral histories, I co-developed and co-wrote Soldier Experience with historian Deedee Jacobsohn in concert with the USAHEC team, and designer Formations Inc.

At the entrance to the exhibition SOLDIER EXPERIENCE at the U.S. Army and Heritage and Education Center, you grab a dog tag to begin a journey from civilian to soldier.

Tides of Freedom explores the concept of freedom through the lens of the African and African American experience along the Delaware River. I worked closely with guest curator Tukufu Zuberi (University of Pennsylvania Lasry Family Professor of Race Relations), the Seaport team, and designer Keith Ragone to develop and write the text.

At the close of the exhibition, we created a giant talkback board where we posed questions about freedom and justice. The responses were powerful.

For its reopening in 2012 after extensive renovations, the museum wanted to reimagine its collections and how it told its stories. Working in collaboration with designers Keith Ragone and Scott Guerin and the museum staff, we developed a series of exhibits that looked at old collections in new ways, juxtaposing past and present to provoke curiosity and pose questions.

Using a first-person perspective, interactives, engaging text, videos, and a word cloud that invited visitors to share, “City Stories” explored what it meant to be a Philadelphian.

In a preview exhibition at the Philadelphia History Museum, we asked visitors to share their stories of city life.

I was the curator and writer for this exhibition based on the museum’s world-class collection of mechanical musical instruments and automata. Working with designers Skolnick Architecture+Design Partnership, we used immersive environments, audio, imagery, and interactives to bring these ingenious machines to life. RBH created the extensive media.

Here, in the Marais district of Paris, media, sound, and a pepper's ghost interactive bring 19th-century, French-made automata to life.