The last couple weeks have been a blur. I finished my internship in Fort St. John, and as a way of concluding my time there, I wrote a blog post on the museum’s blog with my final thoughts on the experience. If you want to read that, you can check it out here: https://fortstjohnmuseum.wordpress.com/2017/03/21/final-thoughts-from-the-intern/
From Fort St. John I flew to the other end of the country back to my hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia, to get in a long overdue visit with my family. While home, my mom and I went on a total museum-blitz as she called it. Ever since I started my masters degree, I’ve been wanting to revisit the museums at home to see what I think of them now that I have all of this new knowledge, but it never seemed to happen. I either wasn’t home for long enough, or it was Christmas and way too busy to do anything other than Christmas.
We managed to fit just about all of the major ones in, and I made a point of taking lots of pictures and playing tourist in my own backyard (something I think we don’t do often enough in general). This post won’t have any analysis or insights, just lots of pictures, nostalgia, and a rekindled sense of regional identity.
Our first stop was at the Discovery Centre, which was on the whole very cool. I was very lucky that when we went, they had a special exhibit about rock and roll and music, so I was in my element!
You know it’s going to be a good exhibit when you spot a KISS fan as soon as you enter.
I’m a huge Alice Cooper fan, so I was very excited by this.I took this one because of an episode of Portlandia that Chris and I both enjoyed. If you’ve seen it, you get it.I happen to have the world’s coolest mom because she actually is a drummer, so she had fun testing out the electronic kit.My brother got in on the fun too.
Time for a little electric guitar!
After that, we took a trip to the Citadel Hill!
Heading down into the trenches.
The next day we started at the Museum of Natural History, and then continued the adventure over to the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.
This is Gus. He’s very old (now in his 90s) and has been at the museum for as long as I can remember! Visiting him is always a highlight.
I really want to know where I can get one of these bags…preferably without having to retrain as a scientist and living on Sable Island…..
Real ocean life.
Recreation ocean life.
Pier 21 was definitely one of my favorite stops! I really appreciated how thoughtful and interactive it was.
This Winston Churchill doll was given to a little girl when she was finally able to return to England after the Blitz. While it is an uncanny likeness, I’m not sure how much I would have appreciated such as gift as a child….
Next up was the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, followed by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia!
Merlin is another old friend of the museum world. He talks to you when he’s in the right mood!
For anyone who doesn’t know, Theodore Tugboat and his friends are in fact Haligonians!
I don’t really know why this costume headpiece exists, or why it looks so very creepy, but there you go.Okay, I know I said no analysis, but look! They had text panels devoted to explaining aspects of the historical field! Stuff like this is so important if we’re actually serious about democratizing museums.
Such a beautiful day called for a view pictures out on the observation deck. Halifax was looking pretty great that day.
I ran into an old high school chum while I was there…When I was in the third grade, I did a class project about Maud Lewis, and I’ve been enchanted by her artwork ever since. No matter what other exhibits are on display at the art gallery, I always made sure to see her gallery, and it remains one of my favorites to this day.
One of the things that I appreciate the most about her work every time I see it is that you can actually see her skills improve as you look at her work over the years. I love when people do things that fly in the face of what the industry sets out as the standard or expectation.
More folk art, because folk art is super important.
This one is a bonus: I was downtown with my family and popped into a great antiques and oddities shop (Plan B on Gottigen St. if you’re ever in town and want to check it out), and they had several cans of fog straight out of the Bay of Fundy for sale! Stuff like this always makes me laugh, and similar entrepreneurial endeavors have been made in lots of places. I guess this was one of the East Coast’s contributions!
Presenting Past 