Museum Exhibits

Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial

The memorial, inspired in 1995 by a travelling exhibit on Anne Frank, opened in 2002.  It was built with private funds and donations of school children.  Remembering and honoring the struggles of minorities, the memorial promotes equality for all people of all cultures.  Verbal and pictoral history of civil rights struggles powerfully educates visitors. 

 

In a corner of the park edged by the river the memorial is gently placed in an outdoor setting among the trees.  Three circles define the general space of the exhibit creating feelings of harmony and peace.  Each circle invites visitors to sit on memorial benches of stone or to wind around the walks and read about Anne Frank and about human rights in general.  Soft beige bricks topped with soft grey concrete capstones gently divide the areas into small rooms.

The first circle encloses a bronze statue of Anne Frank holding her diary and looking inquisitively out the window of her home in Amsterdam.  Behind her on the ground, lines delineate the size of the tiny rooms that her family lived in during the occupation.  The circle gently guides visitors toward the back to read the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” carved on stone plaques. 

Crossing a walkway, ponds and waterfalls connect the two other circles.  Carved into the walls visitors find quotes from human rights activists offering inspirational messages on freedom, equality, and human rights. 

Stepping back to view as a whole, the texts, pictures and recorded messages work together to educate and inspire.  The setting of vast space and open air reinforces the notion of freedom and peace.  The diversity of entrances reinforces the concept of human diversity.  Honoring all races, genders, religions, and lifestyles, all in one unique space, sends the powerful message of universal human rights to the memorial visitors.  Lack of admission fee invites an all-inclusive feeling as well.

Idaho State Capitol Building

Two wide sets of stairs lead to the front entrance of the Idaho Capitol Building set on a park like lot landscaped in flowers and shrubs.  Six monuments and statues are placed in various spots around the rectangular outdoor space.   The building sits under a circular dome and spreads to the east and west in rectangular wings. 

As visitors enter, a blast of light from shiny white marble  almost stuns the senses.  Central circular walkways around the rotunda and welcoming circular railings open each floor to views of the rotunda, the massive marble support columns, and the dome. 

Scattered throughout the building historic treasures and memorials offer glimpses into the past.  The third floor public lounge exhibit honors Those Who Served.  Vitrines display memorabilia from past military conflicts including weapons, uniforms, model airplanes and cannons.  The rectangle shape of the room is repeated in two story boxes that detail military history from the beginning of Idaho as a territory until the present time. 

The fourth floor public lounge titled Statuary Hall holds wood carvings from various artists.   The title cards for the carvings place the author’s name at the top if the cards in large letters.  Below that the title of the piece typed in smaller letters.  This confuses the viewer into thinking the name of the author is the title of the piece.   It is constant throughout the room.

Outside this lounge two statues sit on either side of the entrance.  On one side can be found Nike of Samothrace, a gift from France to the United States after WWII and on the other side of the doorway sits a wood carving of George Washington painted in gold.  These two pieces honoring US history seem a bit out of place in a state capitol building.

The first floor integrates red and black geometric patterns contrasting with the white marble used everywhere else.  The purpose of the black and red escapes me.  It's the only place where harsh geometric triangles and squares appear.  

The garden level on the ground floor offers two circular walking tours using story boards, the outside circle about Idaho history and the inside about the system of American Government.
 

The overall impression is one of light and welcome.  Built with Neoclassical features, its grandeur and beauty recall classical virtue and honor.   There was too much to look at in the rotunda.  The House and Senate Chambers will need a separate visit to do them justice.

The Boise Art Museum

The Boise Art Museum is a low, flat, angular building on the edge of Julia Davis Park.  The outside is grey rusticated brick interrupted by horizontal panels of rust colored concrete.  The doorway can be found by following five neon strips of color. The interior is divided into 16 smaller galleries named for donors and supporters.  Low track lighting and carpet softens and quiets each room.  Visitors can snake around in and out of the small galleries from one to the next.  The variety of doors and ramps cause visitors to wander and wind from room to room.

Today there were five different displays spread through out the museum including Vampires and Wolfmen, Ceramics, Lisa Kokin’s exhibit, works Artists of Idaho and Night Hunter, a movie by Stacy Steers.  

To the rear and in the middle is the Sculpture Court.  High ceiling allow larger pieces room for display.  Today a single bench was placed in the center of the room. The short film, Night Hunter by Stacy Steers, was continuously being projected onto the wall.  The black and white film was collaged and re-filmed from the 1920s using 35mm film.  Lillian Gish starred in this silent piece.  Dramatic, creepy things crawled out of floors, drawers and other places.  Some dark red was introduced when blood spilled and spread from strange places.  The lone heroine battled the monsters which left her in a strange mental state.  The next gallery room, dramatically darkened, contained photos from the film and a 6’ tall square doll house.  In the house, in diorama form, scenes from the movie could be seen through the small windows.  It took four years for Steers to make this eerie piece.

The final room had the exhibits of Idaho artists.  The largest of these was an installation of six human figures, all dressed in white winter clothing, all looking down, and all carrying cell phones looking lifelike, freestanding and creepy. 

Overall the Art Museum feels reverent and respectful of the art work.  Artfully displayed pieces inspire viewers. 

The Idaho Historical Museum

An angular building of flat, grey concrete houses the museum itself.  Visitors first walk past a statue of Sacajawea holding her infant son.  She is standing under the words Idaho Historical Museum.  

On the lowest floor of the museum a maze of flat, brown-tone story boards traces the lives of miners, Native Americans, and loggers.  Vitrines hold period clothing and tools.

The middle level divides a rectangular space between Native American and Idaho settler memorabilia.  Vitrines hold Native American items such as beadwork, moccasins, glove, belts, painted raw hide, porcupine quill work, and pipes lined up item by item in plain, unimaginative lines.  On the other side of the room Idaho settlers guns and cooking utensils are displayed in vitrines.  The center of the room held two cases of antique toys dating from much later in history than the rest of the room, about 19^th century.  Another conflict off to the side was a small room with a huge Idaho potato for kids to play with and on. 

On the upper level installation rooms display settings from pioneer homes in territorial Idaho, a bar room, a printing press, a saddle exhibit, some of which can be interactive with visitors. 

Off to the side on the upper level a more modern exhibit of sports in Idaho filled a darken room.  Automatic lights went on as I crossed the threshold into the sport room.  Totally incongruent with Idaho history, I didn’t even go into that room.  Somehow I don’t think of a sports exhibit as part the history of Idaho.

 

The three interior floors of the museum seem to be haphazard disarray, an amateurish mixture.  The displays go back and forth in time and themes.  The place could be redone in more artistic flair.  One idea is to begin on the ground floor with the earliest items and create displays that move through time from earliest to the most modern, ending on the top floor.  All people and artifacts could be blended together on a time line.  No floor plan or literature was available for visitors.  I’m guessing that this museum is operated on a very low budget.

The outdoors offered a Pioneer Village.  There were three model homes ranging from a log cabin to a more modern settler home.  The village ended with a walkway wandering around landscaped boulders and shrubs contradicting authentic landscape of pioneer days.  A few plant and rock exhibits offered a small bit of natural science information.  Also at the far end a display told the story of language evolution, of the two Native American languages Sacajawea spoke and translated for Lewis and Clark.  

Overall the building was scattered in subject matter.  It really seemed that there is not much interest in this museum by the managers, especially compared to the art museum or Anne Frank Memorial.