Lumagination 2020 - Marvelous Minerals
Past & Present collaborated with the Buffalo Botanical Gardens to celebrate the beauty of flora, light, and for 2020–minerals!
Past & Present was generously selected to loan fossils and minerals to display in two rooms of the Botanical Gardens from January 25th to February 29th, 2020!
Read about our experience planning and installing the show with the kind staff of the Gardens and the ever-helpful Luminated Landscapes team!
Also, visit our Specimens on Display page to see what was there!
Mysterious Minerals – The interior of the Botanical Gardens was illuminated to excite imaginations, stimulate the senses and entertain all ages! Visitors experienced the extraordinary facets of Earth and minerals. From simulated salt caves and stalactites to wooden sculptures, balancing stones, geodes and crystals, Lumagination took visitors on a journey like no other!
2020’s Lumagination theme of “Marvelous Minerals” was part of a four-part series of Wind, Water, Earth, and Fire. Minerals make up a big part of the earth, but we decided to dig a little deeper and expand the theme into fossils, too!
When we were asked if we’d be interested in participating in the show, we of course said yes! However, one of the hardest parts was choosing only a handful of specimens to have showcased: we had to consider which rooms in the Gardens we would be using, what the environment and landscaping was like to work with, and which pieces would compliment the theme nicely. We visited the Gardens several times in the months leading up to the show to walk through and get a visual and spatial idea of the possibilities–which were endless!
We chose to set up minerals in the cactus room, proving very difficult and hazardous to place each specimen amongst the very prickly and thorny plants. We decided to bring in natural logs to act as pedestals for our minerals to give them definition, yet blend in with the browns of the cacti and soil. Teamwork was vital in carefully handing over the logs above and around the cacti, and to help with centering and making sure everything could be seen. Hanging spotlights over each specimen provided a soft glow to show off their beautiful features.
The Panama Room was the chosen spot for our fossils. We had many display ideas and we were able to pull off most of them! However, due to the consistent humidity, moisture, and watering done in that room, choosing fossils that could withstand the water somewhat limited our choices. Our big T-rex skeleton and Deinonychus raptor model were a must for the room. Originally we were hoping to spotlight the Raptor in the center of the room but because of plant roots and other unmovable things, the raptor ended up in a different, more natural area peeking around a tree at unsuspecting visitors.
Our T-rex skull, raptor model, amethyst cathedrals, dinosaur footprint, ammonites, quartz crystals, megalodon teeth, and malachite are just a few of the many fossils and minerals that were on display!
Installation
