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Design

Mark Dahlager - Director of Exhibit Development and Design

Mark has an extensive background in biology and natural science. He has completed the coursework for an MS in Biology and Plant Ecology at St. Cloud State University.

Mark has worked as a naturalist at several local nature centers. At the Science Museum of Minnesota, he started as an interpreter and demonstrator before joining the design and development team. Mark developed the Mississippi River Gallery and World of Ecology exhibits, and was PI on Science Buzz, Lost Egypt, Dallas, and Dead Sea Scrolls. He assumed his current position in 2004 and led the department through the development of RACE: Are We So Different?, Wild Music, Water: H2O = Life, A Day in Pompeii, and a great many other exhibits.

Mark lists his favorite museums as the City Museum ("obviously") and the Corning Museum of Glass: "beautiful objects, nice architecture, cool demonstrations, challenging and engaging programs that allow visitors to make glass stuff to take home."

His favorite non-Science Museum exhibit is Free Spirit: Stories of You, Me and BC at the Royal British Columbia Museum: "nice objects (both special and everyday). Everything is presented in a very engaging narrative, featuring both historical and modern stories, with a wide diversity of perspectives. Fun and whimsical at places and tragic and heart-wrenching at others, and a nice web project to gather visitor's stories."

In his free time, Mark leads a team of treasure hunters every year in the St. Paul Winter Carnival Medallion Hunt (their record: 0 for 7, with 6 "real close"). He is also an accomplished seed artist. (It's a Minnesota thing.)

Joel Back - Media Developer

Joel designs and produces interactive software programs, sound environment and educational videos for both permanent and traveling exhibits. He has developed computer-based interactives for such exhibits as Cell Lab; Human Body Gallery; Wild Music (ASTC); RACE: Are We So Different? (American Anthropological Assn.); Disease Detectives; Science Buzz; and Lost Egypt (COSI). He enjoys learning new things and trying different ways to solve a problem. "At the Science Museum of Minnesota, solving problems is what I do," says Joel.

Joel holds a BS in Visualization from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and an AA in Architectural Drafting and Design from Northwest Technical Institute. Before coming to the Science Museum of Minnesota, Joel managed networks and databases and created interactive presentations for architectural and engineering firms.

Not surprisingly, Joel's favorite museum is the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, because he says "I am a geek at heart." He cites the bears at the Minnesota Zoo as his favorite exhibit. "They did an amazing job of letting you see the bears up close and personal."

Roger Barrett - Exhibit Design Group Manager

Roger Barrett came to the Science Museum of Minnesota in 2000 as an internet developer and youth instructor in the museum's Learning Technologies Center. There he developed the Studio 3D website and taught courses for children ages preschool to high school in how to playfully integrate art and technology.

Since then, Roger has been lead designer and art director for Explore Evolution (University of Nebraska); Science Buzz; NISEnet exhibits; Goose Bumps! The Science of Fear (California Science Center); World of Ecology (California Science Center); and Science & Art (Arkansas Museum of Discovery). Roger has also worked as illustrator and graphic designer for such Science Museum of Minnesota exhibits as Robots and Us and Water: H2O = Life.

Roger studied graphic design at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and holds BA in Graphic Design from City College of San Francisco. Before joining the Science Museum of Minnesota, Roger worked as a graphic designer for Urb magazine and as a freelance designer for various local and national clients.

When asked to name his favorite museum, Roger cited The Museum of Sex in New York City. "Because of its clever and witty approach to exhibition design, a subject that could easily be viewed as pornographic is presented in an approachable and, frankly, very educational way."

David Evans - Multimedia Designer

David produces most of our audio-visual pieces, designing the hardware, software, control systems and visitor interfaces. He is expert at both analog and digital systems, and also develops computer programs and websites for visitor use.

After graduating from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design with a BFA in 1981, David began his museum career with the Wolves and Humans exhibit. He toured with the exhibit to museums across the US and Canada for 5 years. He also developed content and media for such exhibits as Cenote of Sacrifice; Antarctica; Bears: Imagination and Reality; Robots and Us; Science on a Sphere; RACE: Are We So Different? (American Anthropological Assn.); and Fossil Mysteries (SD Natural History Museum).

When asked to name his favorite museum, David wrote, "I have a special place in my heart for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where I worked installing Wolves and Humans. I was given an amazing behind the scenes tour that I will never forget." David has been a board member of the Saint Paul Art Collective since 1983, and has served as president and vice president. In 1985 he was the founding president of the Lowertown Lofts Coop, the first artist-owned limited-equity housing coop in the nation. He has toured the US and Canada with his wife by motorcycle, and cruises the Mississippi on his 36' wooden 1950 Chris Craft Salon Cruiser. David is a songwriter, guitarist and singer, and plays with his band, the Positronic Croutons.

Cary Forss - Lighting Designer/Exhibit Designer

As installation designer for incoming traveling shows, Cary has created layouts for dozens of exhibitions. With a degree in General Design from the University of Minnesota, he also designed the permanent Human Body Gallery at the Science Museum, as well as our main lobby. As lighting designer, Cary's work illuminates all the permanent halls at the Science Museum. He also programmed object theaters for exhibits at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, the National Constitution Center and the Boston Museum of Science. In 2002 Cary received the Illumination Design Award from the Twin Cities section of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. Cary says his favorite museum is the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, because "it just works, inside and out."

Christy Johnson - Graphic Designer

Christy came to the Science Museum with several years of experience in graphic design. She was graphic designer for the Disease Detectives exhibit, and co-designed the award-winning exhibit RACE: Are We So Different? She has also worked on the exhibits World of Ecology, Managing Light, Goose Bumps! The Science of Fear, and Science Buzz. Christy earned a degree in mass communications, with a photojournalism emphasis, from St. Cloud State University, and an associate of arts degree in graphic design from The Art Institutes International Minnesota. Outside of work, she runs her own freelance graphic design business, redshoes26 design. A devoted baseball fan, Christy played four years of varsity softball at SCSU, and—this is cool—she edits the official scorecard for the Minnesota Twins.

Margaret King - Graphic Designer

Margaret's experience in the graphic arts field stretches back over 26 years. In her tenure at the Science Museum she has worked on a wide variety of exhibits—permanent installations like the Human Body Gallery; client work such as the National Canal Museum; and numerous temporary and traveling shows, including Wild Music; Explore Evolution; A Day in Pompeii; Science Buzz; Native Gardens; Water: H2O = Life; Lost Egypt; Bionics & Transplants; Bears: Imagination and Reality; Antarctica; Hunters of the Sky; Experiment Gallery; When Crocodiles Ruled; Playing With Time; and Robots and Us.

Holding degrees from both the University of Minnesota and St. Olaf College, she has created exhibits for community organizations including Ramsey County, the Tree Trust, Minnesota Renewable Energy Society, Hamline University, Dakota County, the Bloomington Historical Society and others.

Margaret's favorite museum is the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania. She says, "This fabulous art institution—the collection of one individual—houses more than 2,500 objects, including dozens of paintings by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse, as well as numerous other modern and medieval masters. The artworks are displayed in a mansion built specifically for this purpose, set amid extensive botanical gardens. I especially like the casual viewing situation which allows the visitor to get up close to priceless works of art, and the diversity and liveliness of the staff."

Dick Leerhoff - Senior Exhibit Designer

Dick is lead designer for the permanent galleries at the Science Museum of Minnesota. As our Senior Exhibit Designer, he has also played a major role in many of our most successful traveling exhibits. Over the past 30 years, Dick has led the design for such diverse shows as Wolves and Humans; Bionics & Transplants; Hunters of the Sky; Traveling Experiment Gallery; Robots and Us; When Crocodiles Ruled; Invention at Play; Wild Music; RACE: Are We So Different?; and Lost Egypt. With a BA in English and a MA in Theater, Dick is well-versed in multiple forms of communication.

Dick says his favorite museum besides the Science Museum of Minnesota is the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain, "because it has Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez, the best painting in the world."

Matt Quintanilla - Graphic Designer

Matt is one of the newest members of our team joining us in 2009. He comes to us with a journalism major / minor in politics from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. He had been working as news/features designer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune when we snatched him up. He also has a background in web design.

We put him to work right away, and within his first few months he was contributing to such projects as Lost Egypt, Science Buzz, and World of Ecology.

Matt lists his favorite museum as "The Newseum—the old one in Rosslyn, not the new behemoth on the Washington Mall. I went one month after 9/11, and the museum had built exhibits immediately capturing the coverage from a global perspective. Plus, I'm a huge news junkie. I went twice in two days, that's how much I loved it."

Brent Shipley - Exhibit Designer

Brent is our expert in CAD (Computer Aid Drafting). He produces detailed 2D & 3D drawings of galleries and exhibit components. He also designs some of our exhibits and floor plans. Brent has worked on the galleries at the new Science Museum of Minnesota facility, as well as such diverse projects as Invention at Play; RACE: Are We So Different?; Robots and Us; Fossil Mysteries; and World of Ecology at the California Science Center.

Brent has a B.S. degree in Art Education (K-12) from Saint Cloud State University and an A.A. degree in Mechanical Drafting from Century College. He enjoys visiting zoos and aquariums, both local and nationwide, as well as outdoor activities that bring him in touch with nature.

Chach Sikes - Multimedia Designer

Chach has worked on the website for the Disease Detectives exhibit, and also cranked out Drupal code for the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net) and the Science Buzz website. Prior to coming to the Science Museum, Chach was a web person for the Exploratorium, working on Listen: Making Sense of Sound, Mind and the Microscope Imaging Station. Over the past 10 years she has worked with a variety of web companies, and in 2007 taught web design at Ex'pression College for Digital Arts. Chach, who holds a degree in Anthropology and History from Bard College, is currently taking classes in botanical illustration at the Minnesota School of Botanical Arts.

When asked to name her favorite museums, Chach replied, "I really like the Cloisters in New York. I visited it only once, but I remember everything from it ten years later. I also am a sucker for the living history museums like Jamestown and Sturbridge Village. My favorite zoos/aquariums are the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Biodome in Montreal. For art and old things, I like the old, giant, vast museums like the MET, the British Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History." Obviously, Chach is well-traveled!

Craig Thiesen - Media Design Manager

Since joining the Science Museum, Craig has been responsible for all exhibit-related media content, such as interactive computer games, video or audio production, or any other kind of media playback. His projects have included including Playing With Time; Mysteries of Çatalhöyük; Robots and Us and the Digital River Basin.

Craig has an enormously varied background. Earning a B.A. in American Studies from the University of Minnesota, he worked as a freelance consultant specializing in digital media production, computer systems design and maintenance, and website planning and construction. Prior to that, he spent 8 years as the photographer and production manager at Associated Images, a multimedia production company; and 3 years as the manager of a photographic service at the United Nations in Vienna, Austria.

Craig says he enjoys visiting small town historical museums because "they offer an intimate view of how a community views itself." He also enjoys the quality and historical insight of exhibits in the photography gallery at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

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