Monsters have crawled into the Science Museum of Virginia, The How to Make a Monster exhibit opened May 17th and features the
Monsters have crawled into the Science Museum of Virginia, The How to Make a Monster exhibit opened May 17th and features the technology used to bring movie creatures to life on the big screen.
How to Make a Monster is a traveling exhibit created by visual effects artist and academy award winner John Cox. The exhibit breaks down the science, engineering, technology and art which blend together to create some of the most iconic monsters from hollywood films.
This Saturday, June 21st, the museum will host the Monster Summer Celebration, an extension of the Exhibit. Activities for the event will include the interactive monster exhibit inside of the museum, where guests can become animatronic puppeteers, a monster clay workshop and face painting.
Armani Hall, manager of guest services at the museum, arranged the Monster Summer Celebration to reflect the theme of the exhibit. “Its kind of like the event is spilling out into the rest of the museum,” said Hall.
At first, the event featured ‘monster sized’ pieces. Putting together attractions including the original monster truck, monster building blocks and a monster lighting board. “I was trying to think of things that not only to look at, but that would be fun that people can’t normally do in an museum experience. that was my inspiration,” said Hall.
“We are going to have the trebuchet outside. which we don’t normally have the trebuchet outside, you know a medieval siege weapon on the property. but this day we will, we’ll be throwing big monster water balloons past the train cars,” said Hall.
From there the event took off. Collaborating with other members of the museum, Hall put together more monster themed activities. The Mix, the museums space for teenagers, is lending their green screen to the event. Guests can create their own monster pictures and have them sent to their smart phones or computers.
The museum’s education team also lent a hand. “We have a very creative education team here, who think quick on their feet,” said Hall “When I approached them and asked what they could add, They offered to do dissections of the heart, brain and the eye. That was perfect, its big and its different and it grabs your attention.”
The Virginia Robotics high school robotics teams has also partnered with the museum. Members of the teams will operate the robots they compete with during the event. This was an important addition, because it ties into the larger How to Make a Monster exhibit by demonstrating the animatronics of robots. The technology the teams robots use is the same as the set pieces displayed in the museum from the films.
Also this summer, the museum will put on a monster movie night every third friday of the month. “So we have the monster exhibit, we have the monster summer event, why not make the ones for June July and August monster themed,” said Hall.
During the movies, guests will be treated to a horror movie panel discussion. The panel will include Dr. Gruesome and Skeeter, and Bowman Body and Dr. Madblood, making the screenings an interactive event. “We want to do it the right way. we don’t want to just throw a dvd on. lets get people who lived this to talk about it, cause people wanna talk about. Nothing has happened like this in the city in years,” said Hall.
The How to Make Monsters exhibit will be on display at the museum until September 7th. Tickets for the exhibit are 11$, and 10$ for children ages 4-12.
