Gateway to Alaska Exhibit

Here's a few more photographs of the recently completed Gateway to Alaska exhibit at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center in Fairbanks.

We thank the excellent staff and team at the Morris Thompson Center for their hard work on this project.  Although many of the staff participated, the MTCVC project leads were:

Deb Hickok, President and CEO Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau

Cindy Schumaker, Executive Director, MTCVC

Pam Rice, Chief of Interpretation Alaska Public Lands Information Center

Velma "Dixie" Alexander, Tanana Chiefs Conference

The exhibit team consisted of:

André & Associates Interpretation and Design Ltd. - exhibit design

CPS Electronics - media and lighting design

Dreamworks Cabinetry, LLC - showcases, seating and cabinetry

Cowan Graphics - graphic production

Star Electric - electrical

Gunderson Painting - painting

Florcraft - carpet

Concrete Cutters - slab trenching

MTCVC Gateway Installation - June 2012

Bianca & Yvette traveled to Fairbanks in June to install our latest project; the Gateway to Alaska gallery at the Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center.

Check out the link below for a gallery of photos of their adventures and the exhibits.

MTCVC Gateway Installation - June 2012

Morris Thompson Graphic Murals Installed

We are proud to announce that two new graphic murals designed by Andre & Associates have just been installed at the Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center in Fairbanks. 

An additional sixteen AAID designed graphic panels will be added later this week.

Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center Panoramas

Kaleidoscope Theater

Michael recently visited Fairbanks for the Museums Alaska conference and while he was there, he took the opportunity to take panorama photographs of the dioramas and Kaleidoscope Theater.  They'll just been uploaded to our Flickr photostream, so you can check them out at the link below.

Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center Photos

If any of you are interested in seeing high resolution versions of these, feel free to contact us!

Museums Alaska Joint Annual Conference

This week Michael heads north to reunite with friends from the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center and attend the Museums Alaska Joint Annual Conference.  Fairbanks and Alaska's interior are beautiful this time of year.  If you're at the conference, we hope you will enjoy your visit to the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center.  As Michael was the project manager for this exiting experience, please let him, or us, know what you think of the exhibits!

Green Victory!

In a time where 'green' is often nothing more than a catch phrase, André & Associates strives to be an authentic and sincerely green company, both in our design and our company practices.

Our office has a wonderfully tropical element thanks to our banana trees. We compost, recycle and really do turn off our printers at night!

Taking green practices further than the office is an exciting ongoing challenge.  How do we meet with client and colleagues all over the world while keeping our carbon footprint as small as possible?

Simple and efficient video conferencing,  screen sharing and on-line reviews... nothing new, just efficient!

The media for the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center in Fairbanks, Alaska was expertly created with Chedd-Angeir-Lewis Productions in Massachusetts. Weekly meetings with CAL, the client, and our team in Victoria were conducted via video conferencing. Everybody wins! Through this technology we were able to efficiently serve the client in both time and cost while delivering an fantastic product.

We hope to continue to utilize technology to continue to shrink our environmental impact and are confident we are moving in the right direction.

Morris Thompson Installation

The Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center, a project André & Associates has been involved with for close to 10 years, is rapidly nearing completion. In mid-July Bianca, Tom, Michael & Chris Sia (lighting designer) traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska for onsite supervision of these final and crucial elements.

Dixie and Tom work on showcase layout.

Is he inside or outside? Jan Vriesen paints the final touch-ups on his diorama.

Brees Studio fabricated the foreground, creating a seamless landscape for the visitor to experience Alaska in all her stunning seasons (minus the mosquitos).

Beck Interiors is the fabricator for the Morris Thompson Center.

Michael was able to take an afternoon (working 18 days straight–he deserves it!) to experience 'real' Alaska by attending the Tanana Valley State Fair. Here he is posing with 42lb cabbages!

Yes! The Snow is Painted

Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, visited the Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitor Center and posed with our diorama painter, Jan Vriesen, who is making excellent progress on the winter diorama.

Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitor Center

Tuesday Aug 12 was a red letter day for us as the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center was opened with appropriate ceremony and pride. Bianca and Michael attended the auspicious occasion and enjoyed the chance to reconnect with all our Interior Alaskan friends. The working visit also included the review of potential fabricators for the exhibit portion of the building and a welcome for Jan Vriesen who has arrived from Minnesota to begin the task of recreating the painted diorama backgrounds that will show the landscape of Interior Alaska through the seasons.

Museum Design Magazine interviews Bianca

For the Fall 2006 issue of Museum Design Magazine, Bianca was interviewed for an article entitled: The Native American Design Metaphor. In the article, she talks about our design and interpretation process and how we work with First Nations clients. In addition, there is a first person account from the director of our most recent completed First Nations project, the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways. The article was written while Bianca was on site in Alaska. She and our team researched Athapaskan Fish Camps for our exhibit design for the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center.