Art Museum of South Texas Wins First Place for Technology with Exhibitions
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – As technology rapidly advances, museums have pushed the envelope and are now utilizing technology to enhance their exhibitions. The Art Museum of South Texas (AMST), an affiliate of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, has proved itself to be at the forefront of this movement by winning the first place 2018 Mountain-Plains Museums Association Exhibit Technology Award on Sept. 14. Both “The Color of Being/El Color del Ser: Dorothy Hood (1918-2000)” and “Digital Darkroom” received the award for AMST’s creative melding of technology and educational programming for the exhibitions.
This is not the first accolade AMST won for its high standards in using media and technology for interactive art installations; AMST previously won a bronze award in the “Interpretive Interactive Installations” category at the May 2018 American Alliance of Museums conference in Phoenix, Arizona.
“We are thrilled our peers again recognized the Art Museum of South Texas with an award for our technology efforts associated with exhibitions,” said Joe Schenk, AMST Director. “Receiving the ‘First Place for Exhibit Technology’ award is quite significant in our ten-state region. I am proud of our museum staff for their accomplishments.”
Although the award-winning exhibitions have moved on to other cities, two of the five interactive stations designed for “The Color of Being/El Color del Ser: Dorothy Hood (1918-2000)” remain on display and continue to educate and entertain visitors of all ages. Both the DIY Dorothy Hood virtual painting experience and the Dorothy Hood collage table, give visitors the opportunity to create digital masterpieces incorporating several of Hood’s techniques.
As for the “Digital Darkroom” mobile application, AMST plans to continue using this technology to create content for future exhibitions, and long-term, incorporate content with pieces in the museum’s permanent collection. In doing so, AMST will be able to expand its educational reach to new audiences.
