Tag: Fun Fact

Museum Monday

The final step in creating this “a-maze-ing” experience was creating the artwork to appear on its walls. In the initial design phase, many themes were discussed, but in the end, we decided on a graphic pattern of 2D shapes that would create a sense of movement as one explored the space. And, of course, fitting in with the rest of the museum wouldn’t be possible without a lot of colour.

Chris’s skills in colour theory came in handy during this phase. Using several shades of pink, green and blue, we learned how to mix and mingle the colours, creating texture and movement on the walls. Chris taped out the various shapes and decided when the shapes would merge from one to the next, and our staff team followed behind with a cart full of paint, filling in the shapes.

Starting with several shades of pink, the entire maze was covered in triangles, squares, rectangles, hexagons and trapezoids. Then, we layered on blue and green shapes. Finally, a lighter shade of green/yellow was used to highlight several areas. The cubes were painted after they were placed on top of the wall, whereas the train was painted on the floor and then moved into place.

Watch today’s fun fact here! 

Exhibition Supporters: Toromont, Johnston Group, Len Dubois 

Museum Monday

Three hundred and seventy-five boxes. 1800 square feet. One artist. Four staff. One volunteer. Five days. One design. And a lot of paint.

Chris Minsal, A-MAZE-D Artist and Installer, was instrumental in the success of this maze-building extravaganza. Chris arrived on Monday, and we quickly got to work with our small and eager staff team to build the boxes. Four hours later, 350 boxes were built and taped shut (a few were kept aside for spares). Then came the fun part – putting it all together. Using four boxes, our team created 5’ x 5’ panels with a window in the centre. Each of these panels is one wall section. Once we had all the wall sections built and a few tunnel tops (created with 6 boxes), the maze started to take shape. Using Dave’s design, Chris’s expertise, and our handy staff and volunteer team, the maze was completely laid out by the end of the second day.

Watch today’s fun fact here! 

Exhibition Supporters: Toromont, Johnston Group, Len Dubois 

Museum Monday

How many boxes does it take to create a life-sized cardboard maze?

Well, first, you need to know how big your space is. Ours is about 1800 square feet. That’s going to be a pretty big maze. Then you need a design. This took about 7 tries, but we eventually landed on the perfect layout. You need to know what your boxes look like, of course. Ours are (2’ x 3’x 1’). You need big boxes when you have a big maze.

Once we had all that information, we worked it all out.

Drumroll, please!

375 boxes. You read that right! 375 was the magic number! But don’t forget, the boxes are flat when they are delivered. So, how long does it take to build 375 boxes? With 4 handy staff and an artist, it takes about 4 hours. Not bad!

Watch today’s fun fact here!

Exhibition Supporters: Toromont, Johnston Group, Len Dubois