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Sara Deane

Sara Deane

New York, NY, US

 

About 

For 6 years, I have worked as an Exhibition and Graphic Designer at a variety of museums. I was required to fulfil multiple roles and because of this I have acquired a talent for prioritizing projects, multi-tasking as well as drafting and designing within tight time and budget limitations. I was responsible for designing exhibits from planning through completion, including concept development, schematic layout, design development, final design reviews, construction documents to fabrication and exhibit maintenance.

In addition to my typical duties I had the pleasure of designing and developing two children’s exhibits that I am especially proud of; Electricity is an exhibit at the New York Transit Museum that targets 4th & 8th grade students and is viewed by 125,000–150,000 people per year. The other exhibit is the Wonders of Water, which focuses on S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) learning platforms for young children.

I attended the Maryland Institute College of Art, majoring in Painting and minoring in Art History. Later I attended Pratt Institutes Masters in Interior Design degree program while working as an Exhibition Designer for the New York Transit Museum

Elsewhere:

Employment 

New York Transit Museum, Brooklyn, NY, US, Exhibit and Graphic Designer

-Responsible for seeing the exhibit design from planning through completion, including space layout, sketching, creating scale models, blueprints, renderings, construction details, graphic design, color selection, design presentations and exhibit fabrication.

-Spatially planned exhibits that are functional and easy to navigate yet engaging to children, adults and people with special needs.

-Performed all graphic design, digitally formatted images and text for graphics panels, murals, labels and other signage.

-Digitally corrected photographs, manipulated images, colors, textures, fonts and other graphic elements into creative aesthetics.

-Created graphics using Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Quark, Gerber vinyl cutter software and Adobe Dreamweaver, and floor plans using AutoCAD and Vectorworks.

-Researched and evaluated construction materials and new printing techniques.

-Designed, drafted and fabricated custom display furniture.

-Accurately drafted construction details, instructions and blueprints.

-Installed walls, cases, lighting, artwork, and artifacts.

-Organized the department office and exhibit development schedule.

-Generated proposals and budgets.

-Supervised additional installation staff.

Oct 2008 - current
 

Port Discovery Childrens Museum, Baltimore, MD, US, Exhibit Assistant

-Designed and drafted the exhibitions and graphics for, interior and exterior branding

-Participated in the installation and maintenance of exhibits, managed the exhibits schedule, performed prototyping and model building.

-Maintained digital and mechanical displays.

-Presented exhibit proposals both orally and in writing.

-Answered department phone and e-mails.

-Organized work meetings and filed vendor information, quotes and other documents.

-Performed all graphic design duties, creating graphics panels, invitations, posters, signs, labels, decals, and other visual media for all museum departments.

-Designed wall treatments, intro walls, credit panels, labels and vinyl for exhibits, as well as fundraiser banners, podium graphics, logos, subway advertisements, education calendars, annual reports and flyers.

-Sketched and rendered design concepts then created scale models, blueprints, construction details, graphic designs and finally exhibit fabrication.

-Evaluated construction materials and researched printing techniques.

-Drafted and fabricated custom display furniture.

-Installed removable and permanent walls, cases, lighting, artwork, and artifacts.

-Generated proposals and budgets.

-Supervised installation staff.

May 2007 - Oct 2008
 

Maryland Historical Society, Exhibit Installer and Art Handler

Installed artifacts, cases, video/audio/technical equipment and lighting.

Mounted graphics, framed artwork, cut mats and fabricated artifact mounts.

Utilized problem solving skills to identify storage solutions.

Carefully packed, archived, moved and displayed artifacts, taking into consideration fragility, temperature and lighting considerations.

Sep 2006 - May 2007
 

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden-Smithsonian Museum, Washington, DC, US, Exhibit Intern

Formatted, cut, and installed vinyl and labels.

Installed photographs and sculptures.

Mounted graphic panels.

Maintained video/audio/technical equipment and lighting.

May 2006 - Sep 2006
 

Education 

Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, US, Masters, Master of Interior Design

Masters of Interior Design concentration in Exhibit Design
1 year of 3 year program

Sep 2011 - current
 

Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, US, Bachelors, Bachelors of Fine Art

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting
Minor in Art History,
Cum Laude

Sep 2002 - May 2006
 

Awards 

Maryland Distinguished Scholar, 1st Place

(Artistic award)

2002
 

Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Scholar, 1st Place

(Artistic award)

2001
 

Skills