Mounting the gutskin parka for the Arctic exhibition required some creativity. It is so light and translucent and we wanted to impart these features to museum guests. Putting the parka on a mannequin wouldn’t be suitable since the intestine when dry is brittle, making for a very stiff form.
We decided to use an acrylic support, displaying the parka in a vertical position as this would take up less space in the showcase than positioning it on a slanted, horizontal board. The solution to this conundrum needed to be strong yet invisible.
The parka was placed on a table covered with brown paper; its outline was traced in pencil. The exhibit fabricators used this stencil to cut an acrylic support adding 15cm around the entire perimeter. A padded internal support for the hood was cut from polyethylene foam, then covered with polyester batting and encased in a poly cotton neutral coloured stretch knit. Once the exact location of the hood was determined, the covered support was hot melt glued to the acrylic.
Rare earth magnets are used by museums to display posters and textiles. This seemed to be the perfect solution for holding the parka on the support. Four centimeter-wide cotton twill tape was used to encase the circular magnets, which were spaced every 15cm and held in place by stitching 2 layers of twill tape around each magnet. One magnetized tape was placed horizontally passing through both arms from wrist to wrist. Two magnetized tapes were placed vertically below the previous tape. The interior of the parka was stuffed with polyester tulle to provide support.
Come and see the final product when the BSM reopens – the parka is on display – in Art and Innovation: Traditional Arctic Footwear from the Bata Shoe Museum Collection!
