1. Exhibits Portfolio
Laurie A. Sedicino, MA MHP
Museum Curator
~ Creative Exhibits
~ Thoughtful Storylines
~ Engaging displays
Section 2

2. I have included many samples of the exhibitions
I have curated in this PowerPoint so you can get
a visual feel for my style, understand some of the
challenges I faced in each of the exhibitions, and
notice the evolution of my professional growth.
Thank you for taking the time to peruse my
exhibitions portfolio.

3. 1. Legacy Museum on Main, LaGrange, GA, 2007-2012
 Elegance of Malice: Swords from Talismans to Battle
Weapons
 100 Years of Troup County Business
2. Legacy Museum on Main, LaGrange, GA, 2007-2012 (con’t)
The Royal Treatment: Celebrating the British Monarchy
Rhythm & Roots: Southern Music Traditions
100 Years of Tough Cookies: Girl Scouts of West Georgia
Bubbling up Business: Troup County’s Soda Bottling Industry
Industry
Contents

4. Elegance of Malice:
Swords from Talismans to Battle Weapons
The temporary exhibit – a private collection – featured
swords as handcrafted, traditional works of art, superior
weapons of confrontation and historical objects.
The exhibit also revealed the mystique that surrounded
the objects, from their
methods of manufacture to the civilizations and
exploits of those that used these beautiful, but deadly,
objects.
Legacy Museum on Main
LaGrange, GA
1 of 4

5. Elegance of Malice
2 of 4
Challenge: Collaboration with all “players” involved: sponsor, display
case fabricator, Executive Director (project overseer) and private collector
to ensure smooth communication, timely installation and meeting the
needs of the collector in terms of care for and protection of the
artifacts…and telling the story they wanted told about their collection.

6. Elegance of Malice
3 of 4
“…Through the process of a growing collection, our knowledge of and respect for the
cultures where the objects originated has also grown. As we learned intimate details about
the traditions and customs of the lands and people from the homes of the artifacts, it
created a level of cultural understanding and awareness that has thoroughly enriched our
lives…”

7. Elegance of Malice
4 of 4
“…The objects, individualized and unique, also became a portal to
another dimension of deeper spiritual understanding. We realized
the story reached far beyond the object and ultimately saw
ourselves not as owners but as guardians of the artifacts: they did
not belong to us; we were simply entrusted with their protection
for a time. ..”

8. 100 Years
of Troup County Business
1 of 4
The exhibit marked the 100th
anniversary of the LaGrange-
Troup County Chamber of
Commerce and celebrated
Troup County business and
industry of the past
century.

9. Business
2 of 4

10. Business
3 of 4

11. Business
4 of 4
CHALLENGE: Almost all of the objects in the exhibit were on loan
from members of the local business community who helped establish
and grow area commerce. Loans often came in at the last minute so
I could not determine what I had to work
with. This limited planning the content of
displays and the overall look of the exhibit.
This required much flexibility and
spontaneity, as loans came in even after
the exhibit opened.

12. The Royal Treatment:
Celebrating the British Monarchy
1 of 3

13. Royalty
2 of 3
A private collection that
reflected an unbroken line
of mementoes to mark
important dates in the British
royal family from the reign of
Queen Victoria in the 1800s to
the April, 2011 wedding of
William and Kate.

14. Royalty
3 of 3
CHALLENGE:
The topic and objects were
refined and sophisticated, so I
wanted every aspect of the
exhibit – photographs and
displays – to have the same sense
of elegance. This presented a
strong challenge because
of budget constraints and
required much
imagination to come up
with creative ways to
achieve this goal.

15. Rhythm & Roots:
Southern Music Traditions
1 of 3

16. On loan traveling exhibit from
South Arts. The exhibit was a
tribute to the musical forms that
created the Southern sound and
celebrated the enduring power of
homegrown, community-based
music making.
R&R
2 of 3

17. R&R
3 of 3
CHALLENGE:
The exhibit used text panels and audio
wands to highlight music, voices and
musicians from the South and themes that
shaped Southern traditional music.
It was, however, completely without
artifacts. I had to find artifacts to
supplement the exhibit consistent with the
exhibit theme and to give the exhibit more
dimension. I sought local stories,
instruments, musicians and music that
reflected the tradition of deeply rooted local
music passed down from generation to
generation and those that represented
transplanted, new sounds – music with
international influences
flourishing locally in the New South.
This required connections and community
relationship-building.

18. 100 Years of Tough Cookies: Girl Scouts of West Georgia
Challenge:
When it was determined we would do this
exhibit, I was informed that display items
would be dependent on loans from
members of the community. However, I
was not comfortable with this sole
approach. In an effort to secure objects of
historic significance as well as display local
items that might be less historic but more
personally meaningful, I took the initiative
to pursue additional resources. Having a
more broad-based approach maintained
the integrity of the exhibit, honored local
Girl Scouts, ensured meaning beyond the
local community and, with the theme of the
100-year Girl Scout movement, paid tribute
to the history of a national organization
whose sole mission has been its
commitment to women. Without having any
initial contacts, I persisted in negotiation to
secure historic images and artifacts from
Girl Scouts of the USA National
Preservation Center and the Girl Scouts of
Greater Atlanta.
Silhouette postcards, c. 1920s. Images
on loan courtesy, Girl Scouts of the USA
– National Preservation Center
Golden Eaglet replica, c. 1930s. On loan courtesy, Girl
Scouts of the USA – National Historic Preservation Center
GS
1 of 6

19. GS
2 of 6

20. GS
3 of 6
Girl Scout Equipment catalogue, 1935.
Image on loan courtesy, Girl Scouts of the
USA – National Historic Preservation Center

21. GS
4 of 6

22. Original trefoil design patent, 1914,
signed by Juliette Gordon Low.
Image on loan courtesy, Girl Scouts of
the USA – National Historic
Preservation Center
GS
5 of 6

23. July, 1922, The American Girl
magazine, with early Girl Scout
cookie recipe. Image courtesy,
Girl Scouts of the USA – National
Historic Preservation Center
GS
6 of 6

24. Bubbling Up Business:
Troup County’s
Soda Bottling Industry
Bottles
1 of 4

25. Bottles
2 of 4
I created vignettes of
leisure scenes where
people would likely be
found drinking soda to
give the exhibit more of
a part-of-life and less
sterile feel.

26. Bottles
3 of 4

27. Bottles
4 of 4
Challenge: How to
display bottles – a
transparent item
with little color that
sometimes looked
uninteresting. The
cases needed
something to
brighten the bottles
and improve their
visibility but not
overshadow them so
that their beauty
and interest would
be accentuated. I
decided to use
“bubble” ribbon and
clear gems that gave
the appearance of
bubbles as accents.