WonderTrek
CHILDREN'S MUSUEM
MY ROLE
Master Planning • Exhibit Design • Concept Development • Illustration • Creative Collaboration
JOINING THE JOURNEY
JOINING THE JOURNEY
Every great museum starts with passionate people and a vision.
WonderTrek Children's Museum began long before the first building was designed or the first trail was imagined. A team of respected children's museum leaders, educators, and planners came together with a shared goal: to create a place dedicated to understanding how children learn through movement, exploration, and play.
Unlike many community museums that emerge from an identified local need, WonderTrek was born from a desire to rethink what a children's museum could be. Every decision, from the educational philosophy to the campus itself, was guided by extensive research into child development, accessibility, and the many ways children interact with the world around them.
PROJECT SITE:
Baxter, MN 2021-Present
I joined the project during the Legacy Grant, where my role was to coordinate the year-long planning process, helping the team stay on schedule as research, consultant coordination, and educational planning were completed. That work established the foundation for everything that followed, from exhibit concepts and outdoor environments to the master plan itself.
As the project continued to grow, so did my involvement. Over the following years I created fundraising illustrations, master plan renderings, and concept artwork that helped communicate WonderTrek's vision and bring the future campus to life long before construction began.
HELPING THE COMMUNITY SEE THE DREAM
Illustrations became an essential tool for communicating WonderTrek's vision, helping donors, grant partners, and the community imagine what the future campus could become.
With the museum's educational vision established, the next challenge was helping others imagine what WonderTrek could become.
As fundraising efforts continued, I created a series of concept renderings that transformed architectural plans and written ideas into vibrant experiences. These illustrations allowed community members, donors, and grant partners to envision children exploring forests, gathering around streams, discovering wildlife, and connecting with nature in ways that traditional drawings alone could not communicate.
At the request of the museum leadership, these illustrations were developed in a distinctive painterly style inspired by the work of a Minnesota screen-print artist. Building that visual language required developing an entirely new artistic approach, with each rendering composed of nearly one hundred individual layers and dozens of hand-drawn figures to capture the energy, diversity, and curiosity of the future visitors.
BRINGING THE VISION TO LIFE
As the campus evolved, each rendering transformed ideas into places children could imagine exploring.
As the project evolved from early concepts into a fully realized campus plan, the illustrations evolved alongside it.
Working from architectural drawings, site plans, and ongoing collaboration with the museum team, I created a new series of renderings that reflected the developing campus with increasing accuracy and detail. These illustrations explored how children and families would experience the property, demonstrating how buildings, trails, wetlands, gathering spaces, and natural play environments would come together as one connected experience.
Rather than treating the landscape as something surrounding the museum, WonderTrek embraces the idea that the entire nine-acre property is the museum. Every path, stream, woodland, and outdoor classroom becomes an opportunity for discovery, creating an experience where learning extends far beyond the walls of the building.
DESIGNED for EVERY SEASON
WonderTrek was designed to encourage exploration throughout Minnesota's changing seasons, inviting children and families to experience the campus in new ways throughout the year.
Rather than creating a destination that changes only with its exhibits, the campus itself transforms alongside Minnesota's landscape. Spring gardens awaken with new growth, woodland trails provide cool retreats during the summer, vibrant autumn colors encourage observation and discovery, and snow-covered paths become places for climbing, gathering, and outdoor adventure throughout the winter.
Accessibility was thoughtfully woven into every aspect of the campus, ensuring visitors of all ages and abilities can experience the landscape together. Features such as the elevated woodland trail and interactive ramp create opportunities for exploration that welcome families with differing physical abilities, reinforcing the museum's belief that meaningful play should be accessible to everyone.
By embracing the changing rhythms of nature, WonderTrek becomes more than a place to visit. It becomes a place families can return to throughout the year, discovering something new with every season.
WonderTrek has been one of the most rewarding projects of my career. Over several years, I had the opportunity to contribute to a museum unlike any other, one that was created not simply to entertain children, but to better understand how they learn, move, explore, and connect with the natural world. Watching that vision evolve from research and planning into a growing destination for families has been a privilege, and I look forward to seeing the campus continue to grow for years to come.
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THOUGHTFUL DESIGN / LASTING IMPACT
READY TO CREATE SOMETHING MEANINGFUL TOGETHER?
I would love to learn more about your vision and how we can create an experience that inspires curiosity, connects people with nature, and tells an unforgettable story.