MY ROLE

Creative Direction • Project Management

Exhibit Design • Mural Design & Implementation

Graphic Design • Creative Collaboration

Thoughtful planning transformed community generosity into a cohesive visitor experience.

Mini Sota Agricultural Children's Museum was built through the generosity of the region's agricultural community. Local farmers, manufacturers, processors, and businesses donated authentic equipment, materials, and expertise, creating an extraordinary opportunity to build exhibits grounded in the realities of modern agriculture.

My role extended beyond exhibit design. As Project Manager, I coordinated the many moving pieces required to transform those individual contributions into a unified museum experience. Every donated artifact, from the John Deere combine cab and Bakkos Bros. semi truck cab to the custom Westmor fuel tank and countless agricultural components, was intentionally integrated into a larger educational narrative rather than functioning as an isolated display.

Throughout the museum, visitors naturally move from the barnyard and crop production to food processing, transportation, and the general store, experiencing the interconnected systems that define agriculture. Every exhibit was designed to encourage exploration while weaving together scientific discovery, agricultural literacy, and imaginative play into one cohesive visitor experience.

Large-scale murals transformed the museum into an immersive agricultural landscape where every wall became part of the story.

I could not have painted all of these murals alone, so I reached out to other local artists to help pull each one together.

The mural style featured throughout Mini Sota Agricultural Children's Museum evolved from work I developed for Otter Cove Children's Museum. That project ultimately led to the opportunity to create an even more ambitious series of murals celebrating the agricultural identity of Benson and the greater Swift County region.

Building upon that foundation, I refined the style by introducing greater depth and detail while preserving the bold color blocking that defines the work. The approach lends itself naturally to agricultural landscapes, capturing the rhythm of planted fields, changing seasons, and rolling hills with clarity, warmth, and visual simplicity.

Rather than serving as decorative backdrops, each mural became an extension of the museum's educational mission. Together they celebrate the landscapes of western Minnesota, illustrate the region's primary crops and their underground root systems, highlight the role of rail transportation in moving agricultural products across the country, and create immersive environments that connect every exhibit into one cohesive visitor experience.

Every graphic was intentionally designed to support imaginative and interactive play while reinforcing the story of agriculture.

DOOLEY'S FUEL ROUTES

Developed in collaboration with Dooley's Petroleum, this interactive map allows children to step into the role of a fuel delivery driver. Color coded trucks correspond to the company's actual delivery routes, guiding visitors from Dooley's headquarters to regional fuel terminals and the bulk plant before delivering gasoline and petroleum products to crop farms, dairy farms, turkey operations, gas stations, and businesses throughout Swift County and the surrounding region.

As children choose routes and complete deliveries, they discover how fuel supports every stage of modern agriculture while developing problem solving and decision making skills through imaginative play. By connecting real businesses, real communities, and real transportation systems, the exhibit transforms an everyday industry into an engaging, hands on learning experience that reveals the vital role transportation plays in agriculture.

Developed in collaboration with the Mini Sota Board and Bravera Bank, the custom Mini Sota currency extends the museum's agricultural story into imaginative play. Each denomination features a unique illustrated agricultural scene celebrating the landscapes, industries, and communities of western Minnesota while reinforcing the museum's cohesive visual identity.

The currency is used throughout the Mini Sota Goods Co. exhibit, where children earn and spend museum dollars as they explore the role of commerce within the agricultural community. More than a play prop, the currency becomes another interactive learning tool, encouraging decision making, problem solving, and imaginative role play while connecting visitors to the story of modern agriculture.

For The Littlest Acre exhibit, I illustrated a collection of magnetic animals, farm equipment, crops, and natural elements that children could arrange and rearrange across the large illustrated mural. By moving pieces throughout the landscape, visitors created their own farm stories while learning about habitats, agriculture, and the relationships between people, animals, and the land.

Mini Sota Agricultural Children's Museum marked an important milestone in my career. As my first opportunity to help lead an emerging museum from concept through implementation, it brought together creative leadership, project management, and community collaboration in ways that shaped the designer I am today. Seeing children and families explore a museum built through the generosity of the Benson community remains one of the most rewarding experiences of my career.