Soft Gold: The Fur Trade and Cultural Exchange on the Northwest Coast of America
A temporary exhibition about the sea otter fur trade at the Oakland Museum, using objects primarily from the Peabody Museum at Harvard University.
As visitors stepped through the rough-beamed entry, large live cedar trees framed coastal artifacts set on beds of rocks worn smooth by the Pacific surf.
Boats, harpoons, ship models, and navigational charts documented the activities of the traders. Gray-blue walls were the backdrop for this foggy coastal setting.
As visitors entered the Native Peoples section, light levels were gradually stepped down to allow for eye adjustment to the unusually low light levels required for the Native artifacts.
Black walls and furniture made the pin-spotted objects appear to hover in space.
A 20-foot photomural of the interior of a whale house was physically extended into the space by construction of steps hewn from giant cedar beams.
- Oakland Museum of California