Exhibit Feature Friday

At the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine (CMTM), we use the word exhibit to describe the interactive experiences, spaces, and displays spread across three floors and immediately outside the facility at 250 Thompson’s Point Road. CMTM is home to over 15 exhibits, each designed to encourage experiential learning through open-ended play.

Our team at CMTM decided to give each exhibit the spotlight it deserves and is dedicating Fridays to highlighting a new exhibit, diving a little deeper into the WHY and HOW behind each playful space and experience.

EXHIBIT: Illuminate

LOCATION: 3rd Floor

Illuminate is a wonderland of interactives focused on the interplay of dark and light. This enchanting space blends science, technology, and math with art, movement, and play. The dimly lit gallery is filled with dazzling light-up displays designed to introduce concepts like color theory, motion, engineering, and optics.

Optics is the scientific study of the behavior of light, and it plays a significant role in the Illuminate exhibit. There are six stations within the Illuminate gallery, including pinhole and periscopic camera obscura.

What is a Camera Obscura?

Camera obscura are darkened spaces where a hole, lens, and mirrors use light to reflect an image onto a wall or table. The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine is home to two camera obscura: one pinhole, one periscopic.

Camera Obscura Tip:

Visit on a sunny day for the best views!

The pinhole camera obscura, made possible by a generous gift from The Fisher Foundation, projects a view of the Portland West End onto the gallery walls. Visitors can increase and decrease the size of the pinhole, and see how it impacts the projection’s clarity.

The periscopic camera obscura is made possible by a generous gift from Fred and Bibi Thompson, through a Component Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, and through the Maine Heritage Fund of the Maine Community Foundation. The lens is mounted on CMTM’s roof, and projects onto a table in the Illuminate gallery. Guests can use buttons to change the camera’s angle, depth of field, and position, for 360 degree views of Thompson’s Point, the Fore River, and beyond. On a clear day, you can even watch planes landing at the Portland International Jetport!

Let Your Creativity Shine

Illuminate’s interactives were designed to promote creativity, curiosity, and wonder.

Big Pixels (made possible by a generous gift from Norway Savings Bank) is a wall-sized interactive with colorful acrylic pegs that light up when slotted into place. Visitors can create illuminated images while experimenting with pattern and design.

Mix Master allows visitors to test basic concepts of programming and engineering on color-changing light tables. Guests design 3-D kaleidoscopic creations by stacking acrylic blocks on top of customizable illuminated grids.

Shadow Dancing (made possible by a generous gift from The Watson Family in loving memory of Nancy Watson Symington) is a space for guests to twirl, jump, wiggle, and dance while playing with light and shadow. Colored lights create a dynamic backdrop for shadow play, while foam shapes act as props that inspire active storytelling and performance.

Animation Workstation (made possible by a generous gift from Titan Mechanical, Inc.) is a stop-motion animation interactive where visitors create their own movies! A variety of props, backgrounds, and sounds allow guests to write, direct, record, and play back their videos, while experimenting with animation, motion, and photography.

Big Pixels was made possible by a generous gift from Norway Savings Bank.

Animation Workstation was made possible by a generous gift from Titan Mechanical, Inc.

Periscopic Camera Obscura was made possible by a generous gift from Fred and Bibi Thompson, through a Component Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, and through The Maine Heritage Fund of the Maine Community Foundation.

Pinhole Camera Obscura was made possible by a generous gift from The Fisher Foundation.

Shadow Dancing was made possible by a generous gift from The Watson Family in loving memory of Nancy Watson Symington.

Learn more about the Illuminate exhibit here: https://www.kitetails.org/illuminate

Coming up next:

Tune in next Friday to learn about the From the Mountains to the Sea exhibit!

Exhibit Feature Friday: Illuminate!