"The Boston Museum is lending us Egyptian, Greek and Roman objects, some of which are rather small, but absolutely exquisite." Anderson realizes that the most important objects in an exhibit aren't necessarily the biggest, so he has to find a way to draw attention to them. "For example, there's a gold amulet from Egypt, beautifully crafted, about as big as your thumb. I'm thinking this needs to be in a rather dark room with narrow spotlight on it so it sparkles, so you see it like a treasure in an 'Indiana Jones' movie."

In designing a major exhibition, Anderson likes to have enough time to do it justice. "In the best of all possible worlds you'd have a couple of years. There will certainly be a few months involved in thinking through just how everything is going to be arranged — color, background, position."

Part of thinking through where everything will go is developing the sight line of objects. "If it's an exhibit with three-dimensional objects — not just paintings on the wall of an existing room — we often mock it up in a model. Models help you see much more clearly what the vistas are and what the movement through the room is like and what the scale will be."

For the Roman section of the upcoming exhibition, Anderson has mocked up individual display cases as well as areas for larger objects in a scale model of the exhibition space. "There's a life-size Roman torso that will be terrific here (pointing to the model). You'll come around the corner and see it right there in front of you. It will be very dramatic."

It's Anderson's varied interests that keep him in top design form: He still does architecture on the side, and he sang for several years in the Utah Symphony Chorus. He's written several articles on architecture and historical sites, and is currently working on a book about Mormon architecture in the early 20th century. He is currently acting in the role of 19th-century Danish-American artist, C.C.A. Christensen in a weekly dramatic presentation at the BYU Museum of Art. (This accounts for his historical-looking, BYU-approved beard.) And Anderson has authored four hymns in the LDS hymn book.

All this, along with his great love of painting and sculpture, makes for a very talented, multifaceted designer of museum exhibitions. Why, just the other day, after receiving news of a future show, many spotted Anderson running into a phone booth.

---

E-MAIL: gag@desnews.com