Artist
Eric Lennartson

Biography
Artist, designer, and facilitator of TapeScape exhibit
Marketing, proposal manager, business development, and designer for architecture/engineering/design firms; LEED certification and documentation manager
Museum, Vespa, LEGO, music, VW, and curling geek
Artist Statement
When I joined the board of directors for an emerging museum in Mankato- the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota- to help with analyzing suitable buildings and sites for the museum, who knew where it would lead me. We toured museums across the Midwest and all over the US to see how other museums were creating interesting experiences for both children and engaging with their adult caregivers.
One museum stood out over all the others, the City Museum in St. Louis. I was impressed by the creativity and surprises in every corner: slides, bridges, stairways, mosaics, artifacts, sculptures, and secret passages scattered in, on, and around a ten-story warehouse. It was a dream come true for our kids - and for me as well. What inspired me most was how this museum appeals to just about everyone- that no matter what age you are. If designed right and there are elements or details for everyone, you will be more engaged and interested in the museum.
As a board member and an artist, I left City Museum inspired to help create a unique museum, exhibit, and experience for my community that would be interesting to all ages. Soon after visiting St. Louis, I was paging through an Architectural Record Magazine, and stumbled across images of art installations by Numen For Use, the Slovenian architecture and industrial design firm, made of tape. It was a crazy visual of tape stretched projects across Europe: in an old building attic, between marble columns in a bank in Venice, or in a decommissioned air hanger in Berlin. I saw photos of people walking through them – some with kids – and I knew that I had to try to make one too.
This exhibit created a very unique museum exhibit and met our museum’s goals to have interactive, hands-on exhibits and engage children’s curiosity. It also filled the need for a large muscle exploration exhibit for a space our museum would only have for 7 months. The exhibit was a success. The attendance numbers for older children were the highest that we have ever had in three temporary locations and even got parents involved in play in the exhibit.
Since then I have multiple major installations of what I call TapeScape- a combination of Packing Tape and Landscape.
- Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota, prototyping exhibits at PlayLab – Mankato, MN in 2011
- Children’s Discovery Museum, part of a Holiday special exhibit – San Jose, CA in 2012
- Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Winter traveling exhibit – Pittsburgh, PA in 2013
- Manitoba Children’s Museum, featured Summer exhibit – Winnipeg, Manitoba in 2014
- Science Museum of Minnesota, spring break/Spring installation – St. Paul, MN in 2015
- Liberty Science Center, installation themed with space exhibit – Jersey City/NYC
- Children's Museum of Southern Minnesota (second installation), temporary exhibit – Mankato, MN 2015
- Children's Museum of Pittsburgh (second installation), Fine Arts installation – Pittsburgh, PA 2016
- Wheel and Cog Children’s Museum, pop up exhibit for emerging museum – Hutchinson, MN 2016
- Meet D3 Art Exhibition for OliOli, an emerging museum – Dubai, UAE
- Children’s Discovery Museum (second installation), late Fall, holliday, and Winter installation – San Jose, CA 2016
- Ipswich Art Gallery, full gallery of arts immersion, part of their hands-on Construction Site themed exhibits – Ipswich, QLD, Australia 2016
- Wheel and Cog Children’s Museum (second installation), reconfiguration of original installation – Hutchinson, MN 2016