Since 2008, the Upstate Medical University Life Sciences exhibition at Syracuse’s Museum of Science and Technology (MOST) has fascinated millions of visitors. With giant reproductions of human body parts, it allows mini pathologists to explore internal anatomy and organs common to all humans.
The MOST’s giant ear exhibition is visited by the author’s daughter, DuRi Kang, in August 2024.
But its depiction of one organ—the skin—was not as encompassing as it could be.
Now, the MOST’s body exhibition has received a much-needed inclusive makeover, thanks to a School of Education arts education professor, James Haywood Rolling Jr., who also is a dual professor in the College of Visual and Performing Arts and an associated professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, and his former student, Karyn Meyer-Berthel G’21.
Preserving art
For close to 30 years, Meyer-Berthel has worked as a professional artist, becoming known for her ability to combine paint colors into perfect matches to any skin tone.
This skill came over time, she says. Her start was painting theater sets.
For theater, she painted backdrops and scenery, primarily for opera and musicals. “Musical theater was my favorite to paint because it was usually really dramatic and full of character,” Meyer-Berthel says, who had to stop after an injury. “That kind of work is heavy labor—you’re carrying five-gallon buckets of paint; you’re standing on your feet all day. I loved it, but having that injury, I had to give it up. So that led to a world of figuring out all these different jobs in the arts.”
A slew of roles followed, including working for three different art material manufacturers, as well as a year as a Mellon intern, where she assisted in the conservation department at the National Gallery of Art.
“The work I did there was on painting conservation and understanding what materials last a really long time,” Meyer-Berthel explains. She learned not only how to preserve art for future generations but also how museums can protect pieces from the public, learning which materials work best to seal historic treasures, especially from the oils on little fingers that crave to touch them.
According to her former arts education teacher, this notable professional background combined with her art materials expertise made her a perfect fit to help complete a needed update to the MOST’s human body exhibition.
Rolling—who has taught arts education at Syracuse since 2007 and serves as interim chair of the Department of African American Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences—also runs JHRolling Arts, Education, Leadership Strategies, a DEI consultant entity. In his role as consultant, he was tapped to help the MOST make improvements to its exhibitions, with an eye toward equity and inclusion.
Creative placemaking
MOST staff identified models in the Upstate Medical University Life Sciences exhibition as a key area where improvements in representation could be made.
“Our main objective with this project was to better fulfill our core values by making sure that the models and images in our exhibitions reflect the people who visit them,” says Emily Stewart, Ph.D., senior director of education and curation. “Our community is dynamic and diverse, and our exhibitions should be too.”
This led the MOST to Rolling because his consultancy utilizes the concept of “creative placemaking,” a way of transforming a lived environment so it is accessible, inviting, and representative of the community. “That life sciences exhibition was over 10 years old, and it’s striking that there were no persons of color represented,” Rolling says. “Out of all those body parts—none.”
Karyn Meyer-Berthel G’21 helped transform the MOST body exhibition to make it more inclusive.
The Upstate exhibition explores the science of human anatomy with larger-than-life body parts, including a heart visitors can walk through, a brain that lights up and a giant ear, nose, lips and more.
Rolling immediately thought of his former student, connecting the MOST to Meyer-Berthel, due to her materials and preservation skill, unique background and understanding of inclusivity, a focus of the School of Education.
Perfect balance
Meyer-Berthel and staff settled on the MOST’s giant ear display to receive the upgrade. “Different ethnicities have different shape ears, certainly, but this anatomy is a little more streamlined across the globe, so an adjustment with paint can change the representation,” she says. “The ear was the clearest choice, because changing the shape of something might actually mean completely rebuilding the object, and that part wasn’t quite in my wheelhouse.”
But the skill Meyer-Berthel does excel at is combining colors to match skin tone. “No matter the ethnicity, every skin tone includes blue, red and yellow,” she explains. “You can often tell by looking at a person’s wrist what their undertones are … Finding the perfect blend and balance is the joy.”
Because 28% of Syracuse’s population is African American, the MOST wanted to change the ear to a brown skin tone, but the answer wasn’t as simple as mixing up a batch of paint and applying it.
Other factors Meyer-Berthel had to consider were the museum’s lighting and how this would impact the hue, and how well the paint would hold up to being touched. “The beauty of this exhibition is being able to touch it,” she says, noting that the paint needed to adhere to the material already coating the ear, the composition of which she and the MOST did not know.
After testing samples under the museum’s warm lighting, Meyer-Berthel first cleaned the existing model, using a micro sanding product to help her paint layer adhere. She chose acrylic paints, because she finds these to be the most versatile, and utilized Golden Artist Colors, a New Berlin, New York-based manufacturer of professional artist paints best known for its acrylics, where she also worked as a commercial applications specialist for three years.
“While house paint is wonderful for painting a house, it’s not going to be good for a museum because it has too many fillers in it, like chalk,” Meyer-Berthel explains. “For a museum model, a piece that needs to be so brilliantly colored, you don’t want much in it besides pigment and resin.”
Lastly, Meyer-Berthel coated the paint with a sealant because of how much the ear is touched, protecting it from absorbing oils and dirt from hands.
“We are so thrilled with the work she has done,” says Stewart. “Her thoughtful consideration and expertise helped us to identify the right paint colors, finishes and techniques to give our older anatomical model a new life.”
Story by Ashley Kang ’04, G’11