Exploration Place Picture Portfolio

Photo Credit: © 2000, WTG Associates, LLC and and Gavin Peters

KANSAS IN MINIATURE AT EXPLORATION PLACE, WICHITA, KS
This large model is filled with miniature animations, houses, farms, trains, cars and other aspects of Kansas in the late 1940's and early 1950's. Each building is an accurate reconstruction of a historic Kansas structure, and the model depicts many aspects of life in Kansas just after WWII. Tom Nichols of Nichols Miniature Displays (Monongahela, PA), the artist who built the model, traveled all across Kansas collecting research and hunting for buildings to include in the model. Lighting, sound and computer controlled systems cycle the model through a sequence of "day and night" scenes. Theater designer, Victor Becker, principal of Talking Spaces (Rochester, NH), designed and produced White Oak's seventh Electronic Exhibit Theater® and its opening scenario: Kansas Recollections. During the nighttime, narrative stories are told and illustrated by music, oral histories, radio and the play of computer-controlled lighting on the model. During the daytime, visitors can explore the model, which is planned to inspire conversations between generations and get visitors thinking about the legacy that we leave behind for the future. Kansas in Miniature is one of thirteen program galleries and theaters recently executive produced by White Oak Associates.