A day at the museum. For most adult this wouldn't be a fun prospect so why on earth would a teacher pick a museum for a field trip? Especially a museum holding a exhibiton on ancient weaponry. However the 'Armed and Dangerous' exhibit is an exhibit that is valuable to any middle or highschool  history class.

Though this is not to say that violence should be encouraged in schools. It is very true that most teenagers have and intrest in things they have never seen before. They search the internet continuously for unique things they have never seen or heard of before. An art museum holding and exhibit of weaponry is deffinitely one of them.

It is important for students in todays history classes to learn about the weapons used during a certain period. Students who would not normally find the subject of history intresting at all would be drawn in by this intresting topic which captures the imaginations of boys and girl who may have used similar weapons in video games or seen them in movies.

With their intrests sparked students become more willing to learn and will more easily take in the information learned in a class when their minds recall a certain weapon used during that time period. Such as the collection of samurai sword and the samurai armor on display when talking about fuedal japan.

This exhibit would also appeal to the art students even though the common artist was probably not the main focus of this exhibit. Artists in every field can gain inspiration from the the decoration and design of these weapons. Unlike todays weapons which are built solely to get the job done, weapons of past era were not only used for the purpose of killing but were used in cermony, and festivals. Because of these uses these weapons were at times highly decorated as well as useful.

Designers can take inspiration from the designs on the hilt of the tanto to the fringe on the cerimonial spears. Taking these old world examples and using them to formulate new designs. Metalsmiths can gain inspiration to bring their craftmanship to a higher level. Also these works can be used as refrences for illustrators and animators who can use them to bring a new sense of realism to a piece that may not normally have possessed and realism at all if not for a refrence.

The set up of the exhibit to me was a little strange that main area of the exhibit waswell layed out but there was a certain part of the exhibit that lead to a door that lead to a flight of stairs, these stairs were not marked with any sort of sign that signaled wether the exhibit continued this way. It was also not marked to say wether it was an exit or not. Not sure wether to go up or not I turned around and was forced to back track a little which in some cases can be fine but I wasn't really intrested in. The stair case felt kind of like a tease and left me wishing their was more to the exhibit.

Otherwise I believe this exhibit was quite successful in accomplishing the goal of the museum which was to draw people who may not normally come to the art museum in. At the opening night there were many types of people including knights in full armor sword fighting and the excitement remained in the exhibit even after the open house was over. Near the end of the exhibition a metal smith held a tour of the exhibit and gave his opinion on the pieces. I hope that Armed and Dangerous has paved the way for the Brooks Museum, and we will be able to continue to see exhibits which may not have normally been held in an art museum.