Independent Exhibitions (Ind-X) is a museum consulting firm specializing in exhibition design, development, and management; strategic planning with an emphasis on exhibitions, public programs, and fund-raising; and visitor research and evaluation.
Ind-X provides a wide range of services to museums of science, art, and history, children's museums, and visitor centers in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Puerto Rico, and around the world. Services include consulting; acting as client's agent; creative direction, design, and installation; professional development and coaching; and workshop design and facilitation.
About Kathleen
Kathleen McLean. Photo by Abigail Huller.
Kathleen McLean is principal of Ind-X. Since 1974, she has designed and developed a wide range of exhibitions for public audiences in museums of history, art, and science, as well as interdisciplinary and children’s museums. Many of the exhibitions she has developed focus on social issues and public response.
From January 1994 through September 2004 she was the Director of the Center for Public Exhibition and Public Programs at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, California, where she directed the major revisioning and strategic planning project, “Refocusing on the Floor;” the national award-winning traveling exhibition, “Memory;” a visitor/storytelling research project called “Finding Significance;” and “Seeing,” a 10,000 square-foot permanent art and science exhibit installation.
From 1986 to 1990, McLean established and led the first exhibitions department at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum in Crown Heights, New York. And from 1974 to 1980, she was Museum Curatorial Specialist at the Oakland Museum.
McLean is co-author of the IMLS-funded book, The Convivial Museum; co-editor of the IMLS-funded book, Visitor Voices in Museum Exhibitions; co-editor of the NSF-funded book, Are We There Yet? Conversations about Best Practices in Science Exhibition Development; and author of Planning for People in Museum Exhibitions. For 10 years she was the exhibition review editor of Curator: The Museum Journal, and has published and spoken on museum design, informal learning, and exhibitions. She has served on panels and committees of the American Association of Museums, the Association of Science-Technology Centers, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Academies of Science, and the National Science Foundation, among others.
(Photo by Abigail Huller, courtesy of the Oakland Museum of California)
Awards & Recognition
Award: 2019 Excellence in Exhibition Competition, American Alliance of Museums, for Americans, at the National Museum of the American Indian. Kathleen McLean was a consultant on the conceptual development and design of the exhibition.
Recognition: 2018 Distinguished Service to Museums Award, American Alliance of Museums. The award recognizes an individual’s excellence and contributions to the museum field for at least 20 years.
Award: 2017 Excellence in Exhibition Competition, American Alliance of Museums, for Altered State: Marijuana in California.
Award: 2008 Museums and the Web Best Professional Site, for ExhibitFiles. Ind-X is a co-developer of the site.
Award: 2007 Grand Prize, Excellence in Exhibition Competition, American Association of Museums, for Plants Are Up To Something, in the Rose Hill Conservatory at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Garden. Ind-X was a member of the design team.
Recognition: 2007 McLean elected President of the Visitor Studies Association.
Recognition: 2006 American Association of Museums Centennial Honor Role. Kathleen McLean was named one of the top 100 American museum innovators over the past 100 years.
Award: 2000 First Prize, Excellence in Exhibition Competition, American Association of Museums, for Revealing Bodies, at the Exploratorium. Kathleen McLean was Director of the Center for Public Exhibition and provided oversight for the project.
Award: 1999 Second Prize, Excellence in Exhibition Competition, American Association of Museums, for Memory, at the Exploratorium. Kathleen McLean was Director of the Center for Public Exhibition and project Co-Designer.
Award: 1998 First Prize, Excellence in Exhibition Competition, American Association of Museums, for Boundaries: It All Happens at the Edge, at the Exploratorium. Kathleen McLean was Director of the Center for Public Exhibition and Exhibition Designer.
Award: 1995 The Red Whistle Club, awarded by Serrell & Associates in recognition of outstanding achievements in unfailing vigilance to audience needs and unhesitating readiness to blow the whistle on bad ideas in museum exhibit design.
Selected Clients & Projects
American Alliance of Museums. Various projects.
Anchorage Museum Association. Yuungnaqpiallerput consulting exhibit developer.
Asian Art Museum. Prototyping design consultant
Association of Science-Technology Centers. Various projects.
Australian Center for the Moving Image. ACMI renovation consulting.
Autry Museum of the American West. Creative direction on overall “California Continued,” project, with an emphasis on “Human Nature” and “The Life and Work of Mabel McKay.”
Bank Street College of Education. Instructor, Graduate Program in Museum Leadership.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Conceptual planning and prototyping design for renovation of Visitor Center.
Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. Galveston: Forgotten Gateway exhibition design and development consultant.
California Academy of Sciences. Exhibition conceptual planning for new museum.
California Association of Museums. Consulting on “California Networks for Collaboration” project.
Cilab Puerto Rico. Interpretive site and community co-design conceptual planning.
City of New York. Inwood Hill Park Urban Ecology Center. Concept and exhibit development and design.
City of Wichita. Science Center and Children's Museum. Conceptual framework and program plan for new museum facilities.
Corcoran Gallery of Art. Concept development and strategic planning for a new childrens’ center.
Corning Museum of Glass. Consulting on museum renovation and the redesign of the Science Center.
Crocker Art Museum. Facilities planning.
Dallas Museum of Art. Center for Creative Connections. Strategic planning and conceptual design.
Delaware Art Museum. Consulting on gallery renovation project and prototyping workshop.
Detroit Institute of Arts. Consulting on a new collaborative Asian gallery project.
Explora. Medellin, Colombia. Consulting on new design practices, including prototyping and collaborative design.
Exploratorium and Cornell Lab of Ornithology. NSF-funded conference on “Crafting and Evaluating Interactive Educational Websites.” Conference design and implementation.
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Consulting on prototyping as part of the redesign process.
Girl Scouts of Central California. Consulting on design of a girls’ maker space.
Franklin Institute. Identity exhibition conceptual design.
Hackensack-Meadowlands Environmental Center. Permanent exhibition concept development.
History Colorado. Prototyping workshops.
Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanic Gardens. Plants Are Up To Something. Exhibition design and development; and Beautiful Science conceptual design.
John F. Kennedy Museum Studies Program. Faculty and guest lecturer.
Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation. changing exhibition program. Concept, design, installation, and publicity.
Klever Project. Consulting for a new art and science museum in Moscow, Russia.
Manitoba Children's Museum. Architectural program plan for facilities.
Michigan History Museum. Consulting on prototyping in the permanent galleries.
Minnesota Historical Society. Consulting on community collaboration at Historic Fort Snelling.
Monterey Bay Aquarium. New Exhibit Wing. Project Manager, concept and design development.
Museum of Contemporary Science, Trenton. New museum conceptual planning.
Napa County Museum. Early Napa County: A Community Remembers. Inaugural exhibition concept, design, fabrication, and installation.
Museum of History and Industry, Seattle. Consulting on conceptual design for a new facility.
Museum of International Folk Art. Conceptual design and prototyping in several temporary exhibitions in their Gallery of Conscience.
National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian. Exhibition design lectures.
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian. Consulting on Object Project.
National Museum of Colombia. Consulting on community co-design and prototyping.
National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian. Consulting on a number of exhibitions, including Native New York, Treaties, Inca Road, and Americans.
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian. Various projects.
National Park Service. Fort Point Historic Site. Permanent exhibition and store design, fabrication, and installation.
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Various projects.
Oakland Museum of California. Various projects.
Ontario Science Centre. Teluscape Outdoor Exhibit Park. Conceptual Design. Agents of Change initiative. Planning and charrette facilitation.
Papalote Museo del Nino. Consulting on exhibition redesign and prototyping.
Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. Consulting and facilitating professional development initiatives, including “No Idea Is Too Ridiculous.”
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Prototyping and conceptual design of East Asian galleries.
Philadelphia Zoo. Conceptual planning for a community engagement initiative.
Pratt Museum, Darkened Waters: Profile of an Oil Spill. Exhibition concept development, design, and project management.
San Francisco Cable Car Barn. Site and machinery interpretation design and installation.
San Francisco State University. Guest lecturer and consultant, Global Museum program.
SPUR (San Francisco Planning and Urban Research). New facility exhibition planning.
Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park. Visitor orientation and interpretive outdoor exhibitions.
Sun Valley Center for the Arts. Conceptual planning for new facility.
Thinc Design. Consulting member of design team, September 11 Memorial Museum.
Transamerica Corporation. Pyramid Gallery exhibition series. Concept, design, fabrication, installation.
Treasure Island Museum. Pacific Panorama. Exhibition concept development through final installation.
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Daniel’s Story: Remember the Children with Darcie Fohrman. Exhibition concept development, design, and label writing.
University of California, San Francisco. Origins of Excellence. Exhibition concept development through final installation.
University of Missouri, St. Louis. Museum Studies Program. Guest lecturer.
Utah Museum of Natural History. Design review for new museum.
Vacaville Museum. Rivers, Railroads, and Rolling Hills inaugural exhibition. Concept development through final installation.