Birmingham Museum of Art Exhibitions Designer Terry Beckham has
produced 421 exhibitions since arriving at the Museum in 1984. At
10,000 square feet and with 500 artifacts including room size
frescoes and body casts, Pompeii: Tales from an Eruption is the
largest and most complex.

Meticulous in his research, Terry’s creative wheels started turning
two years ago, when he flew to Chicago to check out the Field
Museum’s installation. He’s designing a stage set, if you will, for
the stars of his exhibition: the artifacts and works of art. “The
goal is to show these objects in a cool environment without
overshadowing them,” he says. In the process, he’s transformed the
former Japanese and Chinese galleries into ancient Pompeii by
camouflaging cases, Chinese columns, and even two Buddhist temple
walls. He’s chosen the perfect reds, olives, and blues to enhance
visitors’ emotional responses to the body casts whose stories he
knows by heart. “It’s made me rethink what I would grab if I had to
run for my life: important documents, money, my dog. In this
exhibition we see what people 2,000 years ago took with them.”

In calculating the space design, Terry gauged the size of objects to
make sure they would fit through the doorway and into the 12,500-
pound elevator, and removed walls and ceilings to allow for the
frescoes unusually large dimensions. Each project takes time and a
small army of builders, painters, and preparators. Behind the
temporary door leading into the space is a large wall calendar, dates
crossed off. The countdown to October 14, 2007 began long ago, and
every moment counts.