July is National Horseradish Month and we couldn't resist featuring several intriguing artifacts from Baltimore's favorite horseradish producer: Tulkoff. 

Tulkoff's founders, Harry and Lena Tulkoff, built their family business in Baltimore in the 1930s after emigrating from Russia and initially living in New York City. The Tulkoffs found a robust market for their prepared horseradish product, ultimately forming the Tulkoff Horseradish Products Company. Tulkoff's grated horseradish was originally sold in paper cartons, but later moved to glass jars as demand increased. Over subsequent decades, Tulkoff expanded its product line to include a variety of specialty products and sauces. The company remains family-owned and headquartered in Baltimore, having moved from its original location on East Lombard Street to Brewer's Hill and later to its present location at the Holabird Industrial Park.

The BMI's grocery store exhibit features multiple artifacts, collectively sharing the Tulkoff horseradish story -------from washing and grating to bottling and marketing. Phil Tulkoff, current president of Tulkoff Food Products, Inc. helped illuminate the story by sharing details on each artifact's likely role and origin. The root washer (left) cleaned roots by rotating them in a water bath, using the combination of water and friction to remove dirt in preparation for grinding. The hand grinder (above), similar to one used in the Tulkoff's store, was designed to grate the clean root and collect the grated horseradish. Pictured below are a single lane bottle filler -------where finished product was packaged -------and a hand-painted sign similar to those still seen at the Tulkoff factory today.    

Celebrate National Horseradish Month by visiting the BMI to see these artifacts on display, or by enjoying your favorite horseradish product!

Clara Hickman's work often takes place at the intersection between technology and art, a relationship that is explored and elevated by the BMI's newest temporary exhibition, REINVENTION: The Work of Chris Bathgate, featuring the work of Baltimore-based machinist sculptor Chris Bathgate.

 

Hickman is a digital modeler at Direct Dimensions, a Maryland company specializing in providing solutions to complex modeling and manufacturing problems. Her professional background includes an undergraduate degree in animation and architecture, and experience teaching 3D modeling for architecture at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

 

REINVENTION was made possible with generous support from Direct Dimensions and others, and Hickman's contribution serves as a particularly visible and hands-on offering for BMI's visitors. Hickman developed interactive 3D animations of Chris Bathgate's complex metal sculptures using a program called 3ds Max, which generated the movement between elements of Bathgate's digital models. Hickman then used viewer website Sketchfab to adjust the final design, producing a final product that allows users to investigate and disassemble Bathgate's works in a digital medium. The interactive 3D animations are available at the digital kiosk in the museum and on the museum's Temporary Exhibitions page.

 

Hickman's animations play well with Bathgate's process-driven artistic style and its many references to industry and innovation in the digital age. They also reveal Bathgate's design process and allow recurring engineering and design themes to emerge.  Hickman explained: "Bringing interactive 3D to museums is becoming more and more popular, but this exhibit at BMI has the exciting aspect of having a lot of freedom to talk about what goes on behind the scenes of making something like this." Hickman also enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate closely with artist Chris Bathgate, explaining that Bathgate's openness about his work created a unique opportunity to explore this application.

The BMI thanks Clara Hickman and the team at Direct Dimensions for their support of the exhibit. REINVENTION: The Work of Chris Bathgate is open through March 11, 2018. More about the exhibit here.

The BMI celebrated July 4 ^th with the best view of fireworks and a family-friendly event. Thank you to all who attended and to local photographer David Merino for capturing this special community event.