• Sarah Bartlett, Exhibit Developer
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  • Sarah Bartlett, Exhibit Developer
  • Portfolio
  • Services
  • Honors & Awards
  • Conferences & Publications

© 2025 Sarah Bartlett, Exhibit Developer

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Ozark Highlands Nature Center

“The crown jewel of the network of our nature centers.”
–Andrew Parker, Arkansas Game & Fish Commission (AGFC) Chairman

In Northwest Arkansas, hunting and fishing are woven into the fabric of the community. This new nature center aims to celebrate that tradition and to share it with a new, diverse generation of people. Through a variety of high and low-tech interactives and immersive environments, the displays explore seasonal change in the wildlife and habitats of Northwest Arkansas, showing how AGFC manages those habitats for the benefits of people and animals.

Visitors step across a digital stream that winds across the floor, sending up ripples and scattering a school of fish. The digital stream terminates in a real aquarium where people can see warm water fishery species such as smallmouth bass. Visitors can also enter the exhibition through a hallway entrance that is created to look like a karst cavern. Inside, the walls are covered with recreated rock and cave formations. Observant visitors might be able to spot replica bats, cave salamanders, or crickets.

Inside the exhibit gallery, visitors can explore and enjoy other themed environments and dioramas. Younger visitors can crawl through a bear den to come face to face with a taxidermy black bear. In the canopy overhead, birds flit by on large video screens.

Hands-on components such as a Laser Shot hunting simulation and a fishing interactive give visitors the chance to discover the joys of outdoor recreation.

Owner: Arkansas Game & Fish Commission
Designer/fabricator: Split Rock Studios
Winner, NAI Best Interior Exhibit, 2nd place

Visitors can enjoy a digital stream set into the floor of the gallery. As they walk, people trigger components such as rippling water and darting fish.

Inside a recreated karst cavern, visitors can look for wildlife and learn about these unique regional caves.

Large photomurals line the hallway of the building.

Freestanding dioramas anchor displays on summer and fall in the Ozarks.

Can you get a bite? An interactive about bobber fishing lets visitors test their skills.

Visitors can investigate samples of local rocks as they learn about the karst limestone that makes up the Ozarks.

A Laser Shot hunting simulation offers visitors a fun chance to test their skills. Visitors can pick from several programs, including a hunter education and training option.

A section about bobwhite quail gives visitors the perspective of these unique birds. They can wander through a display of oversized grasses while they learn about how AGFC is restoring habitat for native species.

© 2025 Sarah Bartlett, Exhibit Developer

Theme by Colormelon