A filmmaker and stop-animation enthusiast Jessica Oreck loved ordinary nostalgia.
master/object/2026/10/16/plusbutton/attach1.xmlIn 2020, she created a pop-up museum animation studio in a Las Vegas strip mall called the Office of Collecting and Design.
Then she grew a following online, gaining more Instagram followers every day.
In 2025, she decided to take the museum on the road -- even if people didn’t really understand what was in her 42-foot-long traveling museum.
“A lot of it is more about like, ‘oh my god, I hadn't seen or thought about this since I was 5 years old,’” she said. “That sort of Proustian Madeleine moment where you get to time travel. That's my favorite part.”
The tour started on the west coast and goes to a select number of cities twice a year. The plan is to reach the east coast by 2028.
Each time she selects a city, she has to cold call people and send emails describing her collection of objects. From dice and tiny plastic food to rubber erasers, the collection fills hundreds of drawers for curious minds to interact with the space.
“We collect things that have no intrinsic value, they sort of sift to the bottom of the junk drawer; they are a little too charming to throw away but don’t hold any purpose any longer,” she said. “But you put them together with multiples and there is a sort of magic to that.”
Trevor Hinske, director of marketing at the Tucson Museum of Art, saw that magic in an email. “We thought it looked interesting and so we reached out,” he said.
Parking behind the Tucson Museum of Art downtown, the trailer takes hours to set up, as all of the small items are packed away safely while on the road, then organized at each stop.
Oreck, however, already knew of Tucson. Her father was a mineral collector and would frequently venture to the Tucson Gem and Mineral show with her as a kid.
“It's interesting to see how much Tucson has changed over the course of my life,” she said. Hinske said the museum also partnered with combined ticket sales, getting more foot traffic following Oreck’s arrival.
“This is a good opportunity for them to come because we are in the middle of transitioning through exhibitions,” he said. “This brings kind of like an added bonus to driving people here and while they're here visiting.”
But only six people can come inside at a time, during a one-hour self-guided tour or a scavenger hunt.
Oreck says she’s delighted the Tucson exhibit has sold out, the first city to do so in the fall 2026 season. The Office of Collecting and Design will be parked behind the Tucson Museum of Art from October 14 through the 18.
There are additional off-site events Oreck hosted, like the Tiny Things Market on Oct. 13 and the show & tell essay club on Oct. 15.
Additionally, the Office of Collecting and Design has clubs, swaps and memberships open for the community.
Oreck said she is having a blast and, “loves getting to connect with the local community.”
