Evolution Of A Small Project

Part 6: What does it mean to complete a project?

Close up of final prints on Awagami Murakumo Kozo white. Note the subtle surface texture and the ability to see the internal structure of the paper.

I write this installment of “Evolution Of A Small Project” on December 12th, 2023. The goal I set when I started this series was to be finished by Fall 2023. I set that goal along with a few other constraints way back in June. Technically I have another week or so to finish the project as the first day of winter is December 21st this year. Truth be told I personally consider winter to start sometime loosely in November or when all the leaves are off the trees and I am officially cold all the time.

What Does A Finished Project Look Like?

Am I finished? Did I succeed in achieving my goal of being finished fall 2023? Let’s review what parameters I laid out and review what I’ve accomplished:

• I set the goal of 20 final prints

• I knew those prints would be either A4 or A3+

• I already had a notion that any display of those prints would most likely be two-up (two prints grouped vertically) even at small print sizes would need a significant amount of linear wall space.

• Even that early in the project I knew I wanted an intimate feel and a softer print rendition meaning matte paper and leaning toward the more subtly textured Awagami papers.

I kept all that and more in the back of my head as I continued making images and throughout the editorial phases of this project so what have I accomplished and am I done?

• I finished making new work by the late summer/early autumn.

• I finished the editorial decisions by October with only a few nagging notions on image pairing, image sequencing, and juxtaposition left. Nothing to stop me from more important work.

• I made the decision to go with Awagami Murakumo Kozo white as the paper for final prints.

• I determined that an A4 print size was the way I’d go for an intimate viewing experience as the paper begs to be seen up close.

• I decided on how these would be mounted and displayed which turns out to be sandwiched between two pieces of 11x14 in. glass with a thin frame that stands off the wall. The total size of each mounted print is 12x15 in.

• I’ve made the final prints on the selected material and prototyped one fully mounted display piece.

• Lastly, I’ve made decisions on image pairings when displayed two-up on a minimum of 25 to 30ft of linear wall space.

I’m good to go right? I could be “finished” by December 21st with all 20 prints mounted. I don’t mean pie-in-the-sky thoughts. I have the funds as my mounting method is not only extremely economical but also very efficient, taking ten times less labor than matting and framing traditionally. I could easily crank out all 20 mounted prints by the end of the week. I’d easily be done before the official end of Fall 2023.

Note: 11x14in. glass can be had precut and sourced inexpensively in many creative ways. One can even repurpose glass from old 11x14in pre-made picture frames that are ubiquitous pre-landfill.

Glass sandwich mount prototype that stands off the wall is critical to showing the internal structure of this very thin 42gsm paper. Mounting it on white looks exactly like the thicker Kozo papers.

I’d be officially done and could declare victory. The one tiny little thing missing is hanging them on a wall. Oooops, I have no venue. While I could spend the next week mounting all of them and hanging them at home I’d need to clear more than one wall to do it. What I am missing at the moment is a venue.

The Chicken or The Egg?

I’d be asking a lot of myself to have a venue by December 21st this year. Could I have worked on this before all of the things I summarized above? Probably, maybe, I don’t know the answer. I could have started to think about a venue before today. I might have started exploring things I had in mind. I probably should have but I didn’t. Maybe I’m still asking a lot of myself as it’s hard or impossible to find a venue with nothing to show. A finished project is something you can show and probably the best way to start exploring where a set of prints can and should be shown.

What should I show people when I start to explore potential venues? I am certainly not going to cart around 20 finished mounted prints. I can show them the final prints on the selected, and dare I say gorgeous, Awagami paper that pairs perfectly with the vision I had for the final presentation, look, and feel. I can also carry around one finished mounted piece of work which looks fantastic in any light at any angle. That’s exactly what I am going to do. That’s exactly where I’ll spend my effort over the next few weeks throughout the rest of 2023. What’s that going to take?

• Another set of 20 prints, not a huge effort or expense given my decision of A4 print size.

• Putting the final prints in an attractive book of some sort is appropriate and I can show an attractive sequence since I’ve already put a lot of time into doing that.

• I have a lot of options now that I’ve made final decisions and image pairings. I accidentally figured out that subsets of the entire project look great in smaller spaces than 30ft. of linear wall space. I can pitch a 2 x 3 array a 3 x 3 array or a 4 x 4 array if the wall is tall enough (remember I only need a bit over 1ft vertically). I have options of 6, 9, or 12 print exhibitions all of which provide enough prints where the project “makes sense”.

• I also have the beginnings of an “artist’s statement” I made to prototype a book. I have to refine that a bit.

• I’ll mock up a few different display options in terms of the number of prints and wall space to illustrate what that would look like.

I can easily finish that by the end of the year and start exploring concrete exhibition venue options. That’s what I’ll do instead of furiously rushing to mount the prints to meet my arbitrary deadline of “finished”. If anyone is interested I’ll discuss a project budget when and if I find a local venue.

Note: Don’t forget, supporters can grab a free copy of The Art of The Gallery Show for free!

A book with the final print material is a great way to show potential venues the entire sense of the artwork. Much more on books coming soon.

When Is A Project Finished?

A good question. I’d say in one sense a project is finished when the editorial work is done for a specific use and presentation. In another sense, there is work to be done every time a particular project is realized in terms of actual physical presentation. Each time a project is realized physically there’s work to be done that’s made far easier the more it’s presented. All of the things decided along the way such as image/paper pairing, print size, mounting method, sequencing, juxtaposition, etc contribute to making specific manifestations of a project easier.

I am going to declare this project complete in the first sense. I won’t be doing regular updates on this particular project going forward. Anything that pops up as it manifests in an exhibition, book, etc I will certainly discuss.

I hope sharing this small project’s evolution has helped a few of you also working on your projects think about them in productive ways and realize all elements of photographic projects are not strictly linear. There are a lot of thoughts, experiments, and even things not specifically related to a project that provides insight and inspiration. One example I’ll point out is that my notion of an intimate viewing experience, the final print size, and our experiments with glass mounting played a large part in making photographs, paper used, and ultimate mounting decisions I could have never predicted when I started the project.

Feel free to ask questions about and definitely stay tuned, there are all sorts of things coming about a far prettier, far more elegant version of those glass sandwich mounts, books of all sorts, and thanks to those that support us — monthly DIYs starting in January 2024.