Preparing For A Major Exhibition: Part 2
Mistakes will be made...
In this part of my description of how to prepare and nail a major exhibition, I’ll deal with some of the unexpected events that you should expect. I’ve never held of attended an exhibition that went without some hitches. So, if you exhibit your work at home, offices, or galleries - or plan to - this is a sort of caveat emptor DIY.
The Background
I was invited to put on a solo retrospective of my work in a venue that was larger than I’ve ever done. Stretching over ten walls in a beautifully designed upscale community center, the challenge was to fill the space with meaningful artwork, as I described in a previous DIY. All the prints on display were printed in my studio on Moab Fine Art papers (Entrada Natural, Entrada Bright and Unryu) with the exception of three prints that were on a hand-made Awagami Bizan washi paper.
Although it was a great venue for a large exhibition, the space certainly had its shortcomings. Venues that have a primary purpose of displaying artwork typically have two common features; lighting for the artwork and a system for hanging the art. This space had no lighting focused on the art at all, none. Only one wall had a hanging system, so we had to come up with our own way of hanging all of the work exhibited. A lot of work!
I’m a strong believer in the STAS system for exhibiting one’s work, whether at home or in a public space (I have no relationship with STAS, other than as a customer). STAS is a clean, stylistic, flexible and modestly priced system that is the display mainstay in my own studio and many galleries and museums. Unfortunately, the exhibition venue only equipped one wall with a STAS rail.