As I said last week, I was setting up a gallery show here on campus and, as it’s finally up, I thought it would be interesting to share some of the moments that helped it come together, as it’s not an easy process.
To start, my partner and I had to come up with a general idea for the show. What would it showcase? What was the overall point of the show and how would the pieces we chose interact with one another? We decided that we wanted to focus on our class, history of aesthetics, and showcase the idea that pieces that are abstract have representation and photos could be abstracted if one looked at them in a certain way. It was a cool idea that we were both excited for, not to mention that we had an idea to make it an interactive show.
Once that part was done we moved onto actually picking the pieces. We knew what we wanted in a general sense but had no actual idea as to what pieces would fit into this show. So, we wandered around the back of the Maslow collection and eventually came upon two artists that would fit perfectly. Jasper Johns and the Bechers. They each had enough works to fill the show on their own without a third artist, so that made it easier for us.
With that done we set to work. My partner, Anna, managed to pull the works into the gallery with the help of Ryan Ward, and when I came the next day I hung most of the pieces. This wasn’t a hard process, per se, it was just that there is a certain way to hang the pieces so that the center of them are eye level with the viewer. But, a lot of the pieces were tall and so where the nail needed to be was just out of my reach. So, for most of that process, I was on my toes, literally. None the less, I had fun hanging them all and setting it up. But that wasn’t the end of it. Far from it actually.
Then we had to design the display cases which would hold any information that we found relevant to the show, I took on Jasper John’s case and Anna the Bechers. Somehow this seemed to be the easiest part to me, as I loved reading about this artist and finding the pieces that would supplement the show.
That was where the easy parts ended though, as then we had to make the labels and ensure that they were put up evenly, write a show description, which Anna did beautifully, then work on the lighting. Each of these parts required more concentration than before, and while it was a fun experience I was concerned that we wouldn’t do it just right, that there would be something off. However, the show is up! All of our hard work has come to a beautiful end and we have something to show for it.
