Last week marked the opening of my first co-curated exhibition with Rachel Sclafani, Printmaking: Northern Renaissance Meets The Maslow Collection.
The exhibition began out of a collaboration between The Maslow Collection and Dr. Christa Irwin’s Northern Renaissance (art history) class. The class studies various techniques and ideas surrounding the evolution of printmaking, and Dr. Irwin wanted to find a way to showcase that through an exhibition with The Maslow Collection.
We all began by simply pulling out nearly every work from the collection that was either made with printmaking techniques or resembled the ideals of printmaking and creating an intellectual discussion about each one. Rachel and I then narrowed it down to the works we felt to be most beneficial and significant in technique, content, color, and discussion.
Once all of the works were selected, the rest happened rather quickly. Rachel and I jumped into creating a title, a description, labels, posters, etc. Before we knew it, it was time to begin hanging the work.
Just to recap, the following is an average checklist when curating an exhibition:
- Designating a time/space to the show
- Select a Theme/ Intent
- Research
- Selecting Artworks
- Title, Description, Posters
- Artist Wall Labels
- Selecting Items for the Cases
- Arranging the Cases
- Installing the Artwork
- Installing the Wall Labels
- Installing the Posters
- Adjusting Lighting
- Cleaning all surfaces
On paper, installing an exhibition sounds overwhelming, but time really does fly while you’re doing it.
Not to sound biased, but this exhibition truly has some pretty great pieces in it. There is a wonderful mixed technique piece by Friedrich Meckseper that displays the differences between different techniques used in printmaking, as well as a gorgeous Roy Lichtenstein that displays the use of printmaking in a mixed media technique. There are also more traditional prints such as Number 5 of 5 from the Furrows series by Terry Winters or revolutionary takes on traditional techniques like Untitled by Francesco Clemente. The show also has Julian Schnabel’s (director of the new Van Gogh movie At Eternity’s Gate) Tod-Cage Without Bars on exhibit.
Regardless of what kind of art you appreciate, this show has something for everyone. I highly recommend everyone go see it! It will be on display in The Maslow Study Gallery for Contemporary Art until the start of the spring semester.
Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a safe Black Friday! As always, thanks for the read!
Featured Image: Untitled by Francesco Clemente (maslow.marywood.edu)
Gallery Images: Bellini #2 by Robert Rauschenberg (MutualArt.com), Selbst – die Last der Radierung Tragend by Friedrich Meckseper (maslow.marywood.edu), Tod-Cage Without Bars by Julian Schnabel (maslow.marywood.edu).
