We are Level 2 BA Fine Art students. Every year Level 2 students take part in Gallery Practice. With support from staff, the students organise & co-ordinate a public exhibition, from securing a venue, fundraising & publicising, to the installation & documentation of the final show. This year’s group will be showing at the Novas Contemporary Urban Centre in Liverpool’s new cultural quarter in March 2010.
Fiona Philipps
Gallery Practice Process and Exhibition
The venue, the Contemporary Urban Centre, Novas was I think the perfect venue for our exhibition as there was enough room to accommodate our work but as there are only twelve of us it was not too big, making our work look lost.
The venue group managed to arrange and book the Novas quite quickly and once our bank account was open we were ready to start fundraising.
We managed to find several sponsors and had two tombola events a few weeks apart. The first one was more successful than the second. We also collected money each week which I don’t think seemed as bad as paying a large amount in one go.
The design group did a good job of creating and printing our poster and invitations to the private view. The weeks leading up to the exhibition went very quickly and all the arrangements had gone smoothly.
We were now ready for the start of our exhibition. Drinks were arranged for the Private View and now all we had to do was to install our work.
The transportation of our work went well driven over in the college van by Steve. Although in the weeks leading up to the exhibition I had felt a bit stressed, but I now was quite relaxed and enjoying the day.
We placed our work in the gallery and tried to decide how best to display it.
The following day Paul, Michelle and Vinnie came over to help us curate our exhibition. We all spent time discussing the work and moving it around and by the end there was a clear connection and flow to the exhibition.
When we had tried to curate our work ourselves the previous day we had placed all the landscapes along one wall, but there wasn’t enough variation in size. We had to aim for balance and this was achieved by placing the work according to theme, colour and size.
My work was placed in the middle of the wall to the left if entering the gallery through the main entrance.
We decided to hang Sharon’s portraits then my bones and wire sculpture and then Danielle’s charcoal and oil and finally my mixed media piece. I think that this worked well because my work was able to link to the pieces either side and Sharon’s and Danielle’s work complimented mine in both colour and tone.
The exhibition had a figurative side that moved into fragmented body images. It then flowed into Moya’s relief work and then the other side of the gallery was made up of landscapes and urban scenes created by Andrew, Mark , Lia, Tommy and Des. At the end of this side were Emma’s portraits which then connected up again to Vicky’s big figurative painting.
Andrew and Paula’s sculptures filled the space in the centre of the gallery well.
I think that separating my work was the right decision as my ‘Stressed’ piece and ‘Silent’ piece just did not look right together at all. The subjects worked together but the colours were all wrong. I probably should have only put one in. If it had been possible I would have preferred my work to be together.
I was surprised how different the colours looked in the gallery. In the studio the orange wash in my ‘Stressed’ piece did not look particularly bright but under the spot lights in the gallery it looked really vibrant, so that is something else to remember.
My wire sculpture looked a bit better in the gallery than it did in the studio. I think that the shadows cast by the gallery lights were more interesting than the piece itself. I would like to develop the shadows into a piece of work.
I found the seminar on Friday morning with Steve and Vinnie constructive and helpful but I think that we all held back a little so as not to offend each other. I was honest in the comments I made but it is difficult to criticise other people’s work for fear of upsetting anyone. I think that we would learn more if we were able to give and accept more criticism and not take it personally. I would not have been offended had people been more honest with me.
I have learnt a lot from this experience and think that it has helped prepare us all for our final year and degree show.
Gallery Installation:
All the work for the exhibition were collected from the studio and transported to the gallery. On arriving at the gallery the works were placed around the walls of the gallery. The following day three of the tutors moved the work around the gallery space, selecting which work went where and which work was taken out. When all the work was allotted a space, it was time time to hang the work.
All the students split up into groups of two and three,we discussed with the tutors about how to hang the works looking at spacing and the height, it was decided on 61inches from the floor to the centre of the work would be a good height, about eye level.At the end of the day all the work was in place and ready for the opening night.A few of us stayed and cleaned and bagged the rubbish, then reported the spotlights to Carla.
The big night – private viewing.
sharon Ross
I arrived at 5pm with my husband Alan. The room looked great. The floor had been cleaned. The spot lights that were dead replaced and pointing in the right direction. All that needed doing was sticking on the artist statements and the numbering of the works. I had typed up a list of artist works and assigned a number to each work. There was thirty pieces in all. The artist statements were verified by Michelle Rowley and Paul Bearman our tutors. I then laminated the statements and the numbers. They were placed on the wall at the same height all the way round the room. The drinks table was set, all we needed was viewers.
There was a good turnout, all the tutors came, and some first and third year students. There was also a lot of family and friends as well as representatives from local communities such as the art world, college and universities. I would estimate that there were about 50 to 60 people and everyone seemed really impressed with the exhibition.
Gallery Exhibition practice – Personal perspective
Sharon Ross
Installation day – Big day had arrived and a full turn out of students which was great. Three Tutors also in attendance. It was interesting to watch how the tutors worked through the paintings, looking for themes, matches, etc. What I didn’t realise was how many painters there was in our group compared to last year’s gallery practice group. The paintings were put alongside the walls of the room. At first we had a go ourselves to see if we could come up with a workable theme. We had arranged it so all the portraits were on one wall, and all the landscapes were on another, with the abstract works on two other walls. It is not easy. It is about finding the right balance and volume in the works.
The themes that emerged were obviously – figurative – portrait work, fragmented body parts, urban and country landscape, abstract. The abstract was based upon urban city environment of Liverpool one. Also emerging was how different works could be matched by colours in the works.
The order of the works was finally decided, there was three installation works also which only two of them required to be placed in the centre of the room.
Placement of my work
My work was placed along the left hand wall as you come into the room. You can see the portrait of Fiona as you walk up the corridor to the gallery room. The portrait of Alan is next to my other work of Fiona.
Advantages of placement:
1. Prominent position. You can see it as you enter the room.
2. Good lighting over the canvases.
3. No obstructions, such as Installations.
4. Good space between different artists works.
5. No crowding of works.
Disadvantages of placement:
1. The portrait of Fiona covers a door in the wall (possible fire hose reel)
2. The line of the door might detract from the work displayed.
3. Personal note – feel my work is overshadowed by works either side, that is, I think the works either side of mine are much better.
4. Because of the prominent position, may feel inadequate, lack of confidence in ability, and of the work displayed in such a place.
