(E) Exhibition Series Lesson

Photography_LessonTopBanner.png Exhibition Series

Universal Themes

All artists aspire to have their own solo show. It is the recognition that others appreciate their hard work and artistic vision and wants to share it with others.

This lesson will explore ways to use universal themes to use in your final series.

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  • Explore: Investigate universal themes to use in your final series
  • Challenge: How does presentation affect the meaning of a series?
  • Application: Create and share a digital exhibition.

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We Love a Good Series!

Museums and galleries use a wide variety of criteria when awarding solo shows to artists. It could be that the artist’s work is widely appealing and sought after and therefore will create a great stream of revenue for them. Or it could be that the artwork is particularly significant for the time or culture.

Sometimes an artist’s first solo show is something they produce entirely on their own. They find a space willing to host the show, gather, finish, hang, price, and label all of the artwork. The artist promotes, hosts, and closes the show entirely on their own. It’s quite an undertaking!

This video shows an artist’s final preparations before exhibiting his artwork. He hosts the exhibition on his own in his private studio space. Each artwork is professionally finished (in this instance he frames each painting), hung, space is cleaned and organized, and snacks and music are provided for guests. How do all of these preparation impact how you feel about the artwork?

 

PHOTO_THECHALLENGE.pngHow do artists professionally finish their artwork? What do you do to a photograph to make it ready for a gallery?

Do all photographs have to hang on a wall?

The standard procedure for displaying a photograph is to matt it with an archival quality matt and tape and/or dry mount it, frame it, and hang it on the wall. Of course, that is not the only way. Many photographers consider longevity when preparing their art for display. Meaning they consider how long the materials they are using will hold up – will it stand the test of time or will it fall apart a year after it is purchased? These are important considerations if you intend to sell your artwork.

The videos below will take you through some of the basics of preparing artwork for an exhibition, hanging the artwork, and give you a glimpse into stalling an exhibition. 

 

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Artists and curators spend a great deal of time selecting artworks for display in a show and arranging them in the space. Time is also spent designing additional elements for the exhibition like painting walls and accents and creating wall text.

The website www.kunstmatrix.com Links to an external site. allows you to create a digital 3D gallery installation of your own artwork.

Select your 3 best artworks created for the course and create a gallery to showcase them.

Share a screenshot of your gallery with your 3 artworks “hung” in the gallery.

You can also use a virtual gallery template and create a similar effect in PowerPoint or Google Slides.

 

Photography_LessonBottomBanner.png IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS