Installing an Art Exhibition
With the help of my husband and good friends Phil and Kat Potter I installed my 2022 art exhibition titled Perception. The show is on display at Spark Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Drive in Denver, Colorado, until May 15th. I’ve been working on this series since 2019. I’m sure this may seem like a long time, and perhaps it is or was, but when you work in a variety of media you must allow for mishaps along the way. Usually when I finish one body of work, I immediately start on the next, or sometimes I work on two series simultaneously which was the case for the Perception series. I was finishing up a body of work for a show I had in March 2020 called In My Shoes when I conceived the idea for Perception.
In this show, I focus on the things we as women do to ourselves to change peoples’ perception of us. This may include, but is not limited to, how we style or change our hair, the clothes we wear, and the makeup we use to alter our appearance. It also highlights the tools or devises we use and have used over the centuries to change our physical appearance. Perception is the culmination of a six-year journey exploring the objectification of the female form, this exhibition is the final chapter of that exploration.
It was interesting installing the show this time because I started with no preconceived idea of how I wanted to hang and arrange the pieces. Once all the sculptures were unpacked and the paintings and prints unwrapped, we started to visualize the space. First, we placed one of the larger paintings and then set a sculpture on a pedestal in the window. This got our visual juices going and we then rearranged the moveable walls to start forming a flow for how the visitors would move through the gallery. We then changed the location of the two works we just placed.
The trick is to balance larger works with smaller ones and create vistas or visual pathways that end with a work of art. I used color as a devise to help draw the eye from one piece to the next, for example variations of the hue yellow create visual movement between paintings and sculptures in one quarter of the gallery. I used shape and concept of subject to link different works of art in the other quarter of the space. For example, lipstick in shades of red and pink in the same area as a portrait with lips painted in a similar hue, or hair silhouettes next to sculptures of hair styling devises.
Once we figured out where all the work would be located, it was time to hang the paintings. Phil, Kat and Andy (mostly Phil and Kat) took the lead on that, while I touched up the pedestals with fresh coats of paint. To get the optimal eye line you first find the middle of each piece which in this case was at 56” high. To get the work at that height, you find the middle of each piece by measuring the height and dividing it in half. I was thankful they took that task on because it was heavy on math and measuring and sadly that is not my strongest asset. I’m more of an ‘eyeball it’ kind of gal which isn’t always the best approach to hanging a show in a gallery.
After that was complete, it was onto the lighting and labels. All in all, it took us about four hours to install the show. Andy and I came back the following day to complete the signage. Since it was two years in the making, I’ve had pieces tucked away in storage, boxes or corners throughout the house and studio, occasionally exhibiting one here or there but never as a group. I have to say, once the work was installed for Perception it was exciting to see all the pieces together in one place. If you are in Denver between now and May 15th and looking for something to do, I invite you to visit Spark gallery and check out my latest body of work, you won’t be disappointed!
