Chapter Seven

Chapter seven
Staging an Art Exhibition
• Conceiving & producing your own exhibition is an excellent way to enter public life as an artist
• You will learn to plan, mount, and publicize a show & develop an understanding of the amount of work involved & what needs to be attended to when
• A successful exhibition can bring art to a larger audience, improve the neighborhood, and provide quite an adrenaline rush for you
• You must decide whether to put on a solo exhibition or include other artists
• A one person show looks better on a resume but a group show attracts more people
• Regardless of the style of the exhibition you decide upon, planning ahead will be the key to your success
• Any building with empty walls is a good candidate to hold your exhibition
• Begin with public spaces, like cafes & government buildings that already have exhibition programs in place
• When approaching the owner of a space be friendly and businesslike
• Bring slides of at least some of the artwork that will be shown, to give them a visual cue
• You may gain a lot by telling them how much you would like your art to be shown in their gallery
• When looking for a space not usually used for galleries be sure to consider & discuss with the owner how the work will be hung on the wall
• The traditional length for an exhibition is one month, but six weeks is better
• Allow plenty of time for publicity
• Group show tasks include: show coordinator, instillation chairperson, written materials coordinator, reception coordinator, announcement coordinator, press release committee
• Planning ahead is essential, no matter how many helpers you have
• Publicity should begin almost the moment the show is conceived
• When creating the press packet some will want it electronically and some will want a paper version
• Your press packet should include: a press release, a bio, a statement, reviews(if any), your website, and images of your art
• The press release should be written follow a standard form that should not be deviated from
• The costs of announcements can be pricey, the cheapest way is to do it yourself
• The main purpose of the announcements is to entice people to attend the reception , and or exhibition when its running
• Mail announcement two weeks the opening of the show, allowing the receiver enough time to plan for the event
• Emailing announcement is another option
• The frame should never take away from the piece, unless it is part of the piece
• A fair way to decide wall space when dealing with sharing space, is to calculate the total amount of wall space and divide it evenly
• On the day of instillation all aspects of the piece should be complete and it should be ready to be hung
• At the reception alcoholic as well as nonalcoholic beverages are common, Avoid serving messy foods
• Arrive early & plan to stay until the end, people are coming to see you , be there
• Be friendly to people you don’t know
• Don’t hide, or stay too close to friends if you are shy
• Help other artists, if you see someone looking at another artists work go over and tell them a little about the artist
• Once the show is over check the walls for dents, scrapes, holes, or any other damage
• You will be expected to return the space to the condition in which you received it