Some Thoughts While Uninstalling an Art Exhibition

An impromptu celebration of sparkling wine, cheese, crackers, veggies and hummus at the final hour, was followed by a quick and efficient de-installation that almost beat the coming rain.

Paintings uninstalled and loaded into cargo van, check

Hooks, nails, and wall labels removed, check

Lettering scraped off the wall, check

Guestbook picked up, check

Paintings unloaded (in the wind and rain), cargo van refueled and returned to U-Haul, check!

The opportunity to exhibit in a large space is sometimes the only time to get to see an entire body of work together at once. I didn't have much time to paint while the exhibition was up, but I’ve enjoyed the time to get to see the work and start to reflect on the direction it’ll be taking next.

I left over two feet of wall space between paintings, which seemed like ample room on paper and although I was satisfied with how it all looked once hung, after leaving for a day or two and them returning with a fresh eye, the space felt crowded to me. Perhaps that’s because I’ve been used to seeing everything in the studio, where space barely allows for seeing everything together. In the future I’d like to leave more room - enough so that when stepping back away from the larger paintings, the ones around it do not intrude on peripheral vision. I know of no rule of thumb for determining the amount of space needed, but it seems like 36” between the larger works, or even more, wouldn’t be too much.

I underestimated how many business cards, various print outs and price lists I needed. I had to keep replenishing them with what I thought would be ample quantities, and even so, I ran out of a couple of items on the last day. I am not complaining – and I am happy to be able add to my address book from those that left their information when coming to see the show.