Hanging a show part 2

Nearly there

This week, as I finish out the details to hang on Saturday, I’m collecting the final liability forms.  Most shows require some agreement.  Show volunteers do their best to protect and take care of your art but things happen and if so…  If you’re worried about your art do your research and buy insurance on it.  That’s up to each artist how they want to handle that.

I am also fielding questions about how much art or wall space each artist is allowed.  This is one of the trickiest questions to answer.  Bring a lot.  What really do you say?  Walls can hold a lot of art if hung right.  Choose work that shows well together and bring plenty.

Make your labels.  Labels can be quite simple, anything from printed out on card stock and simply trimmed to mounted with spray adhesive to foam core or matte board.  There is no wrong way.  Neatly printed and/or mounted they will look sharp no matter what your preferred style.  Just having them creates a professionalism to your show.

Vision

To make the walls really pop with art, we are hanging what I call gallery style.  Not quite as stuffed as I’ve seen at some galleries but we’d like to pack in a lot of art for people to look at so at least, one above another.  There’s also the more austere method of hanging museum style with larger spacing and only one at a time.  It simply depends on the feel that you’re going for and the artwork that you’re working with.

Listen to the art

Get down and put your ear right up there. Can you hear it speaking?  Okay!  If you did hear something then please go seek a specialist.  Objects like art don’t really talk but there is a feeling for how close one picture should be to the other, how high, which should go next to another.  Does one loud piece outweigh, overshadow or take away the quiet strength of it’s neighbor.

Before you get out the hammer and nails lean the art against the wall where you think it should go.  If you just start hanging without this step, you’ll step back and realize it’s just not right and have to switch some around or start all over.  Save yourself the trouble and look at it leaning there first.  Switch around ones that don’t work next to each other and get a feel for how much space you’d like or have room to allow between each piece and doors, light switches and other breaks in the wall.

Once you’ve got the basic format for how the wall should be hung now it’s time to get out the picture hooks.

Partner Power

This is where you use that other person you asked to come and help.  If your face is inches from the art it’s hard to know what it would look like for a viewer.  One trick to beat this is make a decent judgement call.  Mark the spot with your finger and put in your picture hook, hang the picture, stand back and check.  Too high, too low, to tight together, just make a note of how much it’s off by and move the hook.  This does mean making several holes in the wall but if you’re on your own its not a bad option.

If you have that partner give them the job of holding the art up to the wall.  A little higher, a little lower, more to the right, to the left…  Mark the spot and your good.  You can also make a light pencil mark on the wall where the frame was hanging.  If it’s a very large and heavy frame this allow you to set it down, measure where the back of the frame was and calculate where the hook will be instead of trying to nearly kill yourself holding all that weight while reaching behind to gauge the middle of the wire and where it should touch.

Smaller frames are a lot easier.  For these you really can just reach behind, note where the nail should be, set the frame down and nailin the hook.

A quick trick

For a long stretch of wall art that you want fairly level with each other, bring a measuring tape, a roll of string (or twine) and some tape.  Hang your first one at the desired height, measure it and then tape a string the length of the wall at that height.  This is a very fast way to have a lot of pictures hung evenly across a long expanse.  This even works for multiple stacked rows.  I’m no great magician on this one.  I simply borrowed the idea from landscaping & construction.  If it works for them why can’t it work for artists.

Tack it down

Bring a level!  When you have anywhere from a few to a few dozen pictures on the wall every little tilt of an unlevel frame makes it look shoddy and poorly hung.  You’ve spent all that time making sure it was the right height and right distance etc, now take out that level, put a little bit of poster putty at the two corners and give that wall of art a “professional” look.  Sharp and gorgeous for the whole length of the wall and duration of the show.

Tack up your labels, again using more poster putty, adjust the lighting to spot on the work and show it to advantage (if you’re able to), and put out your snacks.  You are ready for business!

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