Curating My First Solo Exhibition in Four Months
When I studied at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN, I received a BA in Studio Art. Being a BA or BFA in Studio Art, as part of your degree requirements in your senior year, you need to fulfill capstone classes that prepare students for professional development in the gallery system. If you are a BFA, you take two capstone classes, where you will curate your exhibition during the second capstone class. Since I was a BA in Studio Art, I was not required to curate my exhibition.
Little did I know, one week into my capstone class, I was going to decide I wanted to curate my own exhibition and needed to plan and execute it in four months. So, where did I begin? I’ll break it down into three sections ideation and creation, preparation, and opening night.
Ideation and Creation
Before I could start my body of work for my exhibition, I needed to have a concept for what I wanted my body of work to represent. This part took some time to nail on the head; however, I found the idea for my exhibition, The Realm. It derived from experiences my relatives, and I have been through, about our journey with mental health and alcohol usage. I did a lot of research during the conceptual phase to understand my subject more in-depth, the symbolism behind specific key points, materials, and more.
The Realm included five works of art. My subject matter influenced the materials I wanted to use for The Realm. I utilized the material’s authenticity, to where each material was given its own voice. To complete all of the artworks before opening night, I had to manage my time between my other schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and my campus job at the time. I recommend creating a Gantt chart to make sure to stay on task throughout the creation of your exhibition. While ideation and creation were a huge part of my show, it was only the beginning.
Preparation
Curating an exhibition takes a lot of planning and execution. This is something I didn’t fully grasp until I have to do it myself. Hats off to the ones that do this professionally! I needed eight keys things for my exhibition to go off without a hitch:
Artist Statement: An artist statement is a great way to explain your work and how you approached it when you are not there to speak about your work. Given that this exhibition was opening all day for a week, most of the time, I was not present to speak about my show. So, I created one specifically for The Realm. To make my exhibition more interactive with the audience, they were allowed to take home a two-sided piece of paper. One side was my artist statement, and the other side was a poem illustration, Daffodil, one of the pieces in the show.
Related: Artist Statement Guidelines
Exhibition Layout: Creating an exhibition layout allows you to plan the foot traffic in the room and which artwork you want your audience to interact with first and so forth. My layout also decided how I needed to install my artwork (i.e., hanging hooks, pedestal, custom wood structure) and the placement for lighting. If you are not sure where to begin, draw inspiration from museums and galleries in your area.
Artwork Labels: There are many different ways you could do your artwork labels. For example, you could create a map, use vinyl, or adhesive labels. Next time you go to a gallery, see how they label the artist's work. Regardless of the method you choose, it would help if you allowed your audience easy access to receive more information on artwork description.
Related: Examples of Artwork Labels
Advertisement: Do as much advertisement as you can to get more traction for your exhibition. To advertise my show, I used social media, digital screens in the art department, and sent out invitations to my friends and family. Additionally, you could connect with local media to send out a press release, network with other artists, advertise at other community spaces, and post on online announcement boards.
Speech: Public speaking can be one of the hardest thing for someone, which is why practice makes perfect! Don’t wait until the day to think about how you are going to introduce your artwork. I would give at least a week or two to practice your speech, so you can be completely comfortable when the time comes. There is always a chance there will be a Q&A session, so have some friends and relatives ask you some questions!
Photography: One of the things I wish I took more time in planning, photography. I ended up taking the photos myself due to time constraints; while they turned out fine, they could have been better. I recommend either planning enough time for you personally take individual photos of your work and during exhibition opening or hire someone to do it for you! It’ll be all over before you know it and photos are going to come in handy later on, either for social media usage or for your portfolio.
(Optional) Guest Book: A guest book is entirely optional. Take into account the location of your exhibition; if you are in a formal museum setting, there may not be a guest book. For my show, I thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to receive feedback from my audience while also being a keepsake from opening night.
(Optional) Refreshments: Name one better thing than free food and drinks… I’ll wait, but again totally optional. Take into account the time of day your exhibition will be at, the audience you are attracting, permission from your gallery, and the money it will take to provide hospitality.
Opening Night
While this was one of my favorite college experiences for me, it was also the most nerve-wracking. Everything that I had done for an entire semester was about to be shown to my family, friends, and peers. I had a weekend to install my art and setup for opening night.
During the morning and afternoon of the opening night of The Realm, I finished the final touches making sure everything was in order. I laid out the guest book and refreshments, made sure my artwork was presentable and labeled correctly, and practiced my speech once more. The time came for me to open my exhibit up and introduce The Realm officially. After presenting my artwork and thanking my family and mentor for guiding me throughout the semester, I stayed around for a Q&A session. Everything I had worked towards my final semester of college was finally complete.
Curating an exhibition is an experience that I am glad I chose to do. It gave me new challenging and learning experience as an artist that I wouldn’t have received elsewhere. Got an upcoming exhibition? Let me know in the comments!