The Plein Rein Painters of Juneau have hung a new group show at the Canvas Art Gallery in Juneau! This is a very nice, accessible space on Seward Street in downtown Juneau, Alaska. We will have a reception on this Friday, July 9th from 4:30 to 7:30. Please come by to visit and see what we've been up to in the past several months.
Organizing and hanging a show requires a lot of work! Thanks to our group, and the wonderful support of MK and Donna at the Canvas we have a very nice show to share. We have publicity distributed, food organized, labels and prices collected and mounted, and a bright, airy and welcoming gallery to show our work.
We have found, over time that the essentials for hanging a show (other than nails, hammers, pencils, tacky stick-um stuff for labels on walls, and tape measures) is:
- Not too many helpers – 2 is OK, 4 is good – more than that is not better. Involve someone who has hung a few shows, or an artist not involved in the show to offer objective feedback.
- Consider the overall design and viewpoint from the gallery entrance and windows (if any!), but do not spend too much time on the plan, hanging takes a lot of time, and you need to get started!
- Line up work on the floor to get spacing and flow down.
- Open the wine AFTER you get about half done, but don't fail to lubricate the workers, as this does not have to be punishment!
- Don't be afraid to just put a nail in and get started! Measuring is advisable, but the mathphobia and fractions involved can daunt many an artist – so don't get too "hung up" (sorry) on measuring.
- Lighting is very important, work with your gallery to eliminate dark areas, and replace missing bulbs.
- Get your show hung, at latest, the night before the opening, an extra day is really nice, to handle missing labels, bad hanging hardware . . .