The Other Business

The bit of business that is more important to me than teaching art is exhibiting art, and that was something I was working on today, as this was the day I was scheduled to hang work in the new show in Ocean Grove.  I was given a time of 2 pm to do the hanging and told the location, all yesterday.  I had decided which pieces to put in the show and framed them weeks ago.  Everything else was out of my hands, that which will happen and that which has already happened.  

I arrived at the scheduled to time, and took the pieces I had put in the Studio yesterday, placing them in my large tote bag to make the carrying upstairs easier.  On my way down I had noticed my wall was completely clear and all the lights were on the first floor hallway, though no one was present there.  Only one person in the office, so it's a good thing I didn't bother to bring my computer with me today for possible fixing, as I was suggested to do.  Luckily the one person in the office was the person I was needing, the person who was to help me with the hanging.  It was Katelyn (or maybe it's Kaitlin, or Caitlyn, or Caitlin- I should have asked her how she spells it) who is usually on a computer when I'm there.  We agreed to meet at the assigned location. I took the elevator up, while she took the central stairway, as the stair/ladder thing is stored at the top of it, there on the first floor. I had learned yesterday that I was assigned a hanging space on the short wall of the hallway, to the right of the big doorway heading out to route 71, and left of the photo studio.   I've had work on this wall before- 3 pieces in a previous tenant show, and it was the place for the three organizers of the East/West show, though in the latter situation I also had works hanging on the long wall on the Asbury side as well.  I had attached two of the long wires I had from previous exhibitions there to these framed pieces, including one from the last time I was on this wall.

As Katelyn was moving the stair/ladder to the wall, I unwrapped the three pieces I had brought in.  I had no particular order I wanted to hang them in, but Nichole had suggested putting the largest one in the center, and my assistant liked that idea as well.  She also liked the idea of using the attached long wires, so we started with those two.  Because of the historic nature of the building, they don't believe in putting any new holes in the wall, so all artwork is hung from hooks already high on the wall.  There is also a chair rail 5 or 6 feet above the ground, so all artwork must hang above that.  A little over the usual viewing height for art (typically centered at about 60" high, or standard eye level), but luckily, my work is bold enough that it can be seen well even if it isn't right at eye level.  First we (Katelyn did most of the work- I just handed her things and gave suggestions as the artist) hung Trance, which was in its original frame with a new/old hanging wire.  We got it level, and with the wire that was on it, it was hanging about 6 or 8 inches above the chair rail, which seemed a good height to us.  Next we put Fever Dream to it's left, again using my attached long wire, which had come from another framed artwork that had hung in this same gallery years ago.  The previous piece had been a tall vertical piece, while this frame had previously held a shorter vertical piece, and I was now using it as a short horizontal.  As a result, it was not hanging at the same level as the first piece.  A problem?  We decided to see how things looked when we got all three up.  My third piece was a larger horizontal, a boardwalk print (After Sunset). that had not been in a previous show there.  This one had no long wire, so she hung it the way she liked, by a single wire, heavier than what I had for the other two, looped around the hook high on the wall, and the standard hanging wire attached to two sliders in the frame itself.  Naturally, this ended up being a different height than the first two, longer by several inches.  She decided to shorten the single hanging wire, but now it was too short.  At that point I contributed that she could probably make short adjustments to the height by simply moving the sliding mounts on the frame, less work than reworking the looped wire. That was done to match the central framed work, still attached by wire to the two hangers on the frame.  My other piece with their wire and the completely reworked frame, was now a few inches too high, and she wanted it to match the others, and offered to rewire it.  No problem for me, but I pointed out that this one had no previous hanging wire, as I had converted the frame from vertical to horizontal, and the previous wire wasn't long enough to fit this new configuration.  Katelyn asked if she could use the long wire to make a hanging wire.  I pointed out that it was their wire, technically it belonged to the building, so she was allowed to do whatever she wanted. So she cut that wire, made a new hanging wire, attached one of her double loops to that one, and hung it again.  Close, so she used the sliding mounts to adjust it, and we were done.   She was really enjoying those sliding mounts, but I had to give her the bad news that the place I bought them had gone out of business, and the place I got them after that was now also out of business, and I haven't found those same frames anywhere else yet, so I was reusing what I had and couldn't get new ones. 

Katelyn didn't know any more than I did about the reception, only what is on the card, the design for which is at the top of this post.  The card lists the 12 participating artist, dates, and such. No idea what will be served at the reception (could be cheese and crackers, could be hot food in steam trays- I've seen both there) though she guessed the art would be better than the food.  (don't know if that is what she believed or if that is what she was telling me because I am an artist) What I will tell people is that they should come to the opening to see the art, and if the food is high quality, that is a bonus.  There was only one other artist hung so far, and from what I have seen on email, no idea when the rest are coming. I just know that the opening reception is Friday, February 18th from 6 to 8 pm, and that the show will hang until the end of April.  According to the postcard, viewing will be during the opening, and they will have open doors for a few hours on Saturdays during the show's run, and otherwise it's be appointment.   Lucky for me I have a key, so if anyone wants me to show them the work, I can.

Artist name and title tags will be put up later, I guess when they come up with a hanging method that won't permanently damage the walls.  This will also give some consistency to the tags, all made by the building.   I don't mind as long as they get everything right, and I have given them the information multiple times and ways.  So my part of the hanging is done.  I will help with promotion, as it may help me, too.  I am teaching some classes there in April, if people sign up.