Staging the end of year review

On Friday I was staging my end of year show, along with the 3rd years who were staging their degree show. 

It never ceases to amaze me how I continue to learn different things, despite having done this for 4 years now.  I had privileged my "yokes" piece by hanging it on a separate wall from the rest of my work.  I displayed my year's work by setting it out in a chronology along one wall.  This showed that a lot of the meaningful development and drawing took place towards the end of the year.

Having hung "Yokes" at the Parndon Mill exhibition, I thought I knew how best to hang it.  Wrong!  At Parndon, I realised that for the hangers to sit well on a rail, I needed a round rail (not square at at Parndon).  So for my review, I found a 6' round dowel, painted it white, and bought white cup hooks to support it, which would meld into the white wall.  I trialled the positioning on the wall with brightly coloured map tacks (which looked amateurish).  Then I screwed the cuphooks into the wall, inserted the dowel and hanged the yokes on wooden hangers.  The white dowel looked terrible.  It was slightly warped, so not absolutely straight, and a pronounced shadow formed beneath the rail.  It would have looked much better if I had hung it using clear plastic map tacks.  I left it as it was, because removing the cup hooks would have left visible marks, and I had no clear map tacks.  But this is the stuff you only learn by experience. 

I went to the studio where this week the 3rd years have been staging their work.  This was the final day of staging, and only a couple of people had completed their work.  I decided that when I stage my final degree show next year, I will aim to complete it early.  This was the last day, and people were getting stressed.  One person had requested special electrics to plug in an Ipad that showed rotating photos of the work in progress.  The electrics had not been put in, and as the work was on an island stand, a hasty botch fix was needed to get the electricity from the wall to the stand.  At about 2pm, students were still touching up the walls with paint while work was being positioned(!).  I looked at a couple of pieces of framed embroidery and was puzzled that the work had not been properly ironed prior to being mounted.  It seems odd to put in all the development and making time, and spend a lot of time framing and staging the work, but not to realise the creases will detract from the finished product.  However it was good to see that two people who had prime sites at the studio entrance, had mounted and displayed their work to best effect.  One was about fairy tales, stranger danger and application to fans, and another about knife crime for application to teenage clothing.  Both were strong gutsy themes and I expect them to get a good grade at assessment.

I'm looking forward to going to see the completed show next week.