Musings on this day

As the chair of Studio Art Quilt Associates' exhibition committee part of my job has grown to include some educational issues. These are issues that we face as an organization , and as individual artists. Today one of the issues I have been trying to address is how we contract with art venues like museums and galleries concerning how the exhibition is to be hung.

Initially I was surprised to learn that some of these institutions have no idea about how to hang a fiber exhibit. The problems we have experienced include double hanging of work, work hung with very little space between work, and movable walls spaced in such a manor as to preclude adequate room to view larger work.

To help with these issues when approaching a venue where we are trying to place an existing exhibit we inform them of our guidlines which include minimum liner footage needed for the exhibit. This calculation includes a minimum of 24"-36" between work. It also stipulates that no work is to be double hung. If the prospective venue is interested in an exhibit, these are included in the contract between the institution and SAQA.

In additions we are including these in our curator documents. If a SAQA member contacts a venue it is important that they bring up these guidelines in their discussions. Ultimately it effects the number of works that the curator would be asking a juror to select. Jurors should be given the liner footage available. This allows the juror to make a selection that is cohesive for the space. In some instantes a minimum number of quilts could be suggested.

more on this later this week