And so the time has come…

Exhibition day is almost upon you. You’ve loaded up the back of you compact car with all your artworks in such a way that you would think that your vehicle must defy the laws of the universe by having more interior space than is indicated by its exterior dimensions. Rear vision mirror view safety has made way for bubble wrap and canvas.

You walk through the gallery door, not sure what to expect…

If this is a commercial gallery then the chances are that this is where you now  leave the creations that you have slaved over so lovingly during the preceding months, now to be hung by the Gallery staff. The presentation of your artistic genius is in their hands.

If this is a community or self hosted exhibition then its now all up to you and you have a very short time to get everything up on the walls ready to stun your visitors with your all round clever-clogness. The white cube of  space echoes as you walk around inside. Blank. Empty and possibly a bit intimidating.

Questions race through your mind.

• “Do I  have enough artwork to fill this vast void?”
  • Yes of course you do! You measured the space before you started preparing for the exhibition. (You did, didn’t you? )
• “Will it look any good?”
  • Yes it will. Here’s a gallery secret. Those bright white halogen track lights on the ceiling make just about everything look a million dollars.
• “Is my art a load of rubbish and should I leave now?”
  • It’s too late. You’ve sent out all the invitations and the opening night party is tomorrow. Don’t worry. You are brilliant (*insert addition pep talk phrase of your own choice here).
• “Where is the ladder?”
  • Probably in the store room.

Gallery Hanging Systems

Most galleries that host artist run exhibitions have some kind of hanging system. Ideally it will be the adjustable kind with clear nylon hangers that drop from the ceiling and down the wall, with little metal adjustable hooks. Its best to find out though way before the time of your exhibition and have all your artworks prepared ready for hanging.

Tip!

I like to be prepared for the unexpected, so I carry a little red tool box containing all manner of hanging related bits and bobs. Mine has within it spare wire and string, screws, wall hooks, nails, wire, gaffa tape, removable double sided sticky pads, blu-tak, an assortment of small tools including a hammer, screwdrivers and my trusty bradall tool for making small holes. I’ve had to use it at just about every exhibition I’ve ever hung. I suggest you pack your own ‘survival kit’ similarly.

Bump In

Okay, time to bump in (not literally; this is the show-speak term for setting up your exhibition. Later you will ‘bump out’).

The first thing to do is to unload the car and stack all the artworks around the walls on the floor.  Don’t hang them yet and don’t be too fussy. Just drop them around the room in semi-organised thematic groups so you can see them all, placing any large feature pieces in the rough vicinity of where they might eventually hang.The thematic groups can be whatever you want them to be. Maybe it’s colour, maybe it’s subject matter. Maybe there’s a narrative story which guides the hanging.  It could be just whatever looks good together. Decide early on and your job will be easier.

Stand in the middle of the room and look around. Do all the artworks ‘work’ together? You will have to use some imagination as all the artworks are currently sitting on the floor.

Start sorting and moving the artworks around the walls (on the floor – don’t hang yet). Usually I find that at this stage that the artworks that don’t fit with each other stand out, and ‘call me’ to move them. The really good feature pieces that I want everyone to see get prime position, and I organised the others around them.

Got them sorted into groups? Good. Look at how all the groups work. You might have to swap entire groups around the room if they don’t play well together.

Steady as she goes

At this point it’s easy to get over excited and flustered, and in your mad rush to get everything sorted out, pick up an artwork and accidently bash it against a wall or another artwork. Once the bubble wrap is off, your artworks will suddenly seem to have a magnetic attraction to each other so take it easy. You don’t want be doing last minute restoration of scratches, dings and bumps right now.

Get an assistant to help you

Got all your artworks organised into groups? Good.

Now it’s time to hang your exhibition. It always good to have someone to assist if at all possible, with one person going up the ladder, and another to pass up artworks and then stand back and tell you if the arrangement on the wall is even and pleasing to the eye.

Hunting high and low

I prefer to hang all artworks at eye level (museum style) but that is not always possible. I suggest trying to hang at least one row directly at eye level and then arranging all the others above an below those.

This is the point at which madness can set in

It’s easy at this point to become obsessive about getting everything ‘straight’. Do not fall into this trap. Leave straightening till later as inevitably things will move. Only engage in obsessive straightening once all  the artworks are hanging in their final positions. Use blu-tak, sticky pads or cork pads to make sure artworks stay in place if required.

Lighting

If possible head up your step ladder to adjust the position of the lights for optimum loveliness. There’s generally only a limited number of spotlights available so you might have to make some strategic decisions to highlight key pieces,  with other artworks receiving just a general ambient light. Halogen lights can be hot. Be careful up there.

Price Cards

Okay, so the exhibition is hung, the lights are on and its looking like a million dollars.  Now is the time  to pop the little cards on the wall to indicate the catalogue number, title, medium and price. Don’t skimp. Make classy looking ones and hang them carefully so that they are easy to see and relate directly to their corresponding artwork.

Make yourself a nice cup of tea

You’ve spent all day loading, unloading, arranging, and running up and down ladders. You’re probably pretty tired by now. Put the kettle on, make a cup of tea and sit down quietly in the corner and admire what you’ve created. This exhibition has been months in the planning and execution, and now it’s finally here, in it’s rightful place. Enjoy it all to yourself for a while and don’t forget to get your camera out now and take a few pictures. The next time you see this exhibition it will be filled with people admiring your artworks, with you as the superstar centre of attention!

Photographing art… For me F-stops and exposure times are alien concepts, however, that does not prevent me from making a relatively decent job of taking snaps of my work to pop on websites, brochures or those snazzy little gallery exhibition cards.

I admit it. I’m not much of a photographer. Maybe like me, you concentrate on being a painter, draw-er, printer or whatever-er, and photography in all it’s modern digital mega pixel glory comes fairly low on the list of things that need to be thought about.

Hey, there’s only so many things in life you can concentrate your attention on, and for me photography is not one of them…until I need to take a photograph of an artwork for promotional purposes that is.

The following tips I’ve picked up myself basically by trial and error, so maybe you can save a bit of time by reading them so you don’t have to go through the same trials and make the same errors!

Okay already! On with the tips…

Your camera – big lenses work better

I’m sure actual real photographers will be able to bang on endless about why a camera with a big lens works better than a camera with a little lens, but in my experience of using domestic grade cameras for photographing paintings, the ones that seem to produce the most acceptable results had bigger lens areas. Yup, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but  your do-everything-including-wash-the-dishes smart phone has a lens that is just too weeny to cut the art photography mustard, even if it does create images containing enough pixels to reach to the moon and back if they were placed end to end at a distance of one micron.

Tripods steady your trigger finger

Ages ago I picked up a decent quality Velbon Tripod at a garage sale for next to nothing.  I’ve used it so many times that things are starting to fall off, yet nevertheless it hangs in there, and gets used over and over again.  Even if I’d paid full price,  I think the investment would have been well worth it. It just makes the whole process much easier, and more importantly, means that I don’t need to have a steady trigger finger when I shoot. I just set up the shot, lock the tripod adjusty thingies  so that they don’t move, and off I go. The good thing about the Velbon is that it’s relatively sturdy and the controls are easy to adjust.  When I move the head of the tripod around, everything is smooth as silk. This makes it easy to use.  I do have another very cheap tripod too, but that one is not nearly so good…in fact it’s just a pain in the proverbial, and I’ve consigned it to the back of the cupboard, only making an appearance when the Velbon is in need of a little repair. So when it comes to tripods, I’d say get a good sturdy well built one. If you make lots of art you will use it again and again.

Time delay

Read your camera manual to figure out how to set the automatic picture delay timer. This will allow you to delay the taking of your shots by a couple of seconds and avoid your big clumsy fingers causing the camera to shake when it’s mounted on the tripod. Just press the ‘take a picture button’, remove your hands from the camera and let your camera and tripod do their magic. Shake free images are a joy to behold.

Don’t varnish or frame your painting yet!

It’s much easier to photograph and artwork if it’s not varnished yet. Shiny varnish will make for shiny highlights in the photograph, which don’t tend to look good when reproduced.

Similarly, if your artwork is under glass it’s really hard to take a picture without getting reflections. When I’ve been faced with that problem I have solved it by poking my camera through a hole in a large black cloth, held in such a way so that no reflections are seen. It’s a pain though and I don’t recommend it.

My recommendation is to hold off on varnishing or framing until your photography is complete.

Lighting your artwork

I very rarely use any artificial lighting when I take a photograph of my artwork. I prefer instead to use normal daylight. For me I’ve found that a cloudy day is best if I’m taking a photo directly outside.  Diffuse cloudy mid-morning light seems the most ideal. Afternoon light is second choice, but the middle of the day starts to be way too bright. I live in Australia though so I rarely get diffuse cloudy days…it’s pretty much blue skies from the get-go in the morning, so instead I tend to take pictures on our covered Verandah where the light is not so harsh, and the reflected light provides enough illumination.

The key to getting the lighting right in my case is to actually LOOK through the view finder (or digital display)…not just a cursory ‘is my image in the middle of the frame’ look, but an actual ‘what is the quality of the light’ look. Sometimes it’s hard to see the quality of the light, but after a few goes at doing this you’ll start to appreciate how the light is falling on your painting, if there are any annoying shadows, and more importantly, whether the image will turn out any good.

Things I look for:

• Is the light even all the way across the image? Any difference in light from one side of the painting to the other will stick out like a sore appendage when you view the image later.
• Can I clearly see all the detail? If the light is too bright all the colours wash out. If the picture is too dark it will lose detail when I try and brighten it up in Photoshop later.
• Does the weave of the canvas show? I create mostly paintings that use almost perfectly flat areas of colour. I generally like my photos to look similarly flat. If you catch the light on your painting on the wrong angle, then the weave of the canvas appears as tiny white highlights all over the photo. Not the effect I want.  I move the painting around a bit until the lighting is as even as possible.
• If the painting is textured I check to see that the highlights created by the light are pleasing to the eye.
• Is the painting straight? I like to get the sides of the canvas as straight in the frame as possible. The straighter it is, the less I work I will have to do later when I crop the image. Move your tripod and camera up and down to find the point of  maximum straightness (if your paintings are in fact squarish in shape that is)

Take lots of pictures using auto picture mode

I’m very lazy when it comes to setting up my camera. I generally just use the auto mode and rely on the trial and error approach of taking lots of pictures in the hope that one of them turns out to be ‘just right’… and you know what? usually they do (just about every time). When I review the pictures there’s always one version that stands head and shoulders above the rest, so I use it. Digital cameras these days are pretty good at figuring out what to do on my behalf, and I guess there are software engineers out there who have worked hard to program my camera so I don’t really have to think too much about the process. It works for me.

Focus

I also let the camera do all the focussing for me, and generally don’t have any problems when photographing medium sized works as long as I’ve made sure that the artwork is straight in the frame (ie the artwork is a parallel as possible to the camera lens). For larger paintings (say 1.5 metres wide) I do have to consult the manual on ‘multi-point’ focus to make sure everything stays sharp. For smaller works which I have to get very close to  I use the macro lens mode, usually indicated by a little tulip on the camera. Mostly though the auto-focus mode does the trick every time.

Turn off the auto flash

A direct flash makes everything look, well, erm…flashed. It’s not nice. So turn it off.  Sometimes though you’ll see a dreaded ‘LOW LIGHT’ indicator on your camera viewfinder. Don’t ignore this warning as the camera will not take good pictures if there is not enough light. Move to somewhere else where there is good light (I suggest Australia)

Use Photoshop to fix up your photographs

I use Adobe Photoshop for all manner of things. It’s an essential item in my toolbox. Yes it’s expensive, but if you are doing this stuff on a regular basis it’s the software to have. There are other cheaper programs that do essentially the same job though, but I love my Photoshop and don’t really look at anything else because it works for me.

When I’ve taken my images and look at them on the computer, generally I’ll need to do a few things with them…

• Straighten up the image using the distort tool
• Crop the image
• Adjust the brightness, contrast and colour
• Create versions at different resolutions for web and print distribution
• Tweak anything that needs tweaking to make the picture look as brilliant as possible!

So that’s all there is to it. You can get acceptable results with minimal equipement, at a quality that is fine for web or small postcards using just domestic grade equipment and a bit of experience with Photoshop.

I’m sure if you invest extra time learning the mechanics of photography it would pay you handsomely, and maybe one day I myself will get round to it, but until then I’m just happy to point and shoot.

Having said all that, if you want to create large high quality art prints, posters or giclees it pays to have a professional take the shots for you. I have in the past had professional shots taken using both large format photographic film and super hi-res scanning. The results are far superior, but for most applications the cost can be prohibitive. A decent mid-price domestic digital camera plus a bit of improvisation and experimentation can get you a long way though

Happy Snapping!

(BTW if you want to see how my snaps turn out have a look at my Creativity Pro Art gallery.  Some pics on there are taken by my own fair hand using a domestic grade digital camera, others are professionally snapped images, some images only exist in the digital domain, and there is the occasional image which I took with an old style film SLR…see if you can spot which is which!).

Okay,  enough already! Everybody has now heard that we’re in recession and the media seem to bang on about it at every possible opportunity.

Worse still for artists and other creative types is that our decorative wares are now definitely right at the bottom of the shopping list for those middle to high income earners who like to purchase what we make.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that our beloved Galleries are having a hard time too right now (all except for those that are dealing in real ‘investment art’ by very famous and possibly dead artists).

Here’s a few ideas that you might like to think about…

Prepare for the UPSWING

The tidal surge of art buying is cyclical. When people feel cashed up they like to splurge. When their shares aren’t doing quite so well they panic a bit and become tightwads. At the moment many artists will be experiencing a new excuse for clients not buying their art…”Oh I absolutely LURRVE it, BUUUUTTT, with the recession and everything I just cant afford it”.  So what’s an artist to do? Well you could prepare for the upswing in the market at some point in the future, so when all of a sudden mr $$cash$$ comes out to play again, you are ready with your fine wares to capitalise on your clients perceived new bank account happiness.

Believe it or not the people who are going to have lots of money in two, three, four or five years time (and potentially the buyers for your art) are busy going round buying up assets like houses, businesses and shares right now while they are dirt cheap (as opposed to buying your stunningly beautiful but nevertheless non-essential art). When the market rebounds these ‘new rich’ will need trinkets and fripperies to display how fabulously wealthy they are. This is where you come in.

So, use this ‘quiet time’ to stock up on your artwork. Spend your time making lots of paintings, say… two or three exhibitions worth(!!). Book actual ‘selling’ exhibitions for these works well into the future. Of course you may have to find another way to make a crust in the meantime while things are quiet (uggh!), but as you create all these fabulous new works you can continue to build your profile in readiness for the new glorious day of cash-loaded clients by…

Exhibiting in Public Galleries

It’s great to have an exhibition without the pressure to sell anything, just for the sheer pleasure of executing an idea, a theme or a concept without all that nasty money related stuff. Many places in the world have galleries that are funded by the local, state or federal governments, and to have an exhibition in one is considered quite a feather in the cap of any artist who enters their hallowed halls. It gives the outward impression that serious art people (sans the money bias) do  take you seriously. So why not get started by putting together an exhibition proposal for your local public gallery?

Better still, apply for funding from  government agencies who are specifically there to develop our cultural landscape.

Even better, if you’ve got a strong concept it might be worth touring the exhibition through many public galleries. This will give your artworks plenty of exposure ready for future clients to buy when these artworks finally make it to the commercial (ie selling) galleries. Just think how good this will look on your artists statement! and while you are at it…

Enter Competitions

Another Curriculum Vitae expanding strategy which you can be getting on with while the art market is flat on its back like a fly-sprayed cockroach is to enter competitions. There’s the extra bonus too that if you win one you might be able to top up the coffers with a little prize money too. Again, these artworks can be out there in the world, spreading the good news of how brilliant you are ready for when things pick up. Everyone loves a winner, so why not invest a bit of time in becoming one?

…but at the same time, just to keep the ravenous wild howling canines from the door maybe you should also consider…

Doing something else for $$MONEY$$ (at least part-time)

If you are the kind of artist who comes under the category of “financially independent baby-boomer millionaire retiree who can do whatever you please” then please stop painting right now. Instead please immediately start buying up cheap properties and shares. You need to do your duty to the artworld by having an excess cash to burn on the artworks of other less financially independent artists when the recession turns into rampant optimism Support the Artworld that you purport to love

For all others…yes, I know, it makes you feel sick right down to pit of your stomach to consider doing other things for $$cash$$money$$.  I empathise, I really do, but you do need to put food on the table and stump up the monthly payments for that IPhone Maxi Cap plan that seemed such a good idea last year.

Okay, it’s time to take stock. Do you have some other readily marketable skills that you can sell right now?  I’m an artist through and through but I’m not ashamed to tell you that at this moment I create more commissioned websites than commissioned artworks, but does it make me feel any less of an artist?  Not one bit. It’s as simple as taking off one hat and putting on another.

del *.ego

Real artists remain artists even when they are working in a different job to survive. Don’t be afraid to do new money generating things to fund your further artistic adventures until such time as the good times finally begin to roll again.

Oh, and while you’re at it….

GO AND DO SOMETHING ‘COMPLETELY’ DIFFERENT

Seriously. If you can afford it, go out there and live a little. See some stuff, experience something. Break out of your normal day to day. Fill up your inspiration and ideas account. Get recharged and ready for the new wave of  affluence. Yes I know that time might seem a long way off, but good times will return and you need to be good and ready, pumping out absolutely brilliant stuff when that time comes. That brilliant stuff comes from INSPIRATION. Go and get some.