Hanging a show...let your artwork breathe!

St Ives, Pond in Winter, Rainy Rainy Night

I've been lucky enough to have quite a few shows, solo or two people ...but never before have I actually hung the show myself....and that's what I did this morning with the help of two lovely guys.
(Forgive the quality of the photos, by the way...quilts look better in fairly low light I think.)
It was so much fun and we laughed the whole time...and the crazy thing was I had been dreading it.   But in the  right place, with the right kind of help, everything went so smoothly and happily.
And it was so much better being able to choose for myself just which way the quilts and paintings (watercolors) would interact instead of having a curator (who hadn't sweated over the work) do it.

Emerald City  and 3 small watercolors

One thing we noticed was just how much better the quilts look spaced out beautifully on a gallery wall, than they do draped on a bed in a spare room (which is probably where many of us keep our quilts).  This show is going to be up for a year, I doubt there's much possibility of sales...but the quilts are breathing, and being seen and giving life to this gallery space.   When we create art we want it to be enjoyed, not rolled up in a closet!

Another artist (not fiber, a sculptor) turned down the chance of showing his work with me for he felt the gallery was not prestigious enough!!  But surely with our art we want to reach the people?  We want to convey our vision of the world?  They can agree or disagree but it will (hopefully!) open their eyes to all the beauty that is around us,  even in these very challenging times.

Heavy Metal, Swimmer, The Last Glow

So ...let your art work hang out in all possible places....and it's so much fun arranging and rearranging the pieces so they work together just right....when I was a teenager I was always rearranging my bedroom furniture - all 3 pieces of it!!  This morning I had the fun of doing just that with 30 pieces and, moreover,  without the heavy duty hammer, drill and ladder work!!! (Thank you so much to J and L for helping.)

For those in NE Georgia...this show is at Athens Academy, in the Harrison Art Center, (3rd entrance off Spartan Lane)  and will be up throughout the school year.  Opening reception Nov 4th...sometime in the afternoon - I think!!

If you have been, thanks for reading!  Elizabeth