The artworks are delivered and we slowly unravel the twentyONE+ story.
\nWe have a week to change the space, to install the artworks, to light them beautiful and finally to welcome in the artists, their families, friends, WAFTA members and the interested masses.
\nNo pressure….<\/p>\n
We are working with a curator, Alison Hayles. Hiring a specialist for this job could be seen as an indulgence. It certainly wasn’t, we took heed of great advice and it has been a very worthwhile investment. Alison has helped us in a manner of ways throughout the last couple of months, and this week, despite wearing the big Curatorial hat, she allowed our little team to shine alongside her.
\nWe all had ideas, we all work VERY well together, we did not feel anything other than self imposed pressure, so slowly the pieces were arranged, and rearranged, and tweaked continually until the jigsaw puzzle came together.<\/p>\n
Teamwork is often simply a buzzword.<\/strong> Having Alison on board did not change our team.<\/p>\n We were able to paint the walls and, for the first time at Spectrum Project Space, some of the walls were painted. Dark. Very Dark. Luckily one of my entries contained dark paint chips so we did not need to search far for the perfect colour!<\/p>\n
\nFor the length of our time together our little team has been cohesive and supportive. We have also had the backing of a very supportive President and General Committee which should not be underrated.![\"twentyONE+](\"http:\/\/janmullen.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/week-24-1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Working with the team at SPS did not change our team.
\nLuck?
\nNope….simply good people with diverse knowledge and skills invested in doing whatever it takes – with openness and lack of ego.
\n<\/strong>Glorious teamwork<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>Setting up an textile exhibition is much more challenging than hanging quilts or paintings. The nature of textiles – with a big variety of techniques, materials, sizes, and display requirements – was the problem…
\nWe needed to find the links between the artworks.
\nWe needed to fit them into these initially flexible spaces.
\nWe needed to work out how best to highlight each artwork.
\nAND
\nWe needed to forge relationships between artworks who had never met before!<\/p>\n<\/a>So we started with the big things. Setting the spaces. We had the use of two moveable walls and move them we did.<\/p>\n<\/a>I had taken in some props as alternatives to wall displays. A round of wood, specially constructed by my bloke that was a possibility for showcasing one of my pieces was commandeered and repainted to define the space and to ground another’s work.<\/p>\n<\/a>An empty cable spool – also a possibility for supporting other artworks – was the missing link in displaying Annie Shelley’s beautifully ethereal pieces.<\/p>\n<\/a>And we had SPS ‘staff’ that constructed and hung and lit whilst we all split tasks, and rejoined, and quietly went about bringing it together.<\/p>\n<\/a>A real tonic for the tiring team was an article in the West Australian Newspaper on Wednesday. Trudi Pollard’s artwork was the focus of the write up and we were\/are thrilled for her….and WAFTA…and us:)<\/p>\n<\/a>On Friday night at 6pm the open doors welcomed our guests.
\nIt was a lovely night of conversations, of a beautiful mingling of all sorts of people around the artworks.
\nIt was a blur to me – as these nights of a million conversations always are – but I went to sleep that night feeling peaceful. It took us eighteen months to get to this night and sometimes I wondered whether it would come off as we had hoped and planned.
\nIt did.
\nI slept the sleep of the exhausted and the relieved.<\/p>\n