17 May It's all coming together...Curational decisions.

Nearly there... after some reordering and editing..

• The hat is no longer needed.. I'll include it in supporting work but not the exhibition.
• Apple of my eye...is included and actually reads in a really interesting way next to Deviant.. I'd not seen them together because of how they developed in different locations. Deviant was resolved in the studio but I worked on Apple of my eye from home after Easter.  The pure uninhibited joy of Jasmin next to my sombre expression are a real contrast. 
• The corner wall now features all of the family portraits and the Deviant (witch hat painting1)has enough space from the Careful what you wish for (witch hat painting 2) to connect the space but allow distance to read them separately.
• The apples (witchmarks and spent fruit) are now hung on the edge of the space (right) which balances some of the colour palettes in the work and levels out the apple iconography that runs throughout. 
• Ironically (untitled-after Munier) the one painting that I was concerned about including because I'd had conversations about it being offensive or not - is central in the main wall facing the window - but it also reads in an interesting way by being curated with significant/ insignificant (Dead Sparrow) In the end I decided that the work is about visual language - so it means whatever the viewer reads the language as  - but that doesn't mean that any particular reading is necessarily the right one.
• It does feel like the work is well spaced but also connected. 
• I hadn't considered moving A shadowy stroll to the right of the corner wall but - we added apple of my eye back in on the left side, which we'd previously thought was a little crowded, but in moving A shadowy stroll and spacing the works on the left differently, it works really well. 
• I need to edit my statement because its clear that people don't read apotropaic marks in their historical sense - which is something that the exhibition is hinged on - but I don't want to perpetuate this. I want the historical significance to be clear from the statement. They were referred to as runes today which is an interesting read of the space.
• I considered taking A shadowy stroll out of the frame to allow the viewer to see the edges and not cap the brush strokes - I'm in two minds over this - the frame protects the image and doesn't entirely let the viewer in which works for the context but also doesn't appear to be a professional approach to hanging work...in the end we kept it as was. Feedback was that it looked great in the space, other than from academic staff ..which isn't sitting with me well - but at this point, any damage or addressing the sides of the canvas board could potentially be problematic.

 I've given the apples (Witchmarks/Spent Fruit) a little more distance from the other works, to emphasise that they're a pendant and because they almost stand alone as still life pieces -but are connected through context.

 

Mother Grundy is hung with the intention of feeling domestic - I'm hoping this comes together when the chairs arrive.  I'm also hoping that the chairs don't emphasise a eye view of the back of the studio wall - which is absolutely not the focus..its a space not included in the exhibition and excluded by estates as relevant to cleaning etc.. (bit of a mess behind there- I'll sweep it but its just not a prepped space ) 

 

I had hung Rasing girls from the top line of Deviant, but it was suggested that this was too high for an average viewer to see and appreciate fully, so this was moved down to the bottom line, (assisted by Tammy ) which is much better. Holes filled and painted.

The paint is awful. It started as a great coverage and colour but every time you brush against it, knock it, move a canvas in order to curate or measure; it marks.

I attempted to feather some marks out with a dry brush of this paint and although it may not have been fully dry when I left, I'm pretty sure its a different colour. In fact every coat or change in application from brush to roller has been a different tonal shade... nightmare of a paint choice, that wasn't evident in testing.

Tested my spots and studio spots (ceiling and clip ons) all were pretty insignificant or hindered the viewing experience by putting the viewer into their own shadow or being in the way as you turn into Poppys space (face full of direct led light) They also change the pigment in Apple of my eye, so lights have been abandoned. 

The curation plays with light and dark spaces and there's a lot of natural light and overhead strip lights so we're running with this.

Lining up Sway with Careful what you wish for with a laser level. 

The frames at the back are different depths -something I'd not initially considered - so I had to re drill but the canvases have all proven tricky - the corners don't appear level/ consistent as they're hand stretched and folded into the corners. Sway was a few mm too high which threw the whole top line out, several drill holes and hacks to make minor adjustments later and she's finally in the right place.

I'd fitted all of the box frame fixtures first thing in the morning and then checked in with tutors to see which hooks to use - friends thought the picture hanging hooks with 2 nails were sufficient (and allowed some degree of manual correction...bending..) but I wasn't sure if I should use solid hooks with 2 screws.  On advice that it simply wasn't necessary and would be harder to figure out where to hang everything evenly, I opted for screws.

Several people commented on the frayed edge of Significant /Insignificant (Dead Sparrow) which was nice - the raw edge is doing its own thing but the materiality of it is lovely. 

Took some graffiti remover to the front of the studios and removed some black oil based paint from a previous degree show, so as not to distract from the works in the front window and helped hannah with her exhibition space, general support, photos for her supporting work and a little drilling.