Saturday, May 29, 2010

Exhibition opening


Openings are invigorating and tiring at the same time. I left the gallery today with mixed feelings. I enjoyed talking to people about my work, but I certainly enjoyed coming home to a quiet room. Two years out of your life painting, painting, painting, and then suddenly it's all over.

It was a lovely afternoon. Many friends and family as well as other artists showed up. My work always looks so much smaller and brighter in a gallery setting. Much thought was put into how the work would be paired and hung. I liked the overall effect. Next Sunday I'm giving an artist talk about the work and my two week stay in the gardens at Birr Castle.

Looking for a quiet corner to take a shot literally put me in a corner. This shot mimics my compositions. My isolation and the compression of the two walls made my portrait correspond to some of the tight compositions I'd used in the work. An artist friend, and mentor (much younger than I am), noted that this work is the one that is fighting for more space visually. I agreed. This work received much consideration over the last few months. In the end I decided that the scale of the flowers worked for me. Daylilies are bright and sprawling plants that always seek space and attention.

This gives a good idea of the spacing and groupings used to present the work. It was a challenge to hang the show because all the pieces were the same size and format. My intent was to provide slices of a garden as if one was looking through a hedge opening or the bars in a gate. No lush panoramas for me! One of the strategies we used to break the visual sameness of the format was to provide various groupings and uneven spacing between the works.

I hope all his serious discussion is about my work, but I doubt it. Long time friend Helen is talking to my daughter Sara. They hadn't seen each other in years. Sasha is a blurr of movement. It was her first opening and she took it all in. Any reason to wear a party dress is impressive for a three year old.

Oh,Poppa! There's treats on the table. Let's go...

One of the difficult things about hanging this work was trying to provide relief from the obsessive amount of detail in each piece. There were not many works that had visual resting places but we did find ways to break up the detail with larger forms and colour. This grouping of three was one of the solutions we used to calm things down.

These are four of my eight encaustic pieces that focused on the benches on the property where I sat and wrote my reflections over my two week stay. If you enlarge the shot you will see that some of my text has been layered into the work. Small and eloquent, these are some of my favourite works.

It was a great afternoon.

14 comments:

ArtPropelled said...

Your work looks amazing Margaret. Congratulations! What an achievement! It must be quite an anti-climax after the build up and rush to get everything ready in time, but also a relief to put your feet up after the opening.

TSL said...

How wonderful and how yummy it all is, this makes me happy. Congrats to you on all your wonderful work!

Leslie Avon Miller said...

Congratulations Margaret! Your concepts worked well. What an accomplishment. Your artist's talk is something to look forward to.

Casey Klahn said...

Best wishes!

Blue Sky Dreaming said...

Congratulations! The show looks great and your hanging ideas are well thought out. I clicked to enlarge small benches and really liked them. Lovely family too!

hw (hallie) farber said...

Looks like a wonderful show; thanks for posting the photosa. Congratulations.

Stan Kurth said...

Kudos, Margaret! Wish I could have been there.

HeartFire said...

Congratulations on your show Margaret, a wonderful body of work that you created, thank you for sharing!

-Don said...

Thanks for 'taking' us to the show with you. You have given us a wonderful overview of what we missed. I really enjoyed reading about your decision-making process on hanging your show. I understand the anti-climactic feeling you must have had upon arriving home after the event, but you should also feel quite proud of a job well done.

-Don

Jeanette Jobson said...

Wonderful exhibit Margaret! The hard work has paid off in spades and the pieces look fabulous in that space.

Mark Sheeky said...

Congratulations Margaret! The layout looks very nice too. It's a pity I can't see some of that detail from here. I wonder if you found yourself having the same discussion about your work to new people over and over.

Kim Hambric said...

How wonderful to see your paintings together. I love the thought of viewing them as through a fence. I think the irregular hanging was a fantastic idea.

Unknown said...

Congratulations on a terrific show, Margaret!! I'm impressed by your work and the detailed attention you gave to its display. A great accomplishment, indeed!

beauty comma said...

i like the uneven grouping/spacing; it looks like it works well. and i love the pieces with the benches!
congratulations margaret!