Mapping The Exhibit

Good morning,

Welcome to the Cooper studio.

Sometimes it takes a long time for the light bulb to turn on. I have been exhibiting at art fairs for 18 (?) years, and just now happened on a really great time saver. Let me share.

Being a 2D artist, painting, I am very determined to have a cohesive, well organized display. In the past, I would hang a couple of paintings, and then experiment to fill in around them. I could easily spend an hour moving paintings from one side of the exhibit to the other, before I was satisfied with the results.

The light bulb turned on (yea!) and now my average "hang" time is fifteen minutes. How, you say? A day or two prior to the event, while still at home, I make a map. How simple is that? All it takes is a sheet of white paper, in scale to my propanels, with correspondingly scaled images of the paintings I intend to display. Do you know how much easier it is to move paintings around when they are 3 x 3 INCHES and hung with double stick tape, than when they are 3 x 3 FEET and hung with metal hooks stuck into propanel fabric?

Once I get the "map" du jour completed to my satisfaction, I roll it up and stow it. Once at the exhibit, I set up the propanels, get the map out, and hang the paintings. Piece o'cake, right? Absolutely. Why-oh-why didn't I think of this sooner? But I've got it now, and it's a gem. Try it for yourself.

Later, Cooper