Interested in creating a visual arts exhibition for your community? From the best way of hanging artworks to communicating the artist’s meaning, there are lots of things to consider.

To get you started we invited Glen Stoker, Co-Director of AirSpace Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent City Centre to share his insights with Artsbank.

First comes the idea. When we start to think about an exhibition, we always start with a conversation about what we want to explore – the overall themes and topics. From there we start to look at the details and offshoots. There are always lots of different ways and views to consider a topic – we all think slightly differently about things, and this allows a much wider range of possibilities for work that can be exhibited.

Visual art is just another form of communication. It’s just like talking or writing about ideas, but in this case, mainly, it uses visual senses as the main way to communicate. So, when deciding on which works to exhibit, it is important to see how the works communicate, inwardly, with each other, and then how, collectively, the works communicate together outwards to the viewer or audience.

it is important to see how the works communicate, inwardly, with each other, and … outwards to the viewer or audience.

A good way to achieve effective communication is to choose a variety of different artists whose artworks are linked by the main idea of your exhibition. In this way you can cover lots of the different approaches, considerations or points of view that your core topic will have. If you also choose a variety of practices and ‘mediums’ – e.g. sculpture, performance, painting, photography, installation, film and video – then this will offer every viewer something that they can connect with.

Choose whether you want to exhibit a solo artist or several artists in a group show. If it’s a solo artist who works in just one medium – e.g. painting – try and mix up the sizes of their paintings on display, so that the viewer’s eye is always having to readjust – this keeps the experience fresh, and means the viewer is always being offered a new experience. If it’s a group show, think about how different artists’ works respond to each other. Try not to simply show all of the artists’ works separately – try and mix them and see if you can find complements or similarities between different artists’ works.

…try and mix up the sizes of their paintings on display, so that the viewer’s eye is always having to readjust.

Think of a good title for the exhibition. The title might just be one word or a phrase – but it should be catchy, so it gets the attention of the public, and it should act as the thing that combines all of the work and the overall idea of the exhibition.

When “hanging” or placing the work, allow each piece plenty of space. If work is too cluttered, the viewer might get confused. It’s important to give a piece of work, however small, some space to breathe. Each piece of work deserves its own space – it shows that you value it and it helps to concentrate the eye of the viewer. Make sure you “hang” or place the work carefully. If you’re putting a painting on a wall make sure it hangs straight. You can use a spirit level. If there are three paintings in a row, make sure the two gaps between them are identical.

Each piece of work deserves its own space

Decide how you want to communicate the ‘meaning’ of the work to the viewer. Often the motivation of the artist, and what they intend with their work, and the interpretation of the artist’s work by the viewer can be very different. Nether is wrong – in fact often both will be right – even if they differ. However, it is still useful to convey the artist’s intentions to the viewer. Be careful, however, as if you place the artist’s explanation of the meaning of a piece of work right next to the work, this will often stop the viewer coming to their own conclusions. Remember, it’s important to allow the viewer the chance to make up their own mind about the artworks, and it’s ok for the viewer’s idea about a piece of work to be different from the artist’s. One way to achieve this is to make a floorplan, where the explanations about the work all sit together. You can print this out and give it to the viewer as they enter the exhibition, and they then have the choice whether they read the explanation before or after they have seen the work.

Remember, it’s important to allow the viewer the chance to make up their own mind about the artworks…

Promote your exhibition and your artists. There is no point in having an exhibition if no-one comes to it, or if the only people who do come to see it are people you already know. Remember, this is a form of communication, and so you need people, new people to communicate the artworks and ideas to. So, tell the world about your exhibition. Use social media and your own networks, and the local radio and newspapers. And your exhibition could not happen without the amazing work and the hard work of the artists. Let the audience know all about the artist, who they are, how they work etc. If they have a website, tell everyone about it. This helps the artist to expand their own networks.

Let the audience know all about the artist, who they are, how they work etc.

Pay your artists. Your exhibition could not happen without the amazing work and the hard work of the artists. Artists often work for free and are often expected to work for free. But many artists are professionals. They have been trained and it is how they try and make their living. We wouldn’t expect a plumber to fix our leaky taps, and then not pay them, and we shouldn’t expect an artist to make work for an exhibition and not pay them either.

You could apply for funding from organisations such as Arts Council England (sometimes Stoke-on-Trent City Council or Appetite have funding streams too). This will help cover the costs of holding your exhibition, but also would allow you some funds to pay your artist(s). If you can’t get this external funding, you could ask for donations from visitors and generate funds which you can give to the artist, or have a bar and give your profits to the artist.

If you sell a piece of artwork, it is ok for you to take a portion of the money. Many art galleries split the payment 50/50 with the artist. You might consider this to be slightly unfair, and decide that a more equitable split be 70% for the artist and 30% for the gallery.

Have fun and make the exhibition fun for the visitors. For the opening night, make it an event. You could have a performance or some music. There is no need for silence in an art gallery, it is not a library after all!

Written by

Glen Stoker

Co-Director, AirSpace Gallery