I really enjoyed the experience of working with a group to curate my thesis exhibition. While at times it was very stressful, it ended up being a great learning experience for the entire class. The main issue I encountered when installing my piece was that I was placed in the main gallery and for a piece that was going to take up some room, I felt it wasn’t the right location. I was then moved into a smaller room off the main gallery which was much more suitable for my piece. The problem I encountered there was that it was slightly blocking another artists work. I was very flexible with moving so I ended up moving to another space in the room, which ended up looking great in the end.
When building my installation I encountered some other issues. My dad helped me construct a space which was meant to be enclosed but we decided that, with blue cellophane, I could create an this closed space at a cheaper cost. I felt it still needed something but kept it as was for the critic to see and give advising on my next move.
The critic was very helpful in helping me decide that the right thing to do would be to board up the walls with wood to create a totally dark room which you could not see from the outside. Having the walls boarded up would force my audience to have to open my closet door and experience my dream world. This ended up being a very easy procedure and wasn’t costly so we went for it. This was a great move towards completing my thesis how I had originally intended.
Meeting with my photography class to critique my work was very helpful as well. I was thinking of putting photographs on the wall next to my installation of close ups of the piece. They helped me decide that by doing that, people would already be able to know what is inside the space and may not realize to open the door. I decided in the end to just have the installation without the pictures. I got great feedback and my class loved the final piece. My 3d glasses were also a hit!
All in all, I think this was a great learning experience and would do it over a million times again. I will really miss this class and the great friends I’ve made. : )
