Coordinating on organising an exhibition

In my last blog post, I was talking about collaborating with my friend Fiona Hutchison on putting together a two-person show. This post is on the same subject, but more about coordination, a similar but distinct topic.

The themes of our work are similar but we also have our own voices. Fiona loves the sea and sailing, with her practice inspired by all things maritime. My own work has been often about journeys, first about my ancestors and their voyages to new lands, then about the plight of refuges and most recently about the hazardous migrations of birds. So there is an overlap on the subject of journeys and sometimes sea journeys, as well as the medium we choose.

All that said, what will the tapestries look like side by side? Some work just doesn’t like right together. Fiona’s tapestries are mainly white and pale blue, while mine are full of strong colours. We didn’t want to separate the work into different rooms, nor did we want to hang the show as her/me/her/me. Much puzzling ensued.

In a show that it properly curated and well thought out, the pieces should ‘speak’ to each other – there shouldn’t be a sense of jarring between them. For example, can you imagine a heavily and darkly painted Frank Auerbach next to a delicate 19^th-century watercolour? Besides colours harmonising in the pieces, there should be a sense of flow, of leading from one thing to the next. Again, connections are important.

It is almost as important to know what to leave out as what to hang. We have had to edit, looking for what looks good together, and sometimes we have had to be ruthless.

So save the date! The private view is 6-8pm, 3 May 2024. You will be able to see whether we have succeeded.