Art Notes (or: How to Curate)...

Have you ever wanted to host a gallery show, only to be frustrated in not having a venue? Look no further than your own apartment! This past weekend, Chris and I co-curated with our friend Bea the second This Collective Pull art exhibition. On Monday I showed you the party side of the event, and today I show you all the preparation it took to pull this thing off! The three of us took about two months planning the event. We sent out a call to artists on Facebook (always handy for so many things) and set the date for August 22.

First thing's first, we clearly had to paint. Our unfortunate eggy-yellow walls just weren't gonna cut it:
We set out to Home Depot in search of the perfect "Gallery Gray". This is much better:
Next, we installed our borrowed track lighting. We quickly discovered that this project is not fun to do in 90 degree heat:
After collecting the artwork from our participating artists, we laid down some paper and started to think about what should go where:

Then it was time to install! :

Chris was able to get some die-cut stickers made at work of all the artists names. This added nicely to our desired air of professionalism:
We also had a die-cut made of the title to put in the hallway, it took some wrangling:

But we got it eventually:

After hanging all of the work, we still weren't done. We still had to vacuum, dust, and windex everything:

We were finally able to step back and admire our work:

Saturday afternoon, Bea and I headed to the grocery store to pick up wine and cheese. Then, all of a sudden it was 5pm and time for the opening! We had a fantastic showing of about 40 people:

I'm pretty confident that everyone enjoyed themselves:

Cheese, Wine, etc:

It was really great to talk with all of the artists:

In case you are wondering where all of our stuff went, everything we owned went into our bedroom while we prepared for the show. It was terrible. Chris and I camped out in our living room for two days on an air mattress because this is what our bedroom looked like:

Our house is still not back to normal!

Our statement, if you're interested:

Beverly artists and curators Bea Modisett, Julie O’Boyle and Chris Sharp are happy to announce the launch of the second “This Collective Pull,” a one night only art exhibition, opening on August 22nd at 5:00 pm. Modisett, a 2007 graduate of Montserrat College of Art, conceptualized and initiated the first “This Collective Pull” last June, in an effort to unite local area artists. This initial exhibition spurred O’Boyle and Sharp to jump on board for the second incarnation which will feature the painting, photography, drawing and sculpture of Justin Bothwell, Peter Brefini, Steven Carvalho, David McCoy, Mary Bucci McCoy, Bea Modisett, Julie O’Boyle, Shawn Salinger, Chris Sharp, Sarah Smith, and Adria Sutter. These exhibitions are hung in alternative venues throughout the area in an effort to raise awareness of, and create a stronger collaborative community within, the artists of the North Shore. The momentum of this second show has proven to be successful with the offer of two venues for the future installations of “This Collective Pull.”

I should also mention that the installation alone took about a week, the pictures make it seem faster. It wasn't.