A Successful Opening

My four beach girls paintings at Yarmouth Frame and Gallery

each 12"x12" oil on canvas in floater frames

I went to two exhibition openings this weekend, both of which I felt were successful. That got me thinking, what makes an opening a success? There are some basics, like great artwork of interest to those who live in the area, and pleasant, well-lighted surroundings. And of course, having the event publicized by the artists and the venues. Simple finger food and a little wine are also great. 

Teaming Up by Joelle Feldman at Yarmouth Frame and Gallery, Joelle also has paintings at the Wild Salamander show.

One thing that makes for a good turn out is having the artist(s) present, which was the case for both of the openings I was at this weekend. In one case, it was a show for four artists in the same medium, at a local art center venue, where they regularly have classes and workshops, and exhibitions by groups or individual artists. In this venue there are no “gallery artists”, though it’s such a lovely venue that I imagine there are artists who book it regularly. The other is a gallery that has a stable of gallery artists, and four or five openings a year. Both were very well attended.

The Wedding Tree by Lisa Regopoulos at the Wild Salamander Art Center

The shows were hung differently, but both effectively. In the case of the four artists, each artists work were separated into groups of two or three paintings, and the groups were distributed throughout the venue, so the viewer moved from one artist’s work to another and back again as they went around the three open rooms. Because the work was all in the same medium, it held together really nicely. And by the time I’d seen everything, I felt I could identify each artist’s work with ease. In the gallery case, the space was nicely divided by movable walls into a number of niches for viewing the artwork. Each artist’s work occupied one or more wall of one of the niches. This allowed for lots of hanging space, and easy movement of viewers between the different spaces.

Lobster Rafts at Dusk by John Bowdren at Yarmouth Frame and Gallery

How do you get people to linger, to chat with the artists and each other, and to really look at the artwork? In both cases, the artists were actively engaged in answering questions and discussing individual paintings with the visitors to the exhibitions. It was also very nice to see students of the various artists come to the shows, and great to chat with them.

All in all, I very much enjoyed both of these shows, discovered a few new artists whose work I love, and got a chance to discuss artwork, methods, framing, and upcoming workshops.

The two shows are open for a while yet, and very worth taking a look at.

Nature’s Delight at the Wild Salamander Art Center in Hollis, NH, through June 24:
http://www.wildsalamander.com/whitty_gallery.html

Rise and Fall of Light at Yarmouth Frame and Gallery, in Yarmouth, ME, though September: http://www.yarmouthframeandgallery.com


For more information about my paintings and upcoming classes and workshops, please visit my website.