The Community Arts Council of Saanich Peninsula is hosting its annual 'Small Expressions' exhibition in the Community Arts Centre at Tulista Park, Sidney BC, March 4 - 30, Tuesdays to Sundays, 10:00 to 4:00 pm.
A team of us spent 9 hours the first-day accepting work and hanging the show.
One of the challenges with hanging the show is all of the works are small.
Artists were challenged to work within a 12" x 12" x 12" framework. This is not always easy when one is used to expressing ideas in a much larger format.
It is interesting to see how many of the artists take the opportunity to explore a new technique or medium. They take more risks and they make discoveries. I wonder if for some this Small Expressions exhibition works as a catalyst or a jumping off point to head in a new direction.
When planning the hanging we had to forget about going for contrast in size and focus more on themes, colour contrasts and compatibility and how different works influenced each other.
With all the works being small we hung them close together and in groupings ensuring each work sit comfortably with the others.
That is why it took 9 hours the first day and more hours the next day to straighten, adjust, fine tune, tweak, and add labels. I wasn't able to help the second day because I was out at Sooke hanging the VISDA 'Current Threads: Garden Tapestry' exhibition I posted about here
One of this exhibition's charms is how it makes the viewer physically get up close to the works. Each work enters the viewer's personal space creating a feeling of intimacy. Having to look at one work at a time slows the viewer down and encourages contemplation. Long distant scanning of the walls is unsatisfying. There is an absence of the usual back-and-forward dance in front of the wall. Instead, the viewer moves along the wall with their nose nearly touching the works.
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