Trip to the lowry

Lowry Art Gallery and Imperial War Museum visit

Today we went on a trip to Salford Quays where we were lucky enough to receive a talk from The Lowry's gallery curator, Michael Simpson. He went into alot of detail and explained to us the intricate processes involved in setting up and preparing for an exhibition, the mass of work that goes on behind the scenes, and the costs involved. Additionally he gave us some tips and advice we can utilise as creative practitioners and how to go about approaching galleries inquiring about potential exhibitions ourselves. I didn't take notes during the talk, however it was very interesting and I found the curator quite engaging and managed to retain alot of information which I a will outline below for my own future reference.

Most galleries work to their own specific themes and or ideas which effects the work they display as they have an overall idea the gallery is trying to portray. The collections are often all linked and very specific to the message of the gallery. For example, the Lowry's theme is Performance. 

When contacting a gallery requesting that they look at/ consider your work for exhibitions, make sure your images fit in with what they want to show rather than sending a recent series that is completely unrelated. 

He explained that as a curator he loves talking to artists as we are the 'tallent' and it is his job to find a suitable window for it to be displayed. He went on to explain that If a curator in a particular area receives a request to look at some artwork that they feel is good quality but unfortunately not suitable for their establishment if they think the work may be of use  elsewhere, they will often contact their fellow curators to pass on the work as they are a close nit community, often sharing ideas and work.

If contacting more than one gallery, take some time to do some research into each individual gallery you are contacting to tailor your messages, work you send and general approach to each one. Do not be impersonal and generic; let the curators know that you are aware of what they do and that you have a real interest, this also shows you respect them and their time as you have invested you own time discovering what they want/need

Galleries plan their exhibitions months and years in advance; at the Lowry they organise their exhibits between 1 and 2 years ahead, getting in contact with artists and making arrangements. 

Galleries have to consider a huge range of costs; even practical things like keeping the gallery space clean, tidy and freshly painted/designed for each new exhibition add a lot to the costs.

Insurance on artwork is another additional cost: The Lowry pay the cost of transporting any artwork to and from the gallery and this has to be insured against any potential damage until it is returned to the artist.

Some galleries give artists a cut of the profits they make from their exhibitions, but there are often other costs for the artist such as printing and framing. At the Lowry, the artist does not receive any money from the gallery as entry for visitors is free and profit does not come in that way; however, all the printing and framing costs are taken on by the gallery as well as transporting the artwork, which the artist can then keep, so there are other benefits for the artist.

The gallery have to consider what are the best ways of promoting each exhibition, and the best ways to reach their target audience. Posters and flyers are produced, but the majority of marketing is now done online through the gallery's website and through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. They have to make sure news of the exhibition is well advertised to bring in as many visitors as possible.

After an exhibition has finished, the artist and curator have various aspects to consider when judging whether is has been a success; for the gallery, publicity and visitors will have increased, generating profit (although not directly through ticket sales) and for the artist, although they are not paid, their work will have reached a very wide and diverse audience and may have attracted the attention of other curators who could then potentially take their work to an even wider audience being exhibited elsewhere.

The curator explained that when exhibiting our own work, we should generate clear goals for ourselves in order to asses the success after completion.

 

Whilst at the gallery we spent some time in the exhibition space viewing the current photography exhibition in the upper gallery space, which is, 

'Centre Stage, Portraits of a Lowry Audience' by Katherine Green. 

These are large-scale framed portraits of some of the Lowry Theatre's most dedicated attendees, who come from a diverse range of backgrounds. 

Each caption accompanying the images gave viewers some more information on the people in the portraits. 

I enjoyed looking through this series; the spot light effect draws the viewer's eye straight to the expression on the subject's face, which are all unique and give an impression of their character. After spending some time with each image, other objects in the background and information about their surrounds seem to slowly appear out of the blackness and become more apparent and significant to the image. The spotlit appearance of the people amongst the darkness also echoes the subject of the Theater that ties the whole series together. Some of the images were significantly stronger than others and my only criticism comes from the fact that there were at least two images I felt didn't belong in the exhibition.

 

 

Accompanying Green's portraits were some video installation pieces by Hilary Easter-Jones.

The LCD screens and headphones displayed short clips showcasing the lives of other audience members. These sound was a narration from the people in the videos themselves. The work of these two artists presented together created a strong exhibition which gave information and dealt with the idea that art, theater, performance and creative activity in general can enrich lives of many, generate recreational activities and bring people together regardless of social status, background, age, gender or nationality.

Other exhibitions seen during today's visit

Peter Blake and Pop Music - The Lowry

This exhibition contained prints and original items of some of Peter Blake's most famous artworks from the past few decades.

There were also a range of his artworks on display featuring images of famous figures from pop culture. Particularly from the world of music. Blake has used found materials including memorabilia and autographs to capture the spirit of the fans surrounding these icons.

 

It was interesting talking to Karin about these works and her information regarding the markings on the images was priceless knowledge I will remember when printing my own work in future.

 

 

 (I found these photos on The Lowry's Flickr account)

 

 

After dinner we went over to visit the Imperial War Museum, where we visited their current exhibition looking at how medicine and surgery has helped wounded soldiers and civilians during wartime, and how it has changed and moved forward throughout the years. It was useful in relation to our current project as we were able to view images is a unique way. Less of a gallery format for display.

The images were displayed very differently at the war museum, in a way it felt a lot more industrial, which was appropriate for the theme issues the images were dealing with.

Film clips and text were also projected on the walls to make the experience more interactive and generally visually engaging, In a way the layout suggested it was more targeted at a younger audience or at least people who weren't comfortable with the usual gallery format

(http://www.thelowry.com/exhibitions/microsites/peter-blake-and-pop-music/gallery/)