Group Size
?
1.) Small group (teams of 4-6)
2.) Individual Task
3.) Large Group
4.) Any
Small group (teams of 4-6)
Learning Environment
?
1.) Lecture Theatre
2.) Presentation Space
3.) Carousel Tables (small working group)
4.) Any
5.) Outside
6.) Special
Special
QAA Enterprise Theme(s)
?
1.) Creativity and Innovation
2.) Opportunity recognition, creation and evaluation
3.) Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
4.) Implementation of ideas through leadership and management
5.) Reflection and Action
6.) Interpersonal Skills
7.) Communication and Strategy
3Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
6Interpersonal Skills
7Communication and Strategy
THIS Project is a North Wales based social enterprise, promoting arts and culture through a wide range of services and activities, including exhibitions, concerts, training and events, the management of pop-up and semi-permanent gallery / event spaces, and providing studio spaces for professional artists. Based in Wrexham, it serves North Wales and wider region, and has a close relationship with the region’s key education and arts organisations.
This exercise saw a group of recent graduates of Fine Art (at the North Wales School of Art and Design, Glyndwr University), gain real world experience in a faced-paced, professional gallery environment. 12 student artists volunteered with THIS Project in Galeri 3B, one of its premier exhibiting venues, and over the course of three days went through the process of preparing, curating, installing and managing an exhibition within the gallery, featuring their own work and the works of fellow recent graduates.
Over a three day period in September 2014, students shadowed and supported the THIS Project team, as it went through the process of the clean down, set up and installation of new exhibition works at Galeri 3B.
The graduates worked as a team, and took responsibility for hanging their own works. Though this is something they had experience of from their University exhibitions, the challenge of working to tight time-scales, in a new environment, was one they had to successfully adapt to.
The students then prepared written statements about their works, and displayed these alongside them at the exhibition.
The main purpose of the exercise was for the Graduates to understand the importance of being able to hang their own work, have clear ideas about how they would like it to be displayed, and the ability to communicate these ideas effectively, as well as being able to communicate confidently about their own work with a variety of audiences.
We hope it gave the graduates the confidence to be able to approach other galleries in the future, and experience of how to act in a professional gallery environment.
Figure 1. The students' exhibition poster
For THIS Project as an organisation, working with the graduates was a great opportunity to build networks with emerging artists, and to build connections between art students and graduates, and the general public in North East Wales. The effective display artwork is an important factor in the self-promotion of the artist, and so this was something we were keen to give students opportunities to develop their skills in.
Student Feedback Included:
“Well I was glad for the opportunity to show our work again to the public. I thought you did a good job of assisting us in organising and handling our art work. The space was excellent for obvious reasons. Yeah it was the first time I had art work in a gallery, and you offered me to volunteer at the gallery. Which allowed me to see and be a part of art events of Wrexham, and to see other working artists.”
“I would say it helped in the sense that it gave me some experience as to what it’s like to exhibit your work in an actual gallery as opposed to just in Uni, also it forced me to really think about how I should price my work and compare my decision to what others in my class priced their work and get a vague idea of how much people expect things to cost, it was also helpful and interesting to hear feedback from the general public, as their opinions were different to what some lecturers thought, and I think they tend to be more honest than when asking friends and family.”
Some of the outcomes achieved by the students involved in the project included;
References:
