Posted by This week pulled no punches as it is the first week of the class, AND the first week we set up a show. In this class we all stay after on install days until the show is finished installing. In this case, it meant we stayed until about 6. The class runs from 2pm until 3:30pm normally. Do you catch my drift?
So initially, we’re all a little nervous. With only two other people who have taken the class before (meaning they are taking it again as an upper level course) I expected there to be some jostling. I mean, we, the students, are in charge of putting our undergraduate degree hands of art and putting holes in them at exact levels and measurements about 7 times throughout the semester for like 5 hours at a time. It’s daunting.
So the first show needs to be put up and thankfully it’s the student show. Meaning it’s work that if we mess up doesn’t cost us our tuition or more. Splitting into groups was easy, the hard part was decided where everything goes and learning by doing. My group was in charge of the ‘digital’ area. This was work form the 144/244 Digital processes class and the Photography class(which I was in.) I want to emphasize again that this was a learning by doing class day. We were told to pin the art up. We were not given a demo on doing it, just Q and A type of instruction. So going to work eventually became less anxiety ridden. This also meant that some groups finished before others. The groups that took longer time usually being the ones that painstakingly measured distances and area and pin placement.
But pinning canvases and paper to the walls was all minuscule stuff compared to what I got to do. Hang the TV. I was really hoping to use a power tool at some point and my prayers were answered. Leah, the gallery manager and all around bad ass, gave a demo on how to do it. Measure 60in from the bottom and halfway from either side and mark it. Drill in the brace, make sure it’s level, and hang the tv. Fin. It took her maybe 6 minutes to do. Me, on the other hand, about 15 minutes. The damn brace kept falling because of the vibration of the drill. But when it was finished, it felt great. I drilled something into the gallery wall, something that was kind of naughty impulse before. It was great.
All in all, I do think I’ll enjoy install days. The tedious hanging of things really gets my engineering engines going. Same as small math problems. I like this kind of ‘busywork’. The only real downside is that it takes so long(3+ hours outside class time on avg, we’re told). Hopefully, we get faster. And hopefully, I can drill something else.
