Guyer: How has your perspective about art changed throughout the process of organizing your own exhibition? Meg: Organizing an exhibition can easily become more about event planning and less about the art if you get caught up in it. Preparing for a show means there are deadlines you have to comply to that are more pressing than deadlines for class critiques. Knowing that each person who walked through the art hallway during school or at the show was judging my art was a scary idea at first—my art was no longer only being judged in the comfort of my own art class. Guyer: What would you do differently if you had the opportunity to do it over? Meg: I would have live tweeted during the event to get more people to come. I also would have spread the word better about the fact that these art shows are more than art on the walls—they are events! There is music and food and people being social! I think many high schools need to hear more incentives like that in order to come to an event they would not normally come to. Guyer: If you had unlimited time and resources, what else would you have done to complete your show? Meg: I would have incorporated more variety… and really just MORE overall. There would have been some 3D ceramic pieces (that would fit in with the paintings and mixed media). Also, I would have definitely had a video projected somewhere that would help tie everything together. Finally, I would have mentioned somewhere in print that my art was for sale at the show. Guyer: What was the value of this experience for you? | Meg: This experience had tremendous value for me because it was the first event that I have ever planned and hosted for me. I am rarely a hostess and was a bit uneasy at first at the idea of advertising for the show because I felt like I was advertising for myself. Which, I sort of was. It was great to watch everything come together after four years of waiting to have a senior show! Guyer: How could this process be enhanced for future Art 5 students? Meg: Make art shows something students want to come to! If enough of the “right” students become interested in the shows, then I believe they will reach a tipping point in student attendance levels… which in turn, raises the expectation bar for the artist hosting the show. So, future Art 5 students, start talking up senior art shows NOW! Make them “cool” amongst the student body. Student artists should be recognized across the school, just as student athletes and student actors. Guyer: What do you wish you knew before your show now that you've gone through the process? Meg: People at the show will not notice the minor imperfections that you, the artist, cannot stop worrying about. The artist will always see the paint chips, crooked lines, missing light bulb, or whatever, more than the guests. For all they know, it was on purpose. So relax. Guyer: What is the best advice you can give those who will have shows in the future? Meg: Be proud of your art and just have fun! |