Volunteer Blog – The Landing

Volunteer Blog – The Landing

By: Jan Hill, Volunteer at The Atkinson

I am part of a team that helps with The Atkinson’s commercial gallery space, The Landing. It is used to showcase the work of local artists and the team has been busy developing information for interested artists and selecting which works will be displayed.

This week I have been helping to take down the art work from one exhibition and hanging the next. I was really looking forward to doing this. After the doldrums of the holiday period I was ready for a bit of work and a bit of creativity.

The work part came first. We began by taking the artwork from the walls. We use a sophisticated system for hanging the art which involves almost invisible cables hanging from a track at ceiling height. It is a very flexible way of showing off pictures to the best advantage. Once down we wrapped up all the pictures in bubble wrap and several miles of parcel tape! As there were a lot of pictures it took us most of Tuesday to complete this work. I must have been more out of shape than I realised as by the end of the day my back was aching from moving the pictures around and leaning over the wrapping table, but it was rewarding to know that the artists would have their creations safely returned.

On Wednesday we began hanging the work from the next artist to rent The Landing space. This involved deciding on the perfect placement for each new picture. My contribution to the process was more as an apprentice following the master, or in this case Nicola, our museum manager who is the originator of the whole Landing venture. The care and attention to detail she devoted to getting each and every work of art in exactly the right place was amazing, and an education for me as well. Nicola and I moved the paintings around to try them in a variety of locations. Then we had to make sure that everything was correct to ensure the pictures would all hang level. This involved a good deal of measuring, standing back and evaluating through squinted eyes! Once the pictures had all been hung and the labels had been carefully matched to each picture our work was done.

It had been another long day but a very interesting one. It was very busy in The Atkinson on Wednesday with many visitors passing through The Landing on their way to the Star Wars exhibition and galleries. It was fascinating to see their reactions to the work we were displaying. The artist is Sue Aigelsreiters and she paints scenes from around Merseyside. The picture above is my favourite. It is called ‘Beach’ and I love the simplicity of it. It brings back memories of long, sunny summer days.

So, my two days were exhausting and interesting in equal measure. It was great to learn new skills as well as to be useful to The Atkinson. It was rewarding to be working with the creative endeavors of an artist and to make a pleasing display of her work. The sore back and aching knees were forgotten once I got home!

Light and Shadow by Sue Aigelsreiter opens this Saturday (7 January) at 10am so come and take a look!

Image is Beach by Sue Aigelsreiter

Posted on 6 January 2017 under Exhibitions

Share:
Share your comments
Facebook