Yesterday Sam, Carol and I visited the Lightbox in Woking. What a lovely gallery! The exhibition we went to see displayed the most incredible shoes and bags, truly beautiful, from the collections at Northampton Museums and Art Gallery and Museum of Bags and Purses in Amsterdam. The objects were the very best of the best examples from around 1600 onwards including all the big names in shoe and bag design. We all sighed at the beautiful objects as we went round. The exhibition design was very minimalist which allowed the objects to shine, rather like a commercial art gallery or high end shop.
What did we learn that we can apply to our own exhibitions? Well, not so much really. The collections we will be working with are quite different! The stories, the history, the meaning are the things that make our objects interesting. An art gallery approach would not make the most of them. However, a chat with the exhibition curator, Olivia Oldroyd, gave us valuable insights into time scales, sourcing mounts and other useful things.
A very productive day was had, discussing what our project is about and what it is not about. And we all looooooved the objects. Do go and see it, although there’s not long left as it ends on 17th July.
http://www.thelightbox.org.uk/events1/march2011/essentialaccessories