Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The Rig

Five of the seven pieces will be hung on what I'm calling the trapeze. Ben cut 16mm-diameter pine dowels to roughly 900mm in length and drilled a hole roughly 10mm from each end. I threaded a window blind cord into these holes and knotted the ends. Then we slipped the dowel through a plumber's insulation material, made to fit a 15mm pipe. This particular one is cut on the side, so we can slide the dowel (with the cord) through, and then remove the cellophane to seal the insulation material. But the real reason I selected this particular insulation is because it came in the least obtrusive gray, and the manufacturer logos were in slightly darker gray, so they will not show through the shawls. As well, I would have preferred to use fishing lines instead of the cord, but I was told by the hardware store man that fishing lines stretch and may not be ideal.

These trapeze will be hung from the ceiling, and the length of the cords will be determined in situ. The room in which these trapeze will be hung has a 2950mm ceiling, and I can't envision the best height at home.

Paua and Shawl/Candidate Two will be hung flat, similar to tapestry in a Medieval banquet halls; this part of the gallery has a 3630mm ceiling, and I wanted to take advantage of this height. This will be particularly effective in showing Shawl Two, which needs to be shown in its entirety (unfolded and un-draped) to show the color changes warp- and weft-wise. For now, we are have prepared two flat pieces of pine boards and three huge bull clips each to hold/clamp the shawls, and to secure the boards to the wall, but I am not sure if I want to use bull clips or wing nuts, nor whether to paint or stain the pine boards.

3 comments:

  1. From my experience, regardless of the height of the room, the most important height to figure out is the point at which level you want the viewer's eye to meet the shawls, looking straight ahead. You could try this out at home, establishing the right hight for viewing from the bottom up, leaving extra cord length, to adjust later in the actual exhibition room. Trying this at home, would give you time to get a feel for the impact of the differenz way to hang the shawls.

    Good luck,
    Merisi from snowy Vienna

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  2. I'm very short, Merisi, and I know paintings in my home are hung somewhat eccentrically because of it. Hubby and I took turns holding one of these rigs with a shawl hanging, and the other person standing back and looking, and we know approximately how high off the ground we want, buy my decision changes every time we try this. We also solicited the help of Tim and Claudia who have lots of experiences installing as well as showing their own works, so I'm confident I'll be able to make up my mind in the end.

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  3. Merisi, one of the problem I find testing out the height at home is that we can't very easily stand back as far as people would be standing in the gallery - at home we have to go around the couch or move the coffee table and the dynamics is a bit different from the empty gallery, and I can't easily walk back and forth here. This is part of why I keep changing my mind, I think.

    Meg from Finally VERY HOT Nelson (summer!!!)

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