Have you ever wondered about the process of making an exhibition?
In this behind-the-scenes blog we look at how our curators and design team planned and installed ‘Chance Encounters: the Art of Rachel Reckitt’.
The exhibition is on display at The Museum of Somerset 19 October to 15 March 2025.
The Exhibitions Team
Let’s meet the team
Sarah Cox is the Trust’s Exhibitions and Programme Manager. Sarah is supported by an Exhibition’s Assistant, Victoria Haddock, and Curator Bethan Murray. The Design Team is led by Lawrence Bostock and includes Tina Bishop (Designer) Laytn Sharp (Technician) and Amelie Clegg (Trainee).
Our team has been working very closely with Rachel Reckitt’s family, the Golsoncott Foundation, and Denys Wilcox from The Court Gallery.
The Exhibition Content
Initial conversations about an exhibition began a number of years ago with Rachel Reckitt’s family, the Golsoncott Foundation and potential lenders of artworks. As an exhibition begins to take shape we draw up a list of artworks that could be featured. These are curated thematically. In this case the themes echo the storyline of Reckitt’s life.
We then decide what supporting materials should be included in the exhibition, such as Reckitt’s notebooks, sketchbooks and the wooden print blocks that she used. These are chosen to complement the display of artworks, whilst providing a snapshot into the person behind the art. The order in which artworks will be displayed is decided and then it’s over to the Design Team.
The Exhibition Design
Part of the Design Team’s task is to understand and interpret the stories that need to be conveyed in the exhibition, and to translate that into a physical space. Consideration is given to the overall look and feel of the exhibition and how visitors will move through and understand the different themes.
A visitor’s journey through ‘Chance Encounters’ follows the chronological storyline of Reckitt’s life. It begins with her inspiration as a young person, through to her development as an artist. For the colour palette we selected cool greys which allows the colourful artworks to come through. Breaking up the sections with different tones of grey helps to subtly communicate the different themes.
The Exhibition Installation
This is the stage where we say ‘goodbye’ to the Dalek and Cybermen of the previous exhibition ‘Adventures in Time and Space: 60 Years of Doctor Who Art’. Deinstalling an exhibition also takes considerable time and expertise.
Installation begins a-new with the reconfiguration of the gallery including painting, wallpapering, lighting, AV and general prepping. A key element for all exhibitions is the placement of walls and lighting. This cleverly turns the same space into a new experience. The placement of the walls in this design, aims to prevent visitors from being visually overloaded. It also opens out the central gallery space so that the sculptures are the first element that visitors see. The lights are dimmed in the centre of the gallery which contains the sculptures. This slightly darker area, with careful spotlighting, focusses the eye and allows the sculptures to really sing. Mounting the artworks themselves takes around a week. This exhibition displays a lot of individual pieces – it took fourteen van trips to move all the artworks from the stores where they are held to the Museum.
As a charity and an organisation invested in caring for the environment we try to re-use display equipment where we can. This involves some imaginative thinking to make it look new, and transform it into something relevant to the current exhibition.
The very last thing to do before we welcome visitors to the gallery is the hoovering – very important!
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Read the rest of the behind-the-scenes blog series.
