Max:
So Abby, we have to prepare our individual displays for the end-of-year exhibition to showcase all the work we've done for the first year of our art degree.
Abby:
Yeah, Max, I've been thinking about how to put it all together.
Abby:
I'm excited about letting my friends and family see all the stuff I've produced.
Max:
Actually, I'm really keen to see the work of the other students on our course.
Max:
I mean, it'll be great to see all the finished displays.
Abby:
But we've seen what they've been doing throughout the year already, really.
Abby:
Anyway, what about getting feedback on our exhibition from our tutor?
Abby:
I wonder what that'll be like.
Max:
I'm a bit nervous about that part.
Abby:
I hope our stuff ends up looking as good as some of the displays in last year's exhibition.
Max:
Do you remember that display of printed textiles?
Max:
Fantastic mixtures of silk and wool, all colored with natural dyes.
Abby:
Yeah, I can't actually remember that.
Abby:
What sticks in my mind are those 10 wooden reproductions one student made, all of different types of transport, little cars and trains and stuff.
Max:
Yes, it was really delicate work and much harder to do than if he'd tried to construct them out of metal.
Abby:
o, our tutor asked us to come up with a name for our display, which reflects the work we've done.
Abby:
What have you gone for?
Max:
Well, most of what I've done has focused on the countryside.
Max:
So, I've been thinking of things connected to that.
Max:
A lot of my larger pieces are views of farmland.
Max:
That's not a particularly memorable name, though.
Max:
I've gone for Mother Nature in the end, though I did think about the name Seasons, as the fields are shown at different times over the farming year.
Max:
Do you think it's going to be challenging putting our displays together?
Abby:
Well, I've pretty much come to a conclusion about which pieces I'll include now.
Abby:
I'll have to miss out some of my preparatory drawings for the bigger pieces to make sure my best work fits into the space we've been allocated.
Abby:
I'm more concerned about how long it will take me to put everything in place.
Max:
We've got a day and a half.
Abby:
What about writing the summary of our work?
Abby:
It's for people who visit the exhibition to read and I'm absolutely certain they will.
Abby:
It explains the reasons behind our work and they'll want to know what it all means.
Abby:
We've got a strict word limit to stick to, but I've got so much to say it won't be easy to say it in so few words.
Max:
So what about other organizational stuff?
Max:
We'll need good lighting for one thing.
Max:
The technical guys are doing that, aren't they?
Abby:
One thing to do is copy a load of comment forms so people can write what they think of the exhibition.
Abby:
Hopefully they'll be kind.
Max:
I don't know about the journalists who've been invited, though.
Max:
They might not be quite as nice to us.
Abby:
Well, fingers crossed.
Max:
So our tutor suggested visiting a few exhibitions to look at the way work is presented and to give us a few ideas about improving and displaying our own work.
Abby:
Yeah, I liked the On the Water exhibition.
Abby:
The way the artist used the brush strokes in the oil painting to create a sense of movement was amazing.
Max:
It takes a long time to develop skill like that.
Max:
Maybe we'll get there one day.
Max:
What I liked about the City Life exhibition was the fact that although the paintings themselves were of busy places, the display itself wasn't crowded at all.
Max:
Perhaps the fact that the paintings were actually quite small was what created a more open feeling to the exhibition.
Abby:
Yeah, though the way they were arranged wasn't especially unusual.
Max:
And then there was the Faces exhibition.
Abby:
Yeah, I mean, painting people's portraits isn't a new thing.
Abby:
But what I did like was the way the artist managed to reproduce the exact tones of the skin and hair of the people in the pictures.
Max:
And the last exhibition we went to see was Moods.
Max:
I expected that to show emotions, people laughing, crying, whatever.
Max:
But it was about plants.
Max:
You don't tend to think of trees and flowers having feelings.
Abby:
I'm not sure they do, but it certainly seemed that way in the pictures.
Abby:
Not the most obvious choice of subject, that's for sure.
Max:
Anyway, I guess we'd better get on with it.
